Behind the Collection:
(Scroll down for my plans for the collection, including prints, etc.)
The Rape Academy news did not surprise me. I was a victim of childhood sexual assault. I was a victim of teenage (still a child by the way) sexual assault in a room full of men who did not help. I was a victim of sexual assault by a man who, when I didn’t want to have sex, would run the full gamut between pouting and punching until I just gave in. After I left him, I was asked at a party why I left him. When I told people, they told me to stop killing the vibe.
So, no, I was not surprised by the Rape Academy news. In and of itself, it did not enrage me. It just made me really fucking sad. But I’ll tell you what did enrage me. And it cuts down to the core of why things like Rape Academies and cases like Gisèle Pelicot’s can exist. Men will enable and protect other men, before they will ever protect a woman. When I was sharing news of the Rape Academy and why it affected me personally, I was met with so many men picking apart women’s rage instead of being enraged themselves.
Men said that it was just a small part of an entire porn website, so the 62 million hits themselves were not an exact number for the one subsection of the porn website. Men said that it wasn’t all men. Men said that it was probably a lot of hits by the same men instead of 62 million individual men. Men had so many ways to strip apart this article. They were tripping over themselves to tear apart the numbers or the location or the women themselves. But very few of them stopped to reflect on how horrible it was. Very few men stopped to condemn the men on this subcategory of a porn site.
Not only does this speak to why this sort of thing is so pervasive, it also speaks to the weaponized incompetence women already face from men every day. They know that it’s bad. They know that it doesn’t matter exactly how many men it was. One man teaching only one other man how to rape their partner and get away with it is too many. One subcategory dedicated to how to rape women and get away with it is too many and it doesn’t matter if the website was kink or casual porn. And they all know this.
But they didn’t want us to know that they knew, because then they would have to be held accountable, too. Because then they would be expected to do something to actually protect instead of just pounding their chests behind a keyboard.
And THAT enraged me.
Because not only did we, women, as a collective have to come to terms with the fact that men were teaching other men how to rape us and get away with it, we also had to defend ourselves from the blatantly ignorant excuses.
And I wanted to hurt them all.
When I started the collection, I was just trying to find somewhere to put my rage so that it didn’t fester in me and cause just as much damage as every man who had ever touched me without my consent. But it evolved somehow and became not about me at all. It became about our collective rage as women and how none of us knew where to put it. So, I finished the collection for all of us. And I want to make the pieces accessible to all of us, too.
If you want to know more about each painting, click them and it will take you to their respective posts.
My Plans:
I’m keeping the original paintings. I would really love it if I could arrange a tour for them. My dream would be to be part of a female rage collection that goes on tour. But I’m not a gallerist and I don’t know how to arrange a tour like that, though I’ve seen plenty of them. If anyone know of anyone who curates and arranges tours for collections like that, please get them in touch with me.
I’m still waiting on Patience and Perseverance to dry. Then it and Jack-o-Lantern and Dick Cheese Grater will be varnished this week and scanned as soon as the varnish is dry. The tentative dates for pre-order are July 3rd – July 17th. That’s if everything goes well.
All products will be pre-order and a portion of the profits will go to End the Backlog.
Prints
Prints will be available in two sizes: 5″ by 7″ and 11″ by 14″
They will be limited to however many are ordered during pre-order and might not show up in the shop after.
Prints will be signed and numbered on the back.
5×7 – $24
11×14 – $45
Postcard Sets
The postcard sets will 4″ by 6″ postcards with a white border.
The title will be on the back. (I do not recommend mailing them.)
They are not limited to a pre-order, but I have to sell at least ten sets to make any. Whatever is left over from the pre-order will go in my shop.
$18 per set
Stickers
STICKERS will come individually and in sets.
I’m not sure if they’ll stick around (heh) or not. I have no clear plans as of yet.
$4 each,
$18 for a set of all six
I’m giving a heads-up with tentative dates, because pre-order will only be available for two weeks.
How Does Pre-Order Work?
Pre-order is a way for me to keep my overhead costs low, so I’m not creating a bunch of product that will just sit around.
For the two weeks that pre-order is open I’ll be doing nothing except promoting the pre-orders–with maybe some sample products printed up to show.
After pre-order closes, that is when I will start making and signing prints and stickers and will order the postcards from a third party printer.
As soon as your orders are ready they’ll be shipped out to you.
If you have any questions, leave them below.
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So you don’t miss the drop or any other updates from me in the future–I get banned and censored and my account gets disabled–signing up for my newsletter is the only surefire way to keep following me and my work.
❤ Liz
@socialanxietyandart
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