Leggings - for girls and women - they're a "go-to" wardrobe accessory - you can use them for dressing up, casual wear, or just chilling at home - like comfort food from your closet.
But, now they're also being used to make a political statement about sexual harassment. As part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence " the Mexican Embassy and the National Women's Commission have put together an art exhibition called Life in Leggings. It opens tonight and we got a preview and an explanation today:
Ann-Marie Williams
"This space is very powerful, it is a space of courageous species, it is a space of shame, it is a space of anger. We have students from Sacred Heart College telling their stories of being harassed on the street, being touched while going to school and while on their way home. It brings disgust, it brings shame, it makes them feel worthless. We have women who have been raped on the wall telling their stories, women who have been harassed, women who have been beaten by their husbands and this is an opportunity for the public to come and read these stories, to hear these stories and see how we could ban together. Ronelle King, who started Life in Leggings, a woman out of Barbados, used leggings because she was on the street with a pair of tight leggings and the man felt that he could harass her. So, it is symbolic of the fact that it doesn't matter what a woman wears, you must not violate her. I like to say that the Central Bank publishes its figures and nobody robs the bank. Why should women be subjected to the fact that you see a woman wearing short pants and you feel like you could touch her? It's a violation and it is not acceptable."
Hugo Juarez Carrillo, Counsellor for Legal Affairs and Press - Mexican Embassy
"This is something that everybody should be aware of and something that everybody should be against of. This is something that is damaging our mothers, our sisters, our wives, our daughters. Then we, especially as men, should be aware of the consequences of these types of violence that is not only physical, it could be psychological and it could be economical."
The exhibition includeS 25 pairs of leggings and 25 short stories from women and children of Belize addressing gender-based violence.
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