“This Oppresses Women” Stickers Make the News and Morph into Graffiti in NYC Subway

In today’s Huffington Post, reporter Emma Gray sympathetically covers National Women’s Liberation and Redstockings‘ revitalization of vintage 1969 “This Oppresses Women” stickers in a campaign to fight sexist advertising and street harassment. In Gray’s article “‘This Oppresses Women’ Stickers Give Body-Shaming Ads The Edit They So Desperately Need,” she frames the campaign as raising “public consciousness surrounding the ways advertisements contribute to a culture of sexual harassment and over-sexualization of women.”

Not only has the public response begun to escalate on social media with the Huffington Post article and #thisoppresseswomen on twitter and instagram, but one National Women’s Liberation organizer found evidence of an unknown independent activist managing to plant a graffitti version of the sticker in a highly visible but difficult to reach spot at New York City’s Union Square subway station.

Email NWL if you missed the last meeting, but would still like to get involved this summer – nwl@womensliberation.org. We will be handing out more copies of our stickers at the next NWL meeting at the Brooklyn Commons on Tuesday, July 21 at 7 pm.

Share your photos of “This Oppresses Women” slogans slapped on sexist advertisements and images with #thisoppresseswomen. And keep up with the Redstockings and NWL facebook pages for even more conversations, debates, and updates on our actions.

Sticker Action in the Subways and More Campaigning Against Sexist Admakers & Street Harrassers

Sticker discovered on ad in 23rd St C/E station in Manhattan

3 Upcoming meetings, the first on June 16th!

From a National Women’s Liberation Email:

Women, are you sick of being bombarded with advertisements that depict women only as sexual objects? That use our bodies to sell products? That embolden men to disrespect us? That tell us we are not worthy unless we conform to unrealistic, sexist, racist, and unhealthy beauty standards? So are we! Join us and fight back. Attend our next meeting on Tues June 16th at 7pm (details below).

National Women’s Liberation and Redstockings recently teamed up to re-create the vintage 1969 “This Oppresses Women” sticker for slapping on sexist ads. The sticker is one of the “1960s gems” from the Redstockings Women’s Liberation Archives for Action. Help us plan a zap action using the stickers this summer.

Take pictures of offensive ads and send them to us to share on our facebook page – and join and share the facebook event.

The original 1969 sticker.

More on the stickers

The sticker was an outgrowth of our joint 10 week class, “Building Women’s Liberation Now: Gems from the 1960s and Beyond for Radical Feminist Theory & Action Today.” Through consciousness-raising, women testified about being fed up with men who feel entitled to harass us on the street, tell us to smile, and/or comment on our appearance. From there we dug deeper, investigating the connection between street harassment and what corporate forces gain through the sexualization and exploitation of women in advertising plastered all over our public spaces. This summer we plan to raise consciousness publicly.

Meeting Details

Tuesday June 16th from 7:00-900pm

The Commons in Brooklyn, 388 Atlantic Avenue between Hoyt and Bond, near the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street A/C/G. You can also take the 2,3,4,5 to Nevins or the D,N,R to Atlantic-Pacific. Map.

RSVP: Encouraged but not required, to nwl@womensliberation.org.

Reserve Third Tuesdays @ the Commons for our monthly meetings

• Tues June 16 7:00-9:00
• Tues July 21 7:00-9:00
• August – no meeting
• Tues September 15th 7:00-9:00