A few days ago, a group of artists installed life-size statues of a naked Donald Trump in public spaces across the United States. Images of these statues quickly went viral as liberal America laughed at the Trump statue's small genitalia and fat stomach. As I watched these photos circulate, I was uncomfortable but didn't know exactly why until some of the people I follow on Twitter started critiquing the statues for body shaming, transphobia, and ageism amongst other things. As a young, able-bodied, cisgender woman, it was really important for me to read these critiques and learn from them. So, here is what I learned about the current climate of ageism, transphobia, and body-shaming from those Donald Trump statues.
- We still think fat shaming is funny.
- We still value masculinity enough that emasculating someone is an acceptable critique of their opinions and behaviors.
- We are willing to participate in oppression if it is done against someone we are against.
- We will excuse poorly made “jokes” if they are in the form of “political art.”
- We don’t really care about transphobia outside of public bathrooms.
- We choose the "lowest hanging fruit" to make jokes from.
Thank you to PWR BTTM, Marissa Jenae Johnson, and Ijeoma Oluo for educating me on how I can better advocate for and stand with communities that I am not directly a part of.
