Being catcalled on the street is annoying. It makes you feel exposed and unsafe. But the biggest problem with it is that, like so many forms of sexual harassment, it makes you feel powerless. You can’t stop it, you can’t confront it without escalating the harassment, and there’s no authority to defend you from it. In the past, I’ve been advised to ignore it, to cross the street, to avoid walking in certain areas without a male escort (including the block outside my apartment), and to laugh at the man in an otherwise empty subway car who decides to show me his penis. All of these strategies have their benefits and their detriments, but mostly what I do is freeze. What I’d really like to do is to transform from a mild-mannered female pedestrian into a superheroine who has the power to make these men shut the fuck up and put their junk away.
This sort of work fits in with the larger mission of Awakenings, which exhibits art about healing, mostly from sexual violence. Moretti sees catcalling as a form of sexual assault, on the same continuum as groping or rape. “When you’re catcalled, you’re not consenting,” she explains. “When there’s an assault, no one consents.”
The one man in the exhibit, Guy Thomas, submitted several pieces that are also prescriptive. Moretti elected to use just one, How to Be a Good Ally, which reflects Thomas’s experience as a man observing women being harassed, as opposed to his pieces advising those women or explaining what harassment is. “I don’t want people to feel like they’re being told what to feel,” Moretti says. “It’s part of the curation process.”
Through 1/31/17: Opening reception Thu 10/13, 6-9 PM Awakenings Foundation Gallery 4001 N. Ravenswood 773-904-8217awakeningsfoundation.net Free
