*how perfect that this post, with this message, appears on the day after You-Know-Who (Orange Menace, Con-man Dump, Convicted Felon #45, Major Insulter of Women. Yes, of All Women) was found guilty in an NYC courtroom. Several of my friends worked in YKW’s hotels in Manhattan during the 80s, and it was well-known that if you were a white or light-skinned Latino girl, blond especially, and YKW was roaming the halls of his various properties, watch out, beware, and do not clean rooms or walk through the halls of those same properties alone, ever. The 80s were an ugly time in the city, and he was one of the ugliest humans of that ugly age. Yesterday’s decision by a jury of 12 Americans proves that the justice system works. Let’s hope the American electoral system also decides to work, expunging him from the public sphere once and for all, as in for all time. Insert dancing emojis here____________________________
I bought these puppies, an entire roll of them (1000?), in the mid-eighties. I used them on subway advertising, mostly, which I believe was, on my part, a minor felony? A misdemeanor? But I didn’t use them all, as these leftovers attest, and I was careful, very much so because I didn’t like the idea of being arrested, going to jail, or paying fines, especially as I didn’t have a lot of money to throw around. I had enough, however, to buy these, obviously. Values, y’all. We find the money for those things we value, prioritize, need. I prioritize feminism, and activism.
As for the ads that really bothered me enough to lay a sticker on ‘em, there were so many to choose from, but the one I really hated were from one NYC ‘Breast Augmentation Clinic’, which posited women and girls as feeling – and being – less desirable because their boobs were small. The shame, the shame! Lonely, undesirable women and girls, solve everything by purchasing bigger boobs from us! You will be porn-star hot, which is the goal of every woman everywhere!
The language of the ads was, literally, along the lines of ‘we know you feel and look like shit because you’re flat-chested.’ No. Just no. The photo accompanying the ads were of a blond, long-haired women who was contemplating her chest, head down, grainy and out of focus, because no one wants to look at that, that pancake chest a’yours, right!?! FEH.
Another set of ads I targeted concerned ‘abortion counseling services’, a.k.a. conservative religious organizations selling their anti-abortion agenda as helping women make ‘the right choice’. These non-medically licensed places harm women and girls, are chock-full of mis- and dis-information and are, in too many states, supported by local taxpayer dollars, which is so fucking infuriating I cannot even, I just cannot.
Bus ads, the big glass or plastic panels at the stops – those were good for application of these stickers as well, and safer to apply. If you are inclined toward activism, even of the sticker and run kind…
Deep breaths. Patience is a virtue, one I am working on all the time. #SmashThePatriarchyNOW
