Hollywood, as the past year in particular has established, is ripe with sexism. Writer, comedian, and musician Marcia Belsky decided to highlight the casual objectification of women in film through the simple yet horrifying representations of women (and, well, lack thereof) on movie posters. And thus, the Headless Women of Hollywood Project was born.
“By decapitating the woman, or fragmenting her body into decontextualized sexual parts, she becomes an unquestionably passive object to the male gaze,” Belsky wrote on the project’s homepage. “Her purpose becomes solely that of being looked at by men obediently.”
The website, which is always open to submissions (“send me the headless women you see,” Belsky requests) features an endless collection of contextless legs, boobs, and butts. In many of the images, men are staring at the female body parts. The men are also typically clothed, and depicted with faces, too.
You can learn more about the project on Twitter, and roll your eyes at some of these partial-depictions of women below. It’s only half a joke that while we’re reshaping Hollywood, maybe we should call for inclusion riders for promotional posters, too. After all, when it comes to portraying three-dimensional women, it seems like men really need this type of thing spelled out for them.
All photos via HeadlessWomenOfHollywood.com
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Lydia Wang is a writer, a Pisces, and one of BUST's digital editors. Find her on Twitter or say hi: lydiaw@bust.com.
