August 4th, 2012. What a day! Taking patriarchy by storm is already becoming a major topic of discussion throughout New York City stemming from the buzz of our first day out. Volunteers began the hot afternoon in Union Square, using an art piece as the focal point for discussions. The piece represents women’s bodies being walked all over by oppressive forces such as the military and the church. It also shows alarming statistics on how the war on women manifests in other countries, as well as here, and especially in the pornography industry. We were met with all kinds of responses. One take on what we were doing was that we simply ‘hated men’, a common misconception of what bold women are all about.
We were generally met with warmth and gratitude from people thanking us for being out in the public making such a statement that most others are too afraid to make.
It was this great energy that we carried over to Williamsburg with us. The Mad Decent Block Party was our next stop and it brought with it a pretty typical Williamsburg crowd, i.e. 20 somethings with strong opinions and bold style.
The volunteers rocked shirts and stickers which spelled out the statements: “If you can’t imagine sex without porn, you’re fucked!” “Abortion on demand and without apology”, and “Create a world without rape”. The crowd’s reactions varied from quite curious to completely outraged. Surprisingly, more often than not, we were approached with lots of positive energy and enthusiasm to wear our stickers and support the cause. The majority of discussions were focused on the topic of pornography. Opinions were shared, knowledge was spread, and the outcome was generally very positive.
Altogether it was an amazing first day. At the very end of the day, we ran into an actual storm which completely caught us off guard and almost destroyed our art piece. With the quick thinking of a volunteer, the piece was saved with a few plastic bags and the storm turned out to be a refreshing, and much needed cool down. With this being only the first day, so full of positive energy, curiosity, and gratitude, imagine what 10 days of this could amount to…
