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hey, bonita...
The Goddess Has No Clothes
ADVICE FOR ATHENS’ LOOSE AND LOVELORN
By Bonita Applebum advice@flagpole.com
My inbox is apparently on quarantine
right now, as well, so let’s talk about Naked
Athena for a second. That is the name
given to a person who showed up nude at
the increasingly violent demonstrations in
Portland on June 18, an act that garnered
praise nationwide. They struck yoga poses
in nothing but a facemask and a beanie, and
to the surprise of everyone except people of
color, police didn’t beat them or shoot them
dead in the street like Athens’ own Edward
Wright. My social media feeds are currently
overflowing with worship of this person’s
actions, describing them as an apparition
and a goddess, and these actions as super
natural, magical, mys
tical and more.
I fail to see the
mysticism or magic
of presenting a fem
inine white body to
law enforcement.
I will concede that
white women are considered precious and
fragile to the point that they are treated as
a group to be protected and exalted by the
status quo, and I’m sure that a cop would
hesitate to crack a blond skull before my
nappy one. This is the logic behind allyship
at demonstrations: Put the white people up
front, and cops will often hesitate to inflict
the same violence that they do on bodies of
color. For that, I am thankful to this naked
person, and I
recognize
the danger
they
faced
I fail to see the mysticism
or magic of presenting
a feminine white body to law
enforcement.
with
their
action.
But I can’t put
their behavior above
that of every other white person being a
human shield at a demonstration.
You’ve probably noticed that I’m using
gender-neutral pronouns, and it’s because
I have learned from mutual acquaintances
in PDX that this person is a nonbinary
white-passing person of color. I think we
can respect their identity while also turn
ing a critical eye on the way most people
decided to interpret those photos: A thin,
long-limbed woman did ballet poses and
upavistha konasana while butt-naked,
and this act was so bold and powerful that
federal “secret police” were so awestruck
by the energy flowing from her yoni space
that they put down their guns and joined a
leftist militia.
This centers the white experience. Their
actions caused the news to shift from scary
reports of people being disappeared by
federal law enforcement to the power and
beauty of Naked Athena, the cops’ blue
lights flickering off of her powdery skin as
she emerges like a phoenix from a cloud
of tear gas. These warrantless arrests have
taken a backseat to a fantasy that also
perpetuates the sexist narrative of white
female fragility and victimhood, that we
should exalt this person for putting the
most precious of naked bodies at risk. A line
of white allies with
their arms linked
together would have
accomplished the
same, if not more.
There’s also
the whole “nudity
without consent”
thing—that’s not appropriate no matter
what the situation. If you want people to
see you naked, you need their consent. We
could talk about nudity as protest, sure, but
women of color (and women in India, spe
cifically) have used nude protest in the past
and end up being described as crazy instead
of goddesses. It reminds me of the stereo
type of the “hairy bra-burning feminist”
of the civils rights era versus the beauty of
Pussy Riot, who enamored the media with
their soft smiles and youthful breasts.
Does anyone even remem
ber what they were
protesting?
We all love a
powerful image, but
powerful images do
not create change,
and they threaten
to drown out the
actual point of
these demonstra
tions. Right now,
American citizens
are practicing their
right of free speech,
and they are being
arrested by unidentified
law enforcement officers
who do not have jurisdiction.
I mean, where are the
militias? These are the “jack-
booted storm troopers” that the right
wing has been paranoid about since the
days of The Turner Diaries, and the Pacific
Northwest is a hotbed of sovereign citizens
and tax protesters. It’s remarkable that
moms, dads with leaf blowers and a naked
leftist are willing to stand up to the “deep
state” where self-identified “patriots” will
not.
Either way, I do appreciate the thought
behind Athena’s protest, but I don’t think
that this particular bold act should take pre
cedence over the fight on the ground. ©
Need advice? Email advice@flagpole.com, use the
anonymous form at flagpole.com/getadvice, or find
Bonita on twitter: @flagpolebonita.
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JULY 29, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM 15