By: Ryan Smith
From day to day out, women are being told to smile and look a “certain way” to appease men for their self-worth. But these opinions that men have about women are nothing but objective and disrespectful to the fullest. You see it happen on the streets, subways, stores and virtually anywhere people are interacting. This has been an ongoing issue that’s seen a worldwide pandemic within social change.
This brings me to a brilliant social street artist by the name of Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. This movement started here in the ever-growing city of Brooklyn, New York in 2012. You’ll see portraits put up around various locations in the city of actual women that have been interviewed for this project with quotes such as “MY WORTH EXTENDS FAR BEYOND MY BODY”, “I AM NOT HERE FOR YOU” and “YO MEREZCO SER RESPETADA” which translates to “I Deserve To Be Respected”. By making her work in multiple languages she’s able to reach a larger audience of the general public and therefore get her voice out there. Behind each of these portraits has a larger story and their own experiences that each woman holds near to themselves. They shared what it’s like to have these daily experiences with harassment and how daunting it can take a toll on oneself.
After starting only 10 years ago this ever-growing social change has reached far-off places around our earth. These brave women’s stories are being told in New York, Berlin, France, Canada, Mexico, Trinidad, and the UK. It wasn’t until 2015, that Fazlalizadeh took this project to Mexico, making it international. It was the first step into bringing this movement worldwide and expanding her voice to the ends of the earth. Two years later she brought Stop Telling Women to Smile to her home state of Oklahoma, which is a primarily Republican state in wake of the 2016 election of Trump. The text read “America is black. It is Native. It wears hijab. It is Spanish speaking tongue. It is migrant. It is a woman. Has been here. And it’s not going anywhere.” That piece being in a republican state spoke volumes and raised an uproar, but she stuck to her guns and stood her ground. Her tenacity didn’t stop there, she brought in another groundbreaking movement in 2020 where her murals portraying exquisite portraits of Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, Tony McDade, and Nina pop in New York City. These portraits raised awareness addressing Racial and Transphobic violence happening today.
That just goes to show how many social issues there are and how it affects so many people from so many different walks of life. It shines a spotlight on the fact that no matter where you reside, the similarities of harassment are jarring enough for women to all resonate with and have similar stories. There are countless individuals, including myself that have the utmost respect for Fazlalizadeh and the dedication it took for her to get her voice out there and help so many other women voice their opinion on what’s been happening.
As the project is titled “Stop Telling Women To Smile”, it goes far beyond just that, but furthermore, it dives into the fact that just because a woman might wear a specific outfit that doesn’t give any man or person the right to an invitation to them or any unjust opinion. Women should be to wear and do anything in this world that they so do please without the constant harassment from men who seem to believe they have a right to voice their own opinion when in fact they should know their place and show these women the respect that they so rightfully deserve. From having countless women as friends, I’ve heard stories about how just walking from the train station to work here in New York City, they would get unnecessarily cat-called from men. The amount of disrespect and harassment that these women must feel daily is downright horrific and heartbreaking. No one should have to endure such an uncomfortable feeling when they are simply trying to go about their day.
This movement not only shines a light upon this worldwide pandemic amongst women but also hopefully a step in the right direction as an entire society in the fact that we owe it to ourselves to treat women with more dignity and respect regardless of the circumstance. As men, we truly don’t understand the pain these women endure and have to face when out in public but what we can do is stand up for what’s right and lift women and give them the respect they deserve.
Lee. R, Felicia. “An Artist Demands Civility on the Street With Grit and Buckets of Paste.” The New York Times, 9 Apr. 2014 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/arts/design/tatyana-fazlalizadeh-takes-her-public-art-project-to-georgia.html
Fabulize Magazine, Contributor. “It’s Important For Men to Understand That They Need To Stop Telling Women to Smile.” 11 April. 2016 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/its-important-for-men-to-stop-telling-women-to-smile_b_9655246
Lambkin, Kelly and Cortland, Suny. “2 New York Artists Who Used Graffiti to Ignite Social Change.” 15 Nov. 2017 https://studybreaks.com/culture/graffiti-ignite-social-change-new-york/
Fazlalizadeh, Tatyana “Stop Telling Women to Smile.” www.tlynnfaz.com
