September 14, 2014 - 13:18
I chose the photo that I found this summer while reading a Huffington Post article. The article was about an Italian photographer, Olivier Fermariello, who was quoted saying " I see disability as a mirror for society, Most of us belong to the 99% of people who do not fit in the standards of manipulated beauty". The people with disablities were pictured within their sexual fantasy. Fermariello's quote really resonated with me. The majority of people feel that they are not beautiful enough compared to the standards made by society and so this shared between able and disabled bodies alike. It also reminded me of Clare when he spoke about how feminists fight being constantly sexually objectified while people with disabilities yearn to be looked at sexually rather than jut ignored or pittied (the being a generalization of course). Which made me realize that although I loath cat calling, there have been many moments ( too many to count) that I have felt jealousy for a friend recieving more objectification than me. This makes me question whether this need/want to be looked out as a sexual being equates wanting to be objectifed? I also have an inner debate of whether this want is shared equally among sexes and varying age groups? And whether wanting to be a sexual being is due to the media creating this fantasy image of what it means to be a sexual being. Do we all innately share the want to be "sexy" or have learned to want to be known as "sexy"? Overall, I felt Fermariello's pictures depicted people with disabled in a very different light than what they are constantly casted in. She dissolved a border between able ad disable bodied people.
Here is a link to the original article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/olivier-fermariello_n_5731796.html