Following a conversation about how she and her fellow classmates kept themselves safe on campus, Taylor Yocom decided to use the experience to highlight the sheer numbers of women who are sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
The University of Iowa student collated a series of photographs depicting females holding up the objects they carry with them when they're walking home alone, in case they need to use them for self-defense.
"In the wake of the taxicab sexual assaults in the Iowa City community last year, my female classmates and I discussed how we keep ourselves safe on walks home at night," she said on her website. "We pulled our mace and rape whistles out of our pockets and showed them off---not one of us was fazed.
"The men in the room were taken aback that we even needed to think about this. This discrepancy between men and women’s vulnerability hit me on a deep level: the objects of self-defense we attached to our key chains spoke volumes. They were the physical manifestation of the realities that women have to face every day: the necessity to be “on guard” in a society plagued by rape culture and victim blaming.
"I knew that I had to visually portray this situation that is so often overlooked."
The University of Iowa student collated a series of photographs depicting females holding up the objects they carry with them when they're walking home alone, in case they need to use them for self-defense.
"In the wake of the taxicab sexual assaults in the Iowa City community last year, my female classmates and I discussed how we keep ourselves safe on walks home at night," she said on her website. "We pulled our mace and rape whistles out of our pockets and showed them off---not one of us was fazed.
"The men in the room were taken aback that we even needed to think about this. This discrepancy between men and women’s vulnerability hit me on a deep level: the objects of self-defense we attached to our key chains spoke volumes. They were the physical manifestation of the realities that women have to face every day: the necessity to be “on guard” in a society plagued by rape culture and victim blaming.
"I knew that I had to visually portray this situation that is so often overlooked."