I decided to call my friend Kara Kvaran, who is a professor of Women’s Studies and also a lifelong fan of punk rock to see what she thought about this cover. Her dissertation was about gender politics in punk rock and she is also a part of the punk subculture. When I told Kara that while the image shocked me, I couldn’t get over the fact that I felt like I wasn’t being shocked for the right reasons, this is what she had to say:
“If your attempt in art is shock or satire, then you would draw something that wasn’t reality for a lot of women. But the fact that rape is so common and not taken seriously, to me means that showing an image like that isn’t satire. It’s saying that’s the place that women belong. This image says, ‘we don’t take rape seriously.’ In that way, it doesn’t become about shock or satire it becomes exactly what is expected.”
It fascinates me where O’Holla’s mind goes when she’s writing her reviews. We really need more of that. Check the full review here. AND DO FOLLOW HER!
