Image: vmiramontes Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Why do we have such a day? Well duh, because women and girls are suffering violence. Violence on such a scale across the globe that we have to raise awareness. Allow me to furnish you with some statistics. 35% of women and girls experience some form of physical or sexual violence - in some countries this statistic goes up to seven in ten women suffering abuse. It's been estimated that as many as 30 million girls under 15 are at risk from FGM/C and over 130 million girls have undergone the procedure. What else can I tell you, 700 million of women alive today, today, were married as children and 250 million before they reached 15. Girls who marry under 18 are less likely to finish their education and more at risk of domestic violence and complications in childbirth.
Now, it is clear from these statistics that people need educating. Any campaigns regarding violence against women and girls and the prevention of it should be aimed at the perpetrators who are predominantly men. Yet we also need to help women and girls gain the self esteem to report, to know that such behaviour is unacceptable and to feel able to escape any dangerous domestic situation. How do we currently do it? Concentrating on 'empowering' women.
Discussions and projects on 'empowering' women often make me cringe, I think often in a bid to shed a positive light on a terrible situation they unfortunately and unintentionally water down the dire severity of the situation they are trying to help. Sometimes they are a little too cutesy for me, often they seem to involve some kind of shaming, for instance going bare faced as though not wearing make up is unseemly and by the way look how fresh faced and great I look helping others with this selfie.
Discussions and projects on 'empowering' women often make me cringe, I think often in a bid to shed a positive light on a terrible situation they unfortunately and unintentionally water down the dire severity of the situation they are trying to help. Sometimes they are a little too cutesy for me, often they seem to involve some kind of shaming, for instance going bare faced as though not wearing make up is unseemly and by the way look how fresh faced and great I look helping others with this selfie.
| It is perhaps due to the necessity of red lipstick therefore in this project that I prefer it. The Red Lips project was started by Aditi Kulkarni, and was designed with the sole intention of reminding women "why they should feel powerful." | It's a space for women to be unapologetic in their appearance... |
On the project Aditi says: "I realized that many of the women in my life don't always have a space to express their power. I wanted to create a project to change this and give them that space.
As a photographer, I have always been fascinated by the imagery of red lips. To me, red symbolizes power; it is a sign of strength and courage. This was corroborated further when rapper A$AP Rocky stated that dark skinned women shouldn't wear red lipstick...This inspired a movement where women of color posted pictures of themselves wearing red lipstick. These pictures were just one way in which women were able to fight back the beauty norms and instead revel in their own ideals."
Every woman who submits an image of her in red lipstick is asked to share what makes them feel powerful. It's a space for women to be unapologetic in their appearance and to discuss their power rather than somehow earn it.
On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women I would like to see more women choose to take their space and to reveal their power.
Squeamish Kate
As a photographer, I have always been fascinated by the imagery of red lips. To me, red symbolizes power; it is a sign of strength and courage. This was corroborated further when rapper A$AP Rocky stated that dark skinned women shouldn't wear red lipstick...This inspired a movement where women of color posted pictures of themselves wearing red lipstick. These pictures were just one way in which women were able to fight back the beauty norms and instead revel in their own ideals."
Every woman who submits an image of her in red lipstick is asked to share what makes them feel powerful. It's a space for women to be unapologetic in their appearance and to discuss their power rather than somehow earn it.
On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women I would like to see more women choose to take their space and to reveal their power.
Squeamish Kate
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