It’s the 60 year anniversary of the famous photograph “American girl in Italy” and the subject of the photo is speaking out.
Last year, I discovered the photo when I saw it at a restaurant. I looked it up and blogged about it. To me, it looked like a very upsetting street harassment experience, especially based on the look on the woman’s face. A few weeks ago the woman in the photograph, Ninalee Craig, commented on my blog post and I was surprised by what she wrote. She said,
“I was that young woman in the photograph. I was 23 years old. It was taken at 10:30 in the morning. It was not set up, or posed. I was walking with confidence in Florence, a city I knew and loved. Yes, it was a corner filled with men, but not for one moment did any of them “harass” or disturb. It was an instant in which I was Beatrice, and among the men, might be a Dante. It was, and remains a delightful memory of an Italy that was. And, still is. Ninalee.”
I thought it was a prankster until someone sent me a link to a Globe and Mail article where Ms. Craig made a similar comment about the photo. Today someone tweeted to me a Yahoo article about it and the article quotes Ms. Craig’s recent appearance on the “Today” show:
“In her “Today” appearance, Craig spoke about how, despite what some might say, the photo isn’t a “symbol of harassment.” Craig insists that the image is “a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time.”
(I wonder what facial expression she makes when she’s having a miserable time because her “wonderful time” face looks like most people’s “miserable time” face!!)
Her comments beg the question: Does the photograph depict street harassment or not?
I believe that it does. Those men do not know her (she says it was not staged) and in a public place they are grabbing crotches and making faces that suggest they are uttering sexually objectifying comments and sounds. That is street harassment.
Ironically, the photograph was part of a series the photographer Ruth Orkin titled Don’t Be Afraid to Travel Alone, based on their joint experience as women traveling alone in Europe in the 1950s. Orkin photographed Craig shopping in the markets, crossing traffic, riding a carriage and flirting at a cafe. In my interpretation of it, that photo shows discomfort and maybe even fear. It would not entice me, as woman, to want to travel alone through Italy.
And in fact, in college, I originally wanted to study abroad in Italy, but I chose not to after I heard some terrible street harassment experiences from women who had been there (including a shop owner groping a family friend when she was in line to buy food). Italy has a misogynistic culture and street harassment is rampant. Consequently, Italy was one of three countries I highlighted in my book as being street harassment hot zones.
Ms. Craig, however, disagrees with my interpretation and feels it was not harassment and unproblematic.
Women don’t all agree with what is harassment and I’m glad she didn’t feel harassed. I’m glad she has fond memories of it.
I also know that when this photograph was taken, it was a different era. Back then no one knew the term street harassment or even sexual harassment and it was acceptable and expected behavior that women had to deal with. And she dealt with it and continued to have a good time in Italy. Wonderful.
But I can’t let it go at that. The behavior captured in the photograph IS problematic! It is street harassment even if the subject didn’t feel harassed. If someone is paid less for the same job as someone else because of their race and/or gender that is pay discrimination even if that person doesn’t feel discriminated against!
Street harassment is how some men exert male dominance and ownership over the streets and ensure that women who may not have the fortitude of Ms. Craig choose not to be in public alone, or feel discomfort when they are there. Do you see any other women on the street? No. That is a problem!
The men’s behavior contributes to the lack of gender equality in our society: it keeps women from having the same access to public spaces as men. Even if it doesn’t bother one individual, it bothers most women and contributes to a misogynistic culture.
Your thoughts?
New York Chica says
I agree with you. But perhaps she decided to not see it for what it was and thus perceived it differently to not ruin the mood of her vacation. We’ve all done that in one form or another – brushed off some incident of rudeness or slight as minor or not worth worrying over, instead choosing to explain it away as perhaps something that was not really meant to offend. Then you can just happily get on with your day.
I also think that you have to remember the time period. Women were not the least bit empowered in any way, shape or fashion in those days, and she probably didn’t know that she had any right to be outraged, uncomfortable or to have any negative feelings about it. Women of that day were taught to be docile, compliant, accepting and certainly to not complain about “men being men”. I think you have to see her interpretation of the incident as the result of the way women were socialized at the time. “Boys will be boys, men will be men, just make sure that you remain a lady”.
If you didn’t take all the lemons that were thrown at you constantly as a woman living in a sexist society and immediately turn them into lemonade, you’d end up in the loony bin, or having to self medicate in some way. Riot girls did not exist, and if they did, they got stamped out quickly!
This woman decided to turn this negative event into a positive in her mind. And I have to tell you, though we may think otherwise, she certainly has the right to do that.
Stephanie says
My thought is that no one has the right to impose upon another person’s ownership of their own experience. It is unacceptable to invalidate a victim’s trauma by telling them that what happened to them “doesn’t count” as harassment, rape, torture or whatever the case may be. By that same token, this woman has stated in no uncertain terms that she was having a wonderful time on her vacation and that she did not feel disrespected by the men shown in the photograph. Who are any of us to tell her “uhn-uhn, that’s not what it looks like to ME.” She was enough of an assertive freethinker in her day to leave her job behind and take herself on an adventure. Those are not the characteristics of someone who is docile, compliant or unempowered. We must consider that and take caution when filtering the facts of someone elses life through the lenses of our own perceptions.
Darwin Punk says
I guess it depends, is the behaviour of Street Harassment the problem, or is the negative experience of the harassee which defines it? I like to put the onus on the harassers, not the victim, who had no choice in the interaction and was just minding their own business when it occurred. I believe that the men in the photo were of the same frame of mind as those we encounter on the street in our experiences of street harassment, because they are, as you say, sexually objectifying her. It is their frame of mind, not hers, which makes it street harassment. If they were doing that to you or I, it would clearly be harassment. Just because some women enjoy that kind of attention does not make it appropriate behaviour on the part of the harassers, because a huge number of us do NOT enjoy it.
Alan says
I’m glad ms. Craig doesn’t remember her experience negatively. But just because some pedestrians can cross the street safely, dodging cars, without the help of traffic laws and cross walks, doesnt mean they all can. I hope to continue to raise a voice against harassers and harassing incidents so that all women can feel safe when in public.
Beckie says
Well said Darwin!