skewering women to save sharks

it's times like these that Riot's feminisms (that's right, plural, people) are at war with one another. [and if you're not sure the difference in the mindset of different 'waves' of feminism, drop me a line--i'd be happy to explain.]

the stunt at hand: Lush, a company i admittedly love [bring me those massage bars!], was raising awareness on behalf of Sea Shepheard about the hacking of shark fins to make soup [among other things].

at first, the ad-Riot says, okay, this is pretty sweet. using a skin pull, also called suspension, to attract attention from passers-by and draw the parallel that animal folks are into: "animals are people too." not dissing that. the performance artist, Alice Newstead, hung for fifteen minutes.

old-school second-wave college feminist Riot rebukes with, what the fuck is that shite? excellent. let's replace mutilated sharks with mutilated women. that's a brilliant statement. because what's better than information? a half-naked woman giving said information. duh! it only propagates objectification of women, and while that's almost forgivable by corporate slime, progressive groups should know better, or at least think harder. [aka: this is the feminist "external view" or appropriation of the gaze]

post/third wave real world feminist Riot retorts with, whatthefuckever, it's performance art. which is to say, Alice was not in pain, consented, views it as art, for a good cause, and it made her happy to do so. not to mention she had the balls to get those piercings in the first place, and probably did her fair share of skin pulls prior. which is to say: it's her own damn choice and don't put your politics on her beyond that which she is stating: stop cutting up sharks. [aka: the feminist "internal view" or, 'what makes a given female happy is inherently feminist for her']

[i always tend to go toward my third wave views, but the college breeding always makes me feel guilty for it... i hear my Womens101 prof in my head as she rants in disbelief over how i felt classic nudes were not always objectifications. ohhh well.]

anyway. cool and controversial. always a plus in the wondrous world of ads. via.