# Gasp, Fearless Girl statue in NY latest social media outrage. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006 "2017-03-12T18:10:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/41 "2017-03-13T08:05:22Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There’s a reason statues used to be put up on pedestals. > [@Penfeather](#): > > Some day her plinth will come. Well between the both of you you’ve brightened up my day. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/42 "2017-03-13T08:30:41Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > The problem is that impulses come from somewhere. Fucking something–penetrating it–has always been a symbolic way to show contempt. And contempt is satisfying: It’s like the military websites where naked pictures of female solders are shared so that thousands of people can imagine themselves penetrating them. It’s not like these guys have a shortage of naked lady pictures and they needed these–the sense of fucking something that needs to be put in it’s place adds a thrill. > > Fucking this statue of a little girl is the same thing. He could have humped the bull. But he humped the girl, instead. It was a literal “fuck you” to women who think they have a right to be in what has always been a male-dominated space. And that’s why women are upset to see it: not because everyone is looking for 15-seconds of recreational outrage, but because it’s a reminder that whenever we move in the world, there’s a significant number of men who hold us in contempt, and who glory in showing that contempt. We know that expressions of that contempt are not shared by all men, but that most will overlook it, dismissing it as boorish behavior, but not as the sort of thing they should stop, or disassociate themselves from. Before cellphone cameras and twitter and youtube comments, so much of that was hidden: women really didn’t know, I think. I didn’t. But now we do, and it’s appalling. So you dismissing it as the sort of thing that happens all the time doesn’t help. It needs to stop happening. I think you read far to much into what appears to be a drunken stunt. What would have been the subtext of (the fairly common occurrence of) fondling the bulls nuts? Humans, of all genders, are idiots when drunk. Put a statue anywhere of anything and it will have stuff done to it. Alabaster tits will get fondled, marble wangs will be squeezed, bronze bollocks will be rubbed. I myself have doodled glasses, a moustache and swastika tattoos on a picture of [John Prescott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Prescott). Not a political act, merely a fun pastime and something to do with a pen whilst talking on the phone. (and I wasn’t even drunk). Sometimes a silly act is exactly that and no more. It seems like recreational outrage to me and one of the many reasons why I don’t do social media at all. I have limited capacity to give a shit about the many truly bad things in the world and this comes way, way down on the list. I’ll bow to no-one in my practical support of the rights and equality of women and that includes me treating issues of supposed offence in exactly the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/43 "2017-03-13T09:13:05Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I’m not worried about any sanctity of the statue, but I sure wouldn’t want to be friends with anyone who thought a “joke” was pretending to grind his dick on little girls. I wouldn’t want to be friends with anyone who didn’t think there was a difference between grinding his dick on a statue and grinding his dick on a little girl. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/44 "2017-03-13T10:39:43Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Humans, of all genders, are idiots when drunk. Put a statue anywhere of anything and it will have stuff done to it. Alabaster tits will get fondled, marble wangs will be squeezed, bronze bollocks will be rubbed. Oh yeah, humans are crude idiots - it always funny to see an old bronze statue and see how the two rubbed spots are their nose and their junk. Having said that, I have no issue with the photo of the WSt Bro being highlighted as a commentary, however random it was. Why not point out what an idiot he looks like and how cluelessly he makes the basic point of the statue? I don’t need to clutch my pearls, but I can point the photo out to my kids and we all laugh at the idiot and move on. Moving on. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/45 "2017-03-13T10:54:00Z")
Blaming the artist or anyone else besides the criminal is a bit like blaming an architect because someone graffitied their building. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/46 "2017-03-13T12:55:39Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Having said that, I have no issue with the photo of the WSt Bro being highlighted as a commentary, however random it was. Why not point out what an idiot he looks like and how cluelessly he makes the basic point of the statue? I don’t need to clutch my pearls, but I can point the photo out to my kids and we all laugh at the idiot and move on. > > Moving on. Well said, I think the world would be a much better place if more people took that approach. and as you say…moving on. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/47 "2017-03-13T13:14:35Z")
**OP** : If your mom/sister/wife was standing on a bus/subway and a stranger mashed his member against her backside, would you blame her for riding public transportation? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/48 "2017-03-13T13:32:10Z")
Time moves on, people’s perceptions shift with the times, such is the nature of progress. The Western world grows weary of the seemingly universal, (Drunken) Boys will be Boys!, defence. Just no! This is 2017, the age of social media. You’re a grown ass man. Your drunkeness does NOT excuse your base and crude behaviour in a public space. You want carte blanc to behave like a frat boy because you have testosterone and liquor in your veins? Sorry, Times are a changing! What that? It’s gone viral, there’s pushback, man suffers consequences? GOOD! I hope he loses his job. And this act sticks to him like glue. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Sanchez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rick\_Sanchez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Sanchez)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/49 "2017-03-13T14:11:17Z")
Oh, why give a fuck about _any_ of this? Jesus Christ. > [@elbows](#): > > What that? It’s gone viral, there’s pushback, man suffers consequences? GOOD! I hope he loses his job. And this act sticks to him like glue. Just out of interest, do you watch Black Mirror? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/50 "2017-03-13T14:21:34Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I wouldn’t want to be friends with anyone who didn’t think there was a difference between grinding his dick on a statue and grinding his dick on a little girl. I’m cool with that 🙂 There’s a difference, of course. But neither speaks well of the performer. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/51 "2017-03-13T14:51:57Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > **OP** : If your mom/sister/wife was standing on a bus/subway and a stranger mashed his member against her backside, would you blame her for riding public transportation? I’m pretty sure the statue is not a real person …or…hang on a minute… am I badly mistaken on this? I see those painted idiots on London’s south bank in gold film and foil, standing still and begging for coins but I was reliably informed they are not actually the same as real statues…shit…are we through the looking glass on this one guys? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/52 "2017-03-13T15:20:22Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > I assume you feel the same way about Piss Christ–i.e., you do not even understand why anyone would be upset? That reminds me of my next work of art: a bobblehead of Donald Trump, submerged in urine. It’ll be called, “Piss Antichrist.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/53 "2017-03-13T15:39:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Next time use some common sense and put railings around statues that require protection and a guard. Or better yet don’t use kids as model for public statues that will get rediculed by drunks. I’m not grokking this. So the statue needed protecting, but ISTM that what you’re saying is that what _really_ needed protecting was the stupid idiot who humped it, that if the statue was unprotected, it should have been a ‘safe space,’ protected from the reactions of people out on the Internets. (Bad, _bad_ Web denizens, to not respect this guy’s safe space!) And of course, the people out on the Internets reacting to this bozo should have a ‘safe space’ where they should be protected from OPs such as yours. Go to your corner, _now!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/54 "2017-03-13T16:48:19Z")
Why is there no outrage over all the tourists molesting the bull’s balls? That’s animal cruelty! > [@Rick Sanchez](#): > > Oh, why give a fuck about any of this? Jesus Christ. Some things are so outrageous you don’t realize you don’t give a fuck about them until you see a bunch of people bitching on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![stolatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@stolatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolatt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/55 "2017-03-13T16:53:11Z")
I think I was all of five years old when I learned to not touch statues. You wouldn’t go into a museum and touch all the paintings, right? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/56 "2017-03-13T17:41:41Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > I see a problem with blaming the artist instead of the douchebag. Why are we blaming anybody? Nobody was hurt, no property was harmed. It was as if nothing happened, because, guess what? Nothing happened. A person touched an inanimate object in the street at night. This is a non-story. Spitting on the ground is more offensive than this. Heck, saying “Heck” is more offensive than this. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/57 "2017-03-13T17:43:44Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Why are we blaming anybody? Nobody was hurt, no property was harmed. It was as if nothing happened, because, guess what? Nothing happened. > > A person touched an inanimate object in the street at night. This is a non-story. Spitting on the ground is more offensive than this. Heck, saying “Heck” is more offensive than this. To you. To those of who are affected by misogyny it’s just another example of the attitude some assholes enjoy that many of us live with. You can dismiss it or take a moment to see the world through someone else’s eyes. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/58 "2017-03-13T17:52:06Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Doing what he did to this particular statue at this moment in time, is what made this act noteworthy. Don’t you get it? What’s even more noteworthy is that the OP’s response to the guy’s behavior is exactly what is said when women are sexually harassed or assaulted. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/59 "2017-03-13T18:05:18Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > To you. To those of who are affected by misogyny it’s just another example of the attitude some assholes enjoy that many of us live with. You can dismiss it or take a moment to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Silly old me, I’ll continue to fight for the rights of _women_. You want to protect inanimate objects? Good for you. Maybