Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Conceal IT! Reveal IT!

I'm travelling through Europe at the moment, first stop Paris. A land where they DO NOT USE A WORD FOR FEMALE GENITALIA AS A DEROGATORY TERM = a land which I ♥.

So fucking lovely to be out of freezing Melbourne winter & to be able to wear what I want. At the moment I'm sitting in the sunshine in a t-shirt & not much else. Of course, I can't wear everything I might like to here...

Since April 2011, women have been banned from wearing burqas in public in France, the Govenment audaciously citing feminist motivations, stating that to "ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place". In Australia & elesewhere, there have been calls for similar laws, also sometimes, on 'feminist' grounds.

How legally enforcing any form of dress on women can be a feminist action is beyond me.

In both of these countries we, as women, are already compelled, culturally & legally, to cover our cunts & breasts so now we are required to simultaneously conceal & reveal different parts of our bodies. The law-makers do not seem to see the inherent hypocrisy in this situation. Their bizarre dissection of the female anatomy & the privileging of some parts over others is fascinating, disturbing & profoundly fucked-up.

So, I made some special Cunt Fling-Ups...

Conceal IT! Reveal IT!

LE cacher! LE révéler!

I exhibited them as part of the Ladyfest Paris festival which really was ALL kinds of awesome...

And normally I would then go & fling the cunts up over a power-line but Paris has NO powerlines so I had to look for somewhere else to hang them...


7 comments:

Mars Drum said...

Oh you are so brilliant, Casey!

Rayna said...

YOU CONQUERED!! I am so overjoyed at this my dear! In fact I would say BEST. PIECE. OF. CRAFT. ACTION. EVER.

Emily said...

I don't know . . . given you used a picture of a burqa, which connotes Afghanistan and the Taliban regime . . . which was hell on earth for women, almost a gender holocaust . . . I feel uncomfortable as a feminist making a stance for the burqa. I'm all for women's choice, but the burqa represents the opposite of women's choice.

Casey said...

@Mars - Thank you! You've gotta know that I've found your 'Burqa woman & Ned Kelly' work & all of the ideas that it encapsulates about what our culture idolises & what it demonises, most inspiring x Anyone who is reading this & who has yet to have the pleasure of experiencing Mars's work MUST check this link out: http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2011/s3163329.htm

@Rayna - ♥! + ♥♥! Super praise from THE craftivist Queen! http://radicalcrossstitch.com/ Love Your Guts xx

@Emily - I'm not advocating that all women should wear burqas, nor that all women should uncover their cunts. Because of my cultural conditioning I don't, personally, have the desire to do either.
I find the compulsion we have to hide any part of our bodies problematic. However, I have heard women who wear the burqa & their friends express the view that it enables them to interact with others free from judgements based on their appearance, & in a world where women are SO judged by their looks, this view holds some weight. I strongly believe it is our right to choose how much of our bodies we reveal. It's gotta be obvious that I find nothing shameful about cunts, still, I'd be extremely uncomfortable if a law were passed decreeing that I must go around naked.
I believe that situations where women are legally forced to wear the burqa are horrific. I also believe situations where women are legally denied the option of wearing the burqa are horrific.
We, as women, already have enough restrictions on which parts of our bodies we are allowed to reveal & conceal. Adding to these restrictions is regressive.

Anna B said...

Viva la cunt!

Emma Parker said...

wonderful xxxx

Blød Lykke said...

Nice, I love it! I also visited the Eiffel tower this summer and left some "Soft Happiness" - you can see it on my facebook-page.
Facebook: blød lykke (it means soft happiness - you can try to write" blod lykke"