'I Did Not Ask for It' Campaign
Inspired by the ‘Women's Dirty Laundry Project’ in India and the ‘Clothesline Project’ in the USA, London Feminist Network bring "I Did Not Ask For It" Campaign to the UK. We want to provide a creative way for women to bear witness to male violence. We have created an ‘I Did Not Ask For It’ blogsite of images and next year we plan to make a public installation. More and more women are using blogsites to express themselves, share ideas and discuss issues. So please read on about our campaign and share any insights with us on our blogsite.
The Campaign
We are asking women across the country to send in a photo or painting of a garment or the garment itself, which you were wearing (or is similar to what you were wearing) when you were sexually harassed or assaulted. Use your creativity to mark the garment in some way. Some women have written "I Did Not Ask For It" in marker pen or fabric paint on a t-shirt, or you could embroider "I Did Not Ask For It" onto a vest.
I did not ask for it
I did not ask for it
How about digitally design the message "I Did Not Ask For It" on paper and photograph or pin it to a dress or pair of jeans.
The possibilities are endless, however you want to express yourself creatively. Through this creative campaign we want to highlight that male violence and sexual harassment is not dependent on what women wear or drink or do or where we go. We expect to have everything from boiler suits to short skirts decorated with ‘I did not ask for it’.
We realise this is a sensitive subject, but we want to air these issues in public - because the shame is not ours. So let's hang the washing out to dry and shame all those men
who view our bodies as public property. We will collect the items and build up the exhibition.
Get Involved
There are four different ways you can participate:
- Visit our blogsite and share your ideas.
- Deliver your garments or pictures to one of our monthly London Feminist Network meetings. Contact us by signing up to our yahoo email group via our website www.ldnfeministnetwork.uk.com
- Photograph your creative expression with a digital camera and email the image to londonfeminist [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk (you could also use a scanner to get the image onto your computer or a usb stick and email that to us)
- Post them to the following address: I Did Not Ask For It UK campaign, c/o Kat@Fawcett Society, 1-3 Berry Street, London, EC1V 0AA.
I Did Not Ask For It - UK Campaign
c/o Fawcett Society
1-3 Berry Street
London EC1V 0AA
Londonfeminist [at] yahoo.co.uk