You. Yes, you who looks at the bottoms of those that cross your path and think that nothing is wrong. You, who allows the casual grazing of bodies when circumstances allow and feel power when the other’s feels threatened. You, who considers the fact that being a couple allows you the freedom to do what you will with the body of a woman…
We sometimes are unaware of the damage that we cause. Men willfully ignore it, while us women grow silent, afraid that the roar of scandal will wash over our lives without remedy. We are part of a system where we blindly obey the requests of our partners, whether they want to have sex or not.
In New Year’s Eve in Cologne, Germany, a group of women were joining the throng of people huddled together next to the river to see the firework display. Suddenly, they were surrounded by a group of 20 to 30 men and attacks ensued. The police considered a few suspects for interrogation, and in the wake of the uproar the Chief Police Officer was displaced.
“I felt many hands touching my breasts, my crotch. Then, suddenly, a crowd ripped my clothes leaving my breasts exposed. I was raped.”
Over 516 complaints were registered that night, and 40% of these were of sexual aggression and at least two of rape.
For those men that feel no shame touching a body they don’t even know, Milo Moiré, one of the most polemic performance artists, walked down the streets semi naked, open to the touch of strangers.
With her project, Mirror Box, she walked down the streets of some of the most important cities of Europe with a structure made up of mirrors that covered her body. With a megaphone she called for the attention of those walking by and invited them to put their hands inside the box and touch either her breasts or vagina for periods of 30 seconds.
With this, the artist intended to show female sexual freedom and give women a voice. It was a reversal of roles between the voyeur and the object, where each person that placed their hands inside the box could see their reflection in the mirror. A moment that pretended to be pleasurable and unleash desire became an uncomfortable one, since she would stare at them as they introduced their hands inside the box.
Some would caress her breasts with delicacy. Others would pull her nipples or crush her breasts. When it came to the vagina, participants would put disinfectant on their hands in order to protect her from infections. Then, she would see them directly in their eyes as they placed their hands inside; some would try to masturbate her; others would introduce their fingers deeply into her vagina, and some would only carefully caress her labia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTmfbr6cCTU
Mirror Box is a protest against the massive attacks that occurred in Cologne where over a thousand women suffered sexual violence from the hands of a group of men that to date are yet to be identified. The artist sought to report and provide a symbolism to the ‘consensual nature’ of these acts. She gave each participant 30 seconds, and she remained there without a hitch…
Standing in the middle of the streets where the massive tumult of people is an everyday occurrence, she fought for the rights of women and sexual determinations of the same. Women, she assured, possess the same sexuality as men. Each woman can decide when and where she wishes to be touched, and at what moment that act can turn into violence.
She was shortly arrested after performing in Trafalgar Square, London, and she was imprisoned for 24 hours.
Moiré is one of the most recognized women in the artistic world. In an event at Art Basel, she stripped naked, introduced eggs with red paint into her vagina, climbed onto a platform and expelled them in an attempt to paint a white canvas that lay underneath her.
