I’m in the City of Angels play, and don’t feel ‘exposed’ at all

When I asked my boyfriend, “what are you reading”’ yesterday when I was at home, I wasn’t expecting the response: “Oh, just an article about how you’ve been promoting a sexist show…oh! and by the way you were really unconformable during the whole process.” Not only this, a quote read “the girls in underwear have no real relevance to the plot”. And all this was attributed to a member of the Women’s Association.

The play’s poster

We had known there had been an anonymous complaint some time before, a complaint from an individual outside of the committee, and certainly not in the play’s cast. This complaint, again stating that these photos were of no relevance and were, in essence, “objectifying women”. The complaint further claimed that the play was cast, in part, simply on the looks of the girls (thank you for the compliment, anyhow). This was all taken on the chin, however, not ever expecting our faces to be put up on the internet next to terms flippantly used such as”‘sexist”, “objectification” and “exposure” – terms that should be saved for when they’re really needed. I wish those individuals had considered the implications of their accusations.

I have since learnt, speaking to the chair of the Women’s Association, who was totally lovely and in support of the images, that the society as a whole was not supportive of the statements made to The Tab. To say the WA endorses that view is incorrect. In any case, who were these individuals trying to protect? Certainly not us. I can assure you that every individual on these photos felt completely victimised without a chance of any defence by the very people who claimed to be defending women. It was embarrassing and what began as something empowering turned into something cheap and smutty. If feminism is about gals supporting each other, why have four girls been completely robbed of a voice? Why do four girls feel personally attacked? Our director is a woman, she has been accused of pimping out her girls and being labeled as sexist (she is not a pimp). It is totally backwards.

On behalf of myself, Annabel, Millie and Jessie, we’d like to say we love these promotional posters. We think we look fab, and we felt awesome doing them. I hope this doesn’t happen again, but if it were to reoccur, I would sincerely hope that the women involved would be the first point of contact. We’d like to speak for ourselves. We didn’t feel “exposed” until we were used to illustrate an ill-informed and non factual example of “sexism”.

I don’t want to be aggressive, and I certainly believe that people are entitled their own opinions. Sure, the images are a little risqué, the show is a little risqué. I unfortunately believe this is a case of a few uneducated individuals making a fuss over something they don’t quite understand – and an example of how vicious the rumour mill can be. We’d like to thank The Tab, and the Women’s Association for reaching out to us and letting us put this to rest. On a more positive note, do come and see the show! We’ve been working so hard to put it together – and that is what we would like to be recognised.