i registered an account on two influential platforms, the one is Redbook(Chinese Instagram and 80% user are educated females), another one is Weibo(Chinese Twitter),I also updated two blogs about feminism and woman’s safety issue, stakeholders could share their experience or advice in this place .The reason I created this intervention is that when I collected data on the internet ,I found that we don’t even have a unofficially ,non-profit women organization in China ,and which proved the underdeveloped of feminism in my country.
i design this intervention to test if this form of campaign could attract peoples attention and raise their awareness about woman’s safety ,especially when woman walk alone or travel alone in a different country ,so i took a luggage to pretend i was traveling here, and my coat is just like a signal to keep me safe.
Preparation for the campaignWalking on the street A young boy get close to see my posterPeople’s reaction
Reflection: i do got a lot of attention from this campaign, whenever i walk or sit down ,people will noticed my poster and even got close to see it ,but i not sure of their truly feeling ,Is this behavior work ?positive or negative?
With the help of Yu Kong ,i designed a poster with slogan ,and the purpose of the slogan is raise people’s awareness about woman’s safety ,especially the male , , and pin it on my coat.
I went to a exhibition about feminine in The British Museum, it shows that how the feminine could be explained and understood by different culture, which give me more new perspective .
This artwork challenge a longstanding tradition in Christina art of depicting a male deity creating life, this vibrant print ,which related to a large-scale embroidery, reimagines the creation of the word from an overtly Western feminist perspective.it depicts a female deity in a birthing position.her body erupts with life as primordial creature flow and evolve from her vulva.
Jewish mystical texts identify Lilith as the first wife of Adam, created by god at the same time from the same earth,Asserting equality with her husband, she refused to lie beneath him during sex and fled Eden rather than subordinate herself to him.this is an image about transgression, about a woman putting two fingers up to male power.
The different female image from different culture
Woman are relate to the nature and creation, passion and desire, magic and malice, justice and defence, compassion and salvation, we must believe we have the power to change the world .
Interviewee:Gibeleen ,African ,working in pharmaceutical drugs development.
Photographer:KK
Date :23/08/2022
Address: Wembley park
In order to know other people ‘s opinions and their experience about woman’s safety in London, i interviewed Gibeleen, who is from Africa and lives in London for many years, she talked about the different culture and background people in London, especially the immigration and international workers ,it’s hard to find a way to regulate them all ,as well as the current situation of juvenile offenders, the lack of family education ,some of them are raised by single mother. there are many complex reason leads to the criminal.
And she shared with me the change in Africa, woman are starting to fight for their right in some big cities ,but for the remote regions and villages, woman are still not been treated equally, they are been treated by safety issues and conservative culture.
I contact two organizations (UN WOMEN and FORWARD)which are committed to woman’s issues.For a deeper research and hoping to be helpful ,I applied to be a volunteer.
There is a blog about giving girls a hand on the Action Aid website, then i shared my advice for young girls.Doing project from the smallest change that i can do ~
I posted my travel story on a Chinese platform (Chinese Instagram),which sparked a heated discussion.
A POST ON REDBOOK
More than 185 people involved to this topic, and 11 peoples said they had the similar experience, most of them are girls and had been work ,study ,or travel to Europe. all the complain is not only about the robber but also the police, As a government department ,ensuring people’s safety and punishing criminals is clearly their duty, but they don’t take it seriously ,that’s might the main reason why criminals are so rampant ,and many kind people suggest that if girls go to the Europe ,they should:
This is so ridiculous ,safety is the most basically right for human being ,But today ,in such a highly civilized era, we still be threats by violence, in particularly ,the gender-based violence.
I shared with Geogeos my unlucky experience and told him that i want to change the direction of my research at the tutorial in July, he gave me all his support and some useful advice, The first step is that i need to redefine my research question.
So i did a lot second research on the internet about the issue of Women safety .Finding that gender-based violence has been a global crisis in the world since the pandemic. There are many charities or organizations ,like Woman’s Aid,UN Women, they arranged a series of woman movements to protect woman from criminal(those criminal are mainly include murder, rape, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and domestic violence), provide training service for young girls, or try to improve the law system.
some woman organizations
UN Woman suggests that what government can do to protect woman from gender-based violence:
Increase resources for shelters, hotlines and other services so that they can meet heightened demand.
