Using paint and powerful words, Jordan Hanz has shed light on the destructive stereotypes women face.
In a stop-motion video titled "Unattainable Woman," the YouTuber and body painter highlights the damaging labels women encounter. Hanz reveals different words painted on her body including "bitch" and "prude," as her narration discusses the stereotypes associated with them.
"If a woman shows confidence, defends herself, shows a differing opinion than what someone else may have, she's considered a bitch," she said in the video.
The 24-year-old told The Huffington Post that Amber Rose and Blac Chyna inspired her to make the video after they wore outfits featuring words like "stripper" and "slut" to the 2015 MTV VMAs. Rose explained on the red carpet that she and Chyna have been given those labels, and Hanz said she respected how they turned that negativity into a statement.
"It was so amazing to me, and it was so brave," Hanz said. "It really inspired me to kind of do my variation of it."
Hanz said the experience was more emotional than she thought it would be, especially when she wrote "asking for it" across her chest.
"Two years ago, I was a victim of sexual assault and I was made to feel that it was my fault," she told HuffPost.
Highlighting the effects of victim-blaming and slut-shaming wasn't easy for Hanz, but at the end of the video she frees herself from all of the derogatory labels by smearing them across her body and ultimately destroying them.
"Writing 'asking for it' on myself was very intense and it really hit home to me, but it was very liberating to actually smear the words and completely be taking away the words with paint and making from the words a masterpiece with paint," she said.
Through her video, Hanz hopes to encourage women to empower each other by breaking free of these labels and embracing their true selves. "If you love yourself, if you really truly love yourself and who you are, then those labels won’t matter," she told HuffPost.
But it's her closing statement in the video that sums up her fierce message best.
"F**k the box we are put into," she said. "Be who you want to be and be proud of that. We're ladylike as f**k because we choose what that is. We are women."
H/T BuzzFeed