York students tackle issues like slut-shaming and victim-blaming in a series of comics.
Sexual violence is no laughing matter, but students at York University are drawing comics to bring the issue to the fore.
For their Design for Public Awareness class, students at the university that spawned the international SlutWalk movement have made 12 projects using the comic medium to explore the topic of sexual violence. One comic, titled In a Tight Situation, depicts Batman consoling a forlorn Superman with the caption, “I shouldn’t have worn such tight clothing! I was asking for it – it’s all my fault,” scrawled at the top of the frame in what’s an ironic portrayal of victim-blaming. Another piece, The Monsters I See, a 16-page graphic novella about who a girl is judged after her sexual assault, shines a light on slut-shaming.
Prof. Jan Hadlaw said she “had to think about it for a minute” before approving the concept, because sexual violence is such a challenging topic. “But It was clearly an inspired idea,” she said.
Currently, York’s Centre for Human Rights is considering how they can use the comics. A couple of the ideas they’re floating around include publishing The Monsters I See and using the In a Tight Situation design on graphic tees. There are already plans to hand out the comics to students over the course of the next school year.
[via the Toronto Star]
————
Josh Sherman is an intern at Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @joshuaxsherman.
For more, follow us on Twitter @TorontoStandard and subscribe to our newsletter.
