Vanguard

Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: Lifestyles

http://www.michigandaily.com

The Guerrilla Girls On Tour made a stop at the University of South Alabama this past Wednesday, bringing funny feminist entertainment with them.

The show began with a darkened stage and three crouching women in gorilla masks, which they wear whenever in public. As the lights came on, music played and the inanimate feminists came to life, stripping off undergarments worn over their clothes in an exaggerated manner. Once all the bras, panties and corsets were on the floor, they danced with a giant banana. Soon after, "Shake Your Groove Thing" came over the speakers, and they tossed out real bananas to the audience.

Then they led the audience in a sort of pep rally, chanting "I'm from Alabama! Red-state Alabama. I am a feminist! A red-state feminist!" with the audience following their lead. They then introduced themselves with the names of dead female artists, explaining that they wear the masks in public and take on the names of deceased female artists to take the focus off of themselves and more on the issues that they address in their comedy skits.

They showed many images from their poster campaigns, including a "Not For Sale" sign with a girl in the picture to target human trafficking in Asia. They then took an audience poll, telling us all to close our eyes and asked how many of the audience considered themselves a feminist. Then they asked, "How many of you are for equal pay for equal work? Yes? Then you might consider yourself a feminist." Then they asked, "How many of you are for more pay for less work?" When more than 75 percent of the audience raised their hands, one of the Guerrilla Girls responded, "Well then you might consider yourselves lazy," which was met with laughter from the crowd.

"There's no stereotype for what a feminist looks like," said one of the masked ladies.

They began to read letters they've recieved. The first read was from a man in Iowa, saying that he enjoyed their show and that as a homosexual man, the death threat that one audience member made towards the girls scared him as much as it scared them. The next was from a girl who said that she enjoyed the show but did not agree with their views on abortion, saying that being pro-choice makes you the complete opposite of a feminist. They followed the letters section, saying, "Sometimes pissing people off is the only way to get their attention."

Continued...

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