You might have seen the striking imagery from the This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me campaign before. This image in particular has stayed with me ever since I first saw it some years back.
The campaign, started in early ’90s, struck out against the “she asked for it” mentality. With a series of television commercials and stark black and white images with the campaign slogan on them, This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me dispelled misconceptions of women “provoking” acts of sexual assault and confronted rape within family relationships.
When one of the campaign founders, Charles Hall, approached me about being part of an photography exhibit dedicated to this powerful message I was thrilled and honored. Four of my photos along with many others, including my good friend Lou O’Bedlam a.k.a Lou Noble, will be on display this coming Thursday. Please visit the official show website here.
Fox Art Gallery is located at:
Lower level of Logan Hall on the Penn campus at
249 South 36th Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104
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P.S. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Charles in a two-hour Skype meeting to discuss the campaign and my photo selection for the show. Ever since I first saw the campaign images, I was aware of the absence of male and transgendered victims, as well as same-sex rape situations. Noticeably, all of my images chosen for the show were of women, too. So, since this Skype meeting was my “chance”, I brought it up because I felt it was the campaign’s responsibility to give these scenarios exposure.
The This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me FAQ states that they set out to tackle the most common stereotype, but I thought that without addressing the full scope of the issue they were reinforcing a few stereotypes themselves. Of course it turned out I wasn’t the only one to ever mention this, and, fortunately, Charles was open to talking about it. As a result, some of the featured photographers were asked to submit work addressing a wider scope of subjects – I’ll post mine here after the reception. I sincerely hope that this important campaign will expand its range in the coming years.
It drives me up the wall when I hear men saying: “Women, U are at fault for being raped. U give Us wrong messages with Ur look.” Total idiocy.
Such words always make me think of Faina Ranevskaya’s great quote:
“Women are, of course, more intelligent. Have you ever heard of a woman that would lose her head only because a man has pretty legs?”
I would say the most common stereotype is that women are the only ones, except for a tiny tiny number of non-women who actually get raped at all. The fact of the matter is that a very large portion of all the rape that goes on in the US goes on in prisons and its victims are male. Some may want to dismiss these crimes because they happen to convicted criminals, but truly no one deserves to be raped.
I can see, however, how and why this show focuses on women pretty much exclusively. Makes sense in context.
The images here are so moving in their simplicity and….obviousness. And the fact that the “This is Not an Invitation to Rape Me” sentiment is NOT obvious to so many people always needs to be addressed.
I can’t wait to dive my ass to Philly to see this show.
I’m very delighted to see that you took your chance to address expanding the scenarios included in the campaign, because, in this day and age especially, I feel that all instances of rape and sexual abuse should be considered common scenarios.
This sounds like an inspiring, eye-opening exhibit! I am excited to see what photos you submitted!
Congrats on this. What an amazing project and even moreso that you helped to open it up.
Bravo.
Thanks for introducing me to such an incredible campaign.
There was a series of adverts here in New Zealand recently about the dangers of binge drinking, and one showed a woman out on the town, getting more drunk as the evening progressed, and ending up getting led down a dark alley by a shifty looking guy – the premise being that she ends up getting raped because she got drunk. It is so infuriating that people still seem to think that rape can be anyone’s fault but the rapist’s. That it was her fault that she got raped because she drank too much – not that it was his fault she got raped because he was a rapist. Grrr!
Good luck with the show.
It doesn’t matter who gets raped in what numbers. All demographics have some kind of statistic accounted for (elderly, kids, men … slice it how you want). This is an exceptional campaign. Tasteful, accurate, poignant, and powerful. Thanks for putting it up, and for bringing it up again. I remember it, but had completely forgotten about it.
I totally agree with you on this subject matter concerning the “rape myth” in same-sex and transgendered couples. The same issue arises within research as well. There just is not much concerning this demographic, especially for the transgendered.
Very powerful images. The message should be obvious by now, and it makes me sad this campaign is even necessary. But what a good way to tackle a difficult subject.
Congratulations on being a part of such a campaign.
Best of luck in the show.