Photographer/journalist Petra Collins recently designed a
t-shirt for American Apparel. The shirt caused much controversy because of the
image she designed and printed onto it. The image is a simplistic line drawing
that depicts a masturbating, menstruating woman with pubic hair. Reactions to
the shirt included “vile”, “icky”, “disgusting”, “horrible”, etc. Many media
outlets such as Time, the Daily Mail, and the Huffington Post have written
articles about the shirt trying to “figure out the controversy”. The problem
with Petra’s t-shirt is not that there is a naked woman on the t-shirt. We can
see by visiting urban outfitters that women’s naked bodies are on t-shirts all
the time.
- http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=29337078&parentid=M_APP_TEESSHORT
- http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=27481100&parentid=M_APP_TEESSHORT
- http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=24586349&parentid=M_APP_TEESSHORT
- http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=28820116&parentid=M_APP_TEESSHORT
The difference between these t-shirts and Petra Collins
t-shirt is that on Petra’s shirt the woman is no longer a sexual object. The
woman on the shirt is completely natural (a major taboo) and not hiding the
fact that she is menstruating (another major taboo). It can also be inferred that
because the woman is masturbating she is receiving sexual pleasure. This in
itself is a societal taboo, but the cherry on top of Petra’s
shirt is that there is no man involved. Ultimately, the t-shirt denies the male
gaze. A woman is pleasuring herself in her most natural state, and because she
is no longer sexualized for the purposes of pleasing a male, it is seen as “offensive”.
Interview with Petra Collins about t-shirt: http://www.vice.com/read/chatting-with-petra-collins-about-her-menstruating-vagina-shirt
Observation: Countless horror films with scenes depicting sexual violence against women are rated PG-13 while the film “Blue Valentine” was rated NC-17 because a woman receives oral sex.
