Street artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh has started a street art project that addresses the problem of gender-based street harassment faced by women
In the project titled ‘Stop Telling Women To Smile’, Fazlalizadeh created posters of friends, colleagues, and herself—with messages like “My name is not baby, shorty, sexy, sweetie”.
The posters seek to remind men that just because they see a woman on the street, it does not give them the right to start a conversation with her or get her to smile.
A victim of harassment herself, she hopes that her works will be able to empower women and “that men will at least take notice and consider what the posters are saying”.
“The project is saying that street harassment is not okay,” she wrote. “That feeling entitled to treat and speak to women any type of way, is not okay. That demanding a woman’s attention is not okay. That intruding on a woman’s space and thoughts is not okay.”
“…Woman are not outside on the street for the purpose of entertaining and pleasing men.”
[via Tatyana Fazlalizadeh]