The Badass Girl and the Menacing Bull Represent America’s Gender War

The new Wall Street statue and feminist artwork known as ‘Fearless Girl,’ which stands just across from ‘Charging Bull,’ a statue that was erected in the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash, could not be a more apt physical manifestation of America’s gender war.

The sculptor Arturo Di Modica, who created ‘Charging Bull,’ says the bull is “a symbol of prosperity and strength.” The addition of ‘Fearless Girl’ eradicates this message, he adds—giving his statue an altogether different meaning.

‘Fearless Girl,’ which was created by artist Kristen Visbal and placed 20 feet from the bull just after President Trump’s inauguration, is a bronze statue of a girl who stands, hands on hip, with a ‘just try and get me’ attitude and expression.

Of course her existence changes the meaning of ‘Charging Bull.’ Rather than appearing strong and protective, it now looks menacing in relation to the young girl—as if he’s trying to swallow her whole, and she won’t stand for it.

Technically, ‘Fearless Girl’ is designed to represent the lack of female executives. (Yawn.) But it also represents the gigantic chasm that exists between women and men. According to Visbal and her supporters, the 4-foot-tall, 250-pound ponytailed girl in a windblown dress is a symbol of female empowerment.

That now makes the bull a villain or an oppressor.

Indeed, behind this very political statue is a very clear message: men are the enemy.  In order for women to be successful, they must stand up to men and to society, who seek to hold women down and back. Even New York City’s mayor Bill de Blasio chimed in (in response to the debate as to whether or not ‘Fearless Girl’ should stay) with a tweet that said, “Men who don’t like women taking up space are exactly why we need the Fearless Girl.”

What kind of crap is that? Men who don’t like women taking up space?

The misandry is astonishing, particularly when it comes from one of its own. But that, I’m afraid, is what America is up against.

And we now have ‘Fearless Girl’ to prove it.

This article was originally published at SuzanneVenker.com.