Violence against women is a global epidemic. When we come across violence against women in literature and art, it’s not the content that is the problem but who is saying it, how, and why they are saying it. I am all for survivors of abuse reclaiming those narratives through art. We need to reclaim those narratives. We need to reshape our realities.

And this need is exactly why it’s such a problem that men continue to aestheticize images of violence against women, and especially when they do so without explicit context, and especially when editors and readers treat this aestheticization as something deserving of a platform. This doesnothing but give agency to misogynistic tropes and thus further silences the voices of those who already have to struggle so hard to be heard. It’s not a man’s job to articulate these narratives, and women are not objects to be torn apart for the aesthetic factor of a man’s “art.” It’s not cool. It’s not edgy. It’s fucking disgusting, and it’s fucking disgusting that I have to point out that it’s fucking disgusting.

Holy Hiatus Batman! We’re back! Come check out Episode 22: a universe in every heart with Sarah Certa! We discuss the impression of the image on the page, poetry, hip hop dance inspiration, writing through the noise, workings of the human body, objectification, and making brash statements that will hopefully turn out to be untrue, maybe.

Fivehundred places. Edited by Jason Dodge