Protect elected and non-elected women leaders from gender-based violence. Any efforts to protect and combat violence against women in politics must consider women in all their public roles, including women civil servants and experts.
Consider the communication needs of older women and women with limited access to ICT –– e.g. by setting up emergency warning systems in pharmacies and grocery stores.
Make information and communication channels accessible for women with disabilities.
Scale up public awareness campaigns, particularly those targeted at men and boys.
Develop and implement measures to address online and ICT facilitated violence.
Increase funding to women’s organizations. Evidence shows that the strength of women’s organizations is one of the biggest factors in driving positive EVAW policy changes.
Ensure women’s economic independence by enabling access to and control over regular, secure and long-term income.
Men, particularly in London and other large cities, shared suggestions of things they could do to make women feel safer on the streets on social media.
They include:
Don’t walk behind women in the street and cross the road if you are
Keep your distance and give space if overtaking
Don’t stare
Don’t make comments
Remove your face mask, hat or hoodie if wearing one
Don’t be a passive bystander if you see inappropriate behavior or a woman looking uncomfortable
Walk your female friends and relatives home
Collaborate with woman artist to arouse social awareness
I do believe scale up public awareness campaigns, educate man and young boy are more urgent and important than to ask girls to stay at home ,don’t walk alone or learn some defense skills.
I do wish my project could be helpful for those woman safety issue ,even it is a small change .
My new research question will be : How can I help to ensure woman’s safety .
and my stakeholders will be the relate charities ,woman groups and organization, woman who were been attacked by man.
The reason why I always want to research feminism is that I believe woman are still disadvantage groups in the world , especially the physical disparity between men and woman ,we can never be equal ,even woman work hard ,study hard ,we can be a financially independent ,spiritual independent modern woman ,but when a man’s fist hits us, we can do nothing but suffer .
I used to work on feminism about Aesthetic bullying ,man control the aesthetic area ,they create beauty what they think is beauty . I think it’s time for us to create beauty with female’s own consciousness and aesthetic.
During this independent study ,I traveled to some countries and want to find some new inspiration for my project, but i experienced some very bad things that changes me a lot ,I realized that woman’s safety is really a big problem in today ,and it is a more urgent matter than aesthetic bullying that I should work for.
When I traveled to France with my friend ,one day night ,we were been robbed by more than 6 masked black man ,they stole my friend’s bag and phone and beat her ,at that time ,a local man happened pass by, i cried out to him for help ,but he refused to help us and just run away ,we were terribly scared and had a strong feeling of helpless,then just watch those criminal do what they want (all of our carry-on belongings and commit violence ),even we call the police, they don’t take it seriously, because it happens a lot .
16.07.2022 In Nice
After this accident ,besides physical injured ,the mental damage is more seriously ,when i travel alone to some other country ,even at the daytime walking on the street ,i will be very scared if i meet some tall ,strong, weird man, not to mention going to the bar for a drink at night.
I can not help to think about that night, if we were man ,i think we might not been robbed ,or even we are been robbed, we can fight against them ,but we are woman ,short and delicate, we can do nothing but cry in such a dangerous situation, and if i were a man ,i can go anywhere without worries, this is a manifestation of gender inequality, we have to admit that male innate physical strength is a threaten to woman to some extent.So ,how can we insurance the woman’s safety based on the gender physical disparity?
I went to see the “Royal College of Art 2022 Graduate Show” on 30 ,June. and i found that some of the works are amazing ! Their art form ,style ,technique, and medium inspired me a lot , and i learn a lot from those works.
One artist explore the relationship between female body hair and the body, man are proud of their exuberant body hair ,but woman are shame of it ,where does this aesthetic difference come from, could this be a breakthrough of feminism? As a woman ,we don’t need to be shame of our body hair ,and men shouldn’t sarcasm it ,it’s part of our nature ,we have the right to decide keep it or not ? Some Chinese students made a combination with Chinese outdated materials and high technique to tell their story .One artist collect 8 different clay from 8 park in London where he usually visit to create some creative product as souvenirs. arts exist everywhere ,i should pay more attention of our surroundings .
