My Start-Up Story: Shaking up Ireland’s events sector with extraordinary and inclusive spaces
My Start-Up Story: Shaking up Ireland’s events sector with extraordinary and inclusive spaces

IMAGE

‘Out of the 1,345 people ever elected to the Dáil, only 131 of them have been women’
‘Out of the 1,345 people ever elected to the Dáil, only 131 of them have...

Sarah Finnan

Ireland’s top stylists share their style secrets
Ireland’s top stylists share their style secrets

Oyindamola Animashaun

The art of hosting – 3 experts share their top tips for stress-free seasonal gatherings
The art of hosting – 3 experts share their top tips for stress-free seasonal gatherings

Sarah Finnan

The Great Cookbook Revival: Why our appetite for recipe books never wanes
The Great Cookbook Revival: Why our appetite for recipe books never wanes

Alex O Neill

An interior designer answers your home office questions
An interior designer answers your home office questions

Megan Burns

Black Friday: Sign up for the IMAGE Business Club with our once-a-year 30% discount
Black Friday: Sign up for the IMAGE Business Club with our once-a-year 30% discount

IMAGE

Social Pictures: The 2024 IMAGE Business Of Beauty Awards
Social Pictures: The 2024 IMAGE Business Of Beauty Awards

IMAGE

Lindsay Lohan’s new festive flick and Moana 2 – what to watch this week
Lindsay Lohan’s new festive flick and Moana 2 – what to watch this week

Sarah Finnan

This apartment proves that small spaces can feel both spacious and stylish
This apartment proves that small spaces can feel both spacious and stylish

Megan Burns

Image / Editorial

Can We Stop The Slut Shaming? Kim Kardashian Mural Vandalised By Naysayers


By IMAGE
16th Mar 2016
Can We Stop The Slut Shaming? Kim Kardashian Mural Vandalised By Naysayers

Coming as a shock to nobody, the slut-shamers are still as active and abusive offline as they are online, especially when it comes to Kim Kardashian and her penchant for full body selfie-taking. Down in Melbourne, a known controversial artist who likes to keep his art in the here and now with topical, pop cultural references, took liberty with a vacant wall on a particular alleyway, where he would paint his 30-foot tall interpretation (we say interpretation, but it was pretty spot on with Kim’s original selfie) of the Kim Kardashian photo that we’re STILL talking about. If her intention was to incite a public discourse about the freedom to express one’s sexuality and femininity however they may please, she’s absolutely achieved that. We’ve certainly been inspired to stop and think before jumping automatically to the kind of judgemental thought patterns we’ve long been conditioned to follow. Sure, it might not be how you would express your femininity or feminism, and it might cause your great grand parents to turn violently in their graves, but that doesn’t mean she’s doing something wrong. It’s her body, her choice. Does that warrant a barrage of slut-shaming? Does sharing imagery like this mean she is, as Irish writer Louise O’Neill would put it, ‘asking or it?’ No, there’s never a place for it; it’s never okay.

It wasn’t long before the mural of Kim was branded with a big fat ‘slut’ across the hip. Original. Here you’ve got graffiti vandalism on top of what’s still considered vandalism (his mural) and suddenly, unbeknownst to he or she who was so offended by the mural, it’s transformed into a real life commentary on the experience of countless women online every day.

@kimkardashian

A photo posted by lushsux (@lushsux) on

Speaking to Buzzed, here is what the artist Lush Sux had to say, after his mural had been added to within 48 hours of him painting it: “It was a given, considering the subject matter. I’m bummed that people didn’t get more of a chance to interact with it and that someone felt the dire need to spray ‘slut’ across it.”

Indeed, it was a ‘given’, but that’s the point; it shouldn’t be.

Andddd this is why we can’t have nice things @kimkardashian

A photo posted by lushsux (@lushsux) on

Follow the artist here for more conversation-starting work.