Grandinetti’s bold commentary on “rape culture” hits home
Whether you agree with her or not, you’ve got to give Niagara Falls City Councilwoman Kristen Grandinetti credit. She speaks her mind, lets the chips fall where they may and apparently doesn’t worry about what anyone thinks.
Last week, on her Facebook page, the kindergarten teacher posted a picture of a young woman, naked from the waist up, with a cigarette in her hand. Some white makeup is covering her nipples and the words “STILL NOT ASKING FOR IT” are scrawled across her torso with Magic Marker.
Such demonstrations are a commentary about rape, pointing out the fact that no matter how scantily or seductively a woman is dressed, it is never an invitation for unwanted sexual advances.
“Point proven …” Grandinetti wrote. “I am saddened and disgusted by the remarks made by men that I know … some of you have daughters. It is abundantly clear that this issue is still nowhere near being resolved.”
Still, some women in Grandinetti’s audience missed the point.
“I don’t get it!!!” wrote Paula Placek.
A former student of Grandinetti’s jumped in to clarify the situation.
“Even though she’s not wearing a shirt doesn’t mean she’s asking for it,” wrote April Joyce. “No one ever asks for it no matter what their wearing.”
Grandinetti expressed pride in her former pupil’s perceptiveness.
“That’s my girl April Joyce,” she wrote. “You did learn something from me.”
The “Still Not Asking For It” meme exploded into prominence after Australian photographer Rory Banwell released a series of powerful black and white photographs by that name. The photos depict both men and women emblazoned with that phrase and others, including “Fashion Is Not An Invitation” and “Alcohol Is Not An Excuse” in what Banwell described as a “commentary on the rape culture.”
Banwell says she started the project in 2014, after she found out she and her husband Alex were expecting a baby girl. “Someone actually said to Alex that it was ‘time to buy a gun’ and we were so disappointed that people’s initial reactions were that we would need to protect her, purely because of her gender,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
In Niagara Falls, Banwell’s message found an eager audience in Grandinetti, who has never been shy about sharing her views with the public via Facebook posting.
During the runup to the election, the councilwoman abstained from posting her sometimes controversial views at the behest of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, who was running for reelection.
