A good debate has always surrounded the lengths of women’s skirts, but an artist may have provided insight into the types of individuals who wear them.
Rosea Lake, an 18-year-old student of graphic design and illustration at Capilano University in Vancouver, shared a photograph titled Judgements.
The image depicts a woman from behind, with ten words inscribed along her left leg that represent various hemlines; ‘matronly’ is written at the bottom of her calf while ‘whore’ is found just below her buttocks.
Resting beneath her knee is the label ‘proper’, with ‘flirty’ placed above it.
In only two weeks, Miss Lake’s photo has garnered over 270,000 comments due to its sharing across various social networking platforms.
One commenter stated on Facebook: ‘It doesn’t go down to the ankle, would that be graceful or elegant? I think so.’
Another expressed their discontent, saying: ‘Sure, let’s judge women like we did in the 1600’s. Disgusting!’
However, Laura Beck from Jezebel remarked: ‘This picture truly resonates with me. Like many women, I’ve been subjected to the finger length test to ensure my skirt was long enough in school and been questioned about why I was so covered up while wearing a maxidress. Some days it feels like a lady just can’t win.’
When she was 17, Miss Lake took the photograph as part of a high school project, expressing her intent for the piece to prevent people from jumping to conclusions based on women’s clothing choices.
She shared: ‘I came to realize that whenever I saw a woman in a short skirt, my immediate thought was ‘slut’ – and that made me feel bad.’
‘I also used to assume that all women wearing hijabs were oppressed. I reflected on slut shaming and acknowledged the need to cultivate a mindset of non-judgment.’
Due to popular demand, she is now planning to sell prints of Judgements; however, she mentioned that a small adjustment must be made first because the word ‘prudish’ is misspelled.
‘I didn’t notice that when I first created it. But for prints or other items, I will correct it,’ she clarified.
by Susan Floyd
