PORN/FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY by Ann-Sofie Back

Just next to my bus stop in Dalston someone has painted over the advert featuring the bikini-clad bum of a young woman on a Lilo. I find that very encouraging. I'm not sure if it's the lesbians or the Muslims who did it. I disagree with the sexualisation of society as a whole and the way women are portrayed in media and fashion. I don't want a picture of someone's peach bum in my face on the way to work and I feel humiliated by men looking at page 3 girls on the tube. But I find the fashion variety (or sanitized porn that can pass as 'art') far more disturbing. I prefer 'Pretty Woman' to 'Betty Blue' and Page Three girls to a fashion shoot by Terry Richardson. However, if I think about it from a man's perspective (this happens automatically), I'd like to lick that bum and bend her over and you know... This ability that I can fantasize about that is quite disturbing. It's a bit like how they say that children who are molested identify with their perpetrators to survive the humiliation and later on become molesters themselves. I'm angry with the media for turning me into a freak. I'm equally turned on by and disgusted by fashion and pornography. So, for my own sanity, I'm trying to present another ideal with my clothes and another woman. Maybe someone who doesn't need to identify with the man to be turned on.

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