Fashion show posters vandalized

Organizers of a Concordia fashion show were shocked to see their posters defaced repeatedly in the Hall building last week, charging that they are misogynistic.
Statements such as “this is rape” and “sexist” were scrawled across posters advertising the annual charity fashion show. The event was created by a subsidiary of the Commerce and Administration Student Association (CASA), CASA Cares. Disturbed by the acts of vandalism, the event organizers say the vandals have missed the point.
“I feel that [the vandals] lost track of what the event is,” said CASA Cares president Melissa Chryssochou. “It’s a charity fashion show.” Proceeds will be donated to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
A CASA Cares executive, Chris Kyte, said a girl he met in the hallway confessed to him that she vandalized the posters. “The girl . . .told me why she did it personally,” said Kyte. “She said she found that it was rape, she found that the man was being too provocative.”
Though CASA Cares knows the identity of the girl who confessed to Kyte, Chryssochou refused to reveal this information and said she would prefer to address the issue “internally.”
Chryssochou said the image was selected to reflect the fashion show’s theme, “Temptation,” rather than the foundation the event was benefiting.
Lauren Scott, the female model who appears in the poster, said she was instructed to play the role of a glamorous woman fighting against her “forbidden” attraction to the male model’s rebellious character.
When asked if she felt that message was expressed, Scott answered, “I think that they did the best they could considering that myself and the other model weren’t professional. We communicated the message as best as possible . . . No one’s intentions were for them to come across as negative.”
“Overall I think it was a really successful ad campaign, and I was proud to be part of such a worthwhile organization,” concluded Scott.
Professor of media studies and panelist at the recent “Women, Gender and the Media” debate at Concordia, Leslie Shade, admitted the woman on the poster “looks dazed and zombieish, . [but] that ‘rape’ [was] scrawled across them is just immature, dumb . . . and in poor taste . . . ”
Though she admitted that the woman in the poster “looks dazed and zombieish,” professor of media studies and panelist at the recent, Leslie Shade said “that ‘rape’ [being] scrawled across them is just immature, dumb . . . and in poor taste . . .”
Chryssochou, Scott, and Kyte all agree that it would have been better for the vandal or vandals to come and speak directly with CASA Cares about the posters. “Obviously we couldn’t have changed them,” admitted Chryssochou. “But maybe we could have explained the theme better, explained why the images were chosen, rather than the whole vandalizing, all the fuss about how they are offensive.”
“Despite this little incident,” Kyte concludes, “this is not going to withdraw us from promoting events the way we want to promote events.”