S&M Ad for Stones Album Provoked Women to Protest: Lewis Lapham
"The Feminist Promise"
Random House via Bloomberg
The cover jacket of "The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present." The book is the latest by Christine Stansell.
The cover jacket of "The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present." The book is the latest by Christine Stansell. Source: Random House via Bloomberg
Christine Stansell
Random House via Bloomberg
Author Christine Stansell. "The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present" is the latest book by Stansell.
Author Christine Stansell. "The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present" is the latest book by Stansell. Source: Random House via Bloomberg
Lewis Lapham of Lapham's Quarterly in New York. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Bound with ropes, bruises clearly visible, a giant, scantily clad woman sprawled on the billboard high above Sunset Boulevard. It was model Anita Russell promoting a new album. “I’m Black and Blue from the Rolling Stones,” she exclaimed. “And I love it!”
The year was 1976 and women were taking a closer look at the way they were portrayed in popular culture. Fed up with the flagrantly misogynistic images used to titillate men and move product, Los Angeles feminist group Women Against Violence Against Women staged a demonstration, getting widespread media coverage.
The S&M-tinged billboard was removed. The album went on to spend four weeks at the top of the charts, ultimately going platinum. Debate about the imagery of the female body continues.
I spoke with Christine Stansell, author of “The Feminist Promise” (Modern Library), on the following topics:
1. Exclusion of Women
2. Getting the Vote
3. Viragos and Harpies
4. Body Politics
5. Love and Work
To buy this book in North America, click here.
(Lewis Lapham is the founder of Lapham’s Quarterly and the former editor of Harper’s magazine. He hosts “The World in Time” interview series for Bloomberg News.)
To contact the writer on the story: Lewis Lapham in New York at lhl@laphamsquarterly.org.
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