This is a piece of art created by England's graffiti artist, "Banksy".
Here is my reading (keywords italicized):
Notice the three subjects : A woman in the background stripped down to her underwear, a man in the middle ground searching out the window, and a man in the foreground hanging off the window ledge, nude.
Most observers will make one of two assumptions about the situation: either the woman was caught in the middle of having an affair with this man, or the man has sexually assaulted this woman.
It might help to note that this piece of graffiti is on the wall of a sexual assault clinic.
Our culture tends to assume that in sexual assault cases, the assailant is male and the victim as female. Well...did you notice that the person hanging from the window ledge is a male? And take a closer look at the female. You will notice she has her arms crossed over her near-naked body, and one hand is on the shoulder of her (presumable) husband. It shows that she’s been violated (hence the uncomfortable stance), and needs her husband to help her.
You are put in a position to sympathize for this woman – and for all other women in the assault clinic.
The ultimate argument of the image? Males rape females, for females are weaker, more delicate, and more vulnerable. Help these females.
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ReplyDeleteAside from the crude topic of sexual assault, that's a really sweet piece of graffiti. It's difficult to tell that's what the message is though, when I first looked at the picture I immediately jumped to the idea that the woman was having an affair and her husband is just pissed about it, scouring the premises for the adulter. It still seems confusing just because one wouldn't think of a sexual assault taking place in ones own home, people think of rapes happening in dark alleys or white, windowless vans or something, not the home setting of the woman.
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