UPDATE: The mural has been tagged over, and following over 1500 emails to the council, the business responsible has been issued a fine for displaying it without a permit.
A new public mural in Fitzroy, Melbourne depicts a woman in BDSM fetish gear gagged and bound with ropes.
The chilling image of eroticised violence against women as ‘art’ is on display for the general public – including survivors of rape and sexual assault, domestic abuse, and children.
Responding to objections, the artist defended the mural as “empowering” and told objectors to “chill”.
But there is nothing “empowering” or subversive about normalising or glamorising violence against women. While the artist may view female subordination and degradation as the means to empowerment, ALL women are harmed by the promotion of violence against us, dehumanisation, and the message that deep down we desire violence and abuse.
We note the artist identifies themselves as a survivor of sexual assault. However, we do not believe this justifies imposing sexualised portrayals of violence and torture of women on a non-consenting audience. Many survivors experience deep distress in response to such content.
Campaigns Manager Caitlin Roper, a survivor herself, said that imagery glorifying sexualised violence against women could be extremely invalidating to survivors:
When abuse and violence against women is framed as sexy, as a 'kink', or something we should just be okay with, it sends a message to survivors. It says, your feelings are wrong. Your pain is wrong. The problem is you, because women are supposed to enjoy this. Basically, the message is to keep your mouth shut.
We do not believe that adult sexual fetishes should be imposed on children. The various negative physical and mental health impacts to children from premature sexualisation have been well-documented, and we believe children have a right to grow up and develop their own healthy sexuality free from interference by the porn industry.
See also:
Backlash over Sydney’s ‘creepy’ kink teddy bear mural: CS quoted in Daily Telegraph
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