One of the assignments for this class was to do an activism project.
My project promoted two different things. The first was to promote and educate the violence against women farm workers and the second was to promote magazines displaying unrealistic women in them.
To accomplish the first purpose we obtained white bandanas with the help of the Women Studies department and drew on them and colored them as each individual desired. We also had flyers that another student made to distribute and provide more information.
Women farm workers are exposed to sexual harassment and violence from their male counterparts. Due to this issue the women are forced to appear like men. They were bandanas to hide their hair and wear bigger clothes to hide their womanly figures.
What did our project accomplish in regards to this issue? I believe it not only provided awareness of the issue but it also provided a visual object to others that women as a whole, not just farm workers, will not continue to tolerate the violence they have experienced.
There is a Facebook page that can provide you with more information about badanna projects.
The second purpose was accomplished by having the a couple hundred of the magazine cards available for people to write different things on them. We then mailed them back to the different magazine companies.
Magazines begin with a picture of a real woman but very quickly turn that picture into something very unrealistic. This is accomplished all with the help of airbrushing and Photoshop.
What did this accomplish? I believe it further educated some people about how far magazines take the looks of a woman and that there is a way to voice your opinion without much effort.
What part did I play in all of this? I was the lead of the project. I presented the idea to the entire class and sixteen other people wanted to assist me in carrying this out. I emailed everyone about the things that needed to be done, times the project was to be carried out, and things to be done for the presentation. Other things I did were to collect 157 magazine cards and assigned people to certain times to carry out the project, and obtain the bandannas from the Women Studies department.
Here is a video that shows a woman's picture being Photoshoped and airbrushed.
