‘My Name Isn’t Lilly’: Victim Support Malta Put Up Powerful Piece For International Women’s Day
On International Women’s Day, many people take the time to celebrate the women in their lives and those that have inspired them. But the day is also used to raise awareness regarding the battles and obstacles that have to overcome.
Local communications agency TBWA\ANG has teamed up with Victim Support Malta (VSM) to campaign against street harassment towards women in Malta, and they did so with an artistic flair.
Inspired by the Netflix series ‘She’s Gotta Have It’, TBWA/ANG commissioned local street artist C0ok3r to paint a mural over at White Rocks in Pembroke.
The mural reads “My name isn’t Lilly”, in reference to the classic (and notorious) Maltese cat call “Aw Lilly”.
You know, the one that everyone freaked out over because they thought it would land them in jail? And totally ignored the fact that the law was about harassment in general?
Anyway.
For those of you who don’t know the reference that this graffiti is making, it’s actually following up on an international movement started by a Netflix series
In the first episode of the series, directed by Spike Lee and based on his 1986 film of the same name, Nola Darling is walking home from a friend’s home late at night when a man calls out to her, “Sexy! Sexy! What’s your name girl?”. After she rejects him, he grabs her by the wrists and calls her a bitch.
She channels her anger by plastering posters around Brooklyn that read “My Name Isn’t Baby Gurl,” “My Name Isn’t Honey,” “My Name Isn’t Psst” and other messages reclaiming agency over women’s safety in public spaces.
“Cat calling is an international issue which disproportionately affects women” – VSM Director Krista Tabone
“It’s so common, that I cannot even hope to remember the amount of times that it’s happened to me. Whether I’m walking my dog in the early mornings, or coming home from a party late at night – it doesn’t seem to make a difference. It’s belittling, it makes you feel as though you’re not a real person, just a piece of meat who caught someone’s attention. And I’ve heard arguments about it being a compliment – it isn’t. A compliment is defined as ‘a polite expression of praise or admiration’. Reducing a woman to a wolf-whistle, body part, or Lilly, is not a compliment.“
This stunt aims to bring awareness towards the fight against street harassment and for Victim Support Malta.