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Feminists: Remove WWII Sailor Statue Because It’s ‘Sexual Assault’
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11-10-2014 5:58pm#1We've all seen the infamous photo taken of a sailor kissing a woman celebrating VJ Day in 1945 in New York. Now a certain group of feminists want a statue depicting this iconic photo removed as it is a 'disgusting depiction of sexual assault in progress'.Feminists are demanding that a statue based on a famous end–of–World War II photo of a sailor kissing a woman be removed from Normandy — because it’s actually a sexual-assault statue.
The statue, placed near Pegasus Bridge in Northern France to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, depicts a sailor kissing a woman to celebrate V-J Day in New York City on August 14, 1945.
But the French feminist group Osez Le Féminisme has claimed that what the statue actually portrays is the sexual assault of a woman who did not give verbal consent before being kissed, and the group is petitioning to have it removed immediately.
Alfred Eisenstaedt, who took the original photograph, has said that George Mendonsa, the sailor depicted in the image, had been haphazardly kissing any woman who came close to him, without taking the time to explicitly ask for verbal consent.
Osez Le Féminisme maintains that the statue is clearly nothing more than the disgusting depiction of a sexual assault in progress.
“The sailor could have laughed with these women, hugged them, asked them if he could kiss them with joy,” the group told The Times of London.
“No, he chose to grab them with a firm hand to kiss them,” they continued. “It was an assault.”
The identity of the woman in the photograph has been disputed.
According to museum director Stéphane Grimaldi, the woman is a nurse named Edith Shain, who stated she had not been assaulted in any way.
The feminist group, however, said that the woman is actually an Austrian named Greta Zimmer Friedman.
Friedman has been quoted as saying: “I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me.” But she sharply rejected the assault claim after a 2012 blog post picked up on that quote to say the photo was an example of “The Selective Blindness of Rape Culture.”
“I can’t think of anybody who considered that as an assault,” Friedman told Navy Times, adding that she and Mendonsa — who were strangers at the time — stayed in touch over the years. “It was a happy event.”
Source (There is more on it here, however, while the page itself is fine the website contains content NSFW.)
What are you thoughts on this? Was the original event a sexual assault or an innocent celebration? This is the original photo and here is the statue1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Na5f3wxAIComments
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My local town put up a statue to John King http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_King_%28Medal_of_Honor%29.
When it was being put up it was covered with cling film until the local big knob did the necessary.
My sister in law, heavily pregnant at the time, nearly crashed her car she said "It looks like a postman with an erection".
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Buona Fortuna wrote: »My sister in law, heavily pregnant at the time, nearly crashed her car she said "It looks like a postman with an erection".
I used to live in Wales and campaigned for a postman with an erection statue for years in the town where I lived.
They never went for it but that just shows the lack of cultural foresight in the town of Postiehardon.0 -
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Shakespeare's Sister wrote: »Depends on what's being addressed. I think a lot of feminism is ridiculous too and hostile to men, but I wouldn't like a world where ANY concern about women in the western world, no matter how legitimate, were just dismissed as the crackpot side of feminism.
We're still daughters, wives, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, nieces, friends of guys, grandmothers, aunts... there's nothing wrong with concern about when we do experience negativity due to our gender, so I wouldn't agree with eradicating every strand of feminism, but much of it, like this crap, should **** off for sure.
Yes
The absolute tragedy of this, is that this stupid case detracts from absolute deperate cases that there are around the world:
Egypt - women assaulted and worse in Tahir Sq
India - Rapes going largely univestigated
India - Where widows have to leave their homes and go into some quasi religious purdour
Pakistan - Gang rapes ordered by village elders.
Glad I got that off my chest, I'll go and have another glass of wine 0 -
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