This piece was done especially for the “To Dan with love” show. I have used two major images of the fight for choice and the control over women’s bodies .The coat hanger and the corset.

I don’t think I need to explain the coat hanger except to say that when a woman’s right to choose becomes illegal women will once again die in back alleys and bedrooms. I chose the coat hanger because it is an easily recognized symbol of black-market abortion.

The corset is a symbol, for me, of not only the restrictions made on women but the fetishization of the female form, taking it far away from reality.

Of all the various forms of female underwear, the corset in its various guises has probably played the largest role in keeping women immobilised over the centuries. They restricted movement, made breathing shallow and difficult (reducing lung capacity by almost 2/3) thus giving women the reputation being “delicate flowers” who could not exert themselves very far without fainting. Corsets were also used as a metaphor for virtue, despite the fact that courtesans were as tightly laced as any other woman. It was thought that an ungirdled woman might be wanton or “loose”.

http://www.womenshistory.org.au/Publications/pubs-unmentionables.htm This stylized corset is made from common coat hangers, and adored with pink and purple ribbons .My basic message is that no matter how beautifully you wrap it up restrictions placed on what any woman can do with their body is dangerous. Where do the limitations stop? Should we return to Victorian days where women?

n many different ways women were regarded as second class, even though Queen Victoria had been on the throne for fourteen years and few people would have dared to argue with her.

No women could vote

At work, women had few opportunities. Work in textile factories was one of the few that women had, the other main one was domestic service, which became even more important in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Women's legal rights were also restricted. In 1851 a woman could not even be the legal guardian of her own children and could not retain her own property after marriage. This led to unscrupulous men trying to run away with rich heiresses and take their fortunes.

Middle class women usually did not work. Their role in the family was to supervise the household and support their husbands. The great majority of women seem to have accepted this role.

http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/victorianbritain/divided/default.htm

My last question to the public who say to a woman giving your child up for adoption is the proper/only/right answer to an unwanted /unplanned pregnancy is:

How many drug addicted babies did YOU adopt last year? Better yet how many perfect babies did you adopt last year?

that was your CHOICE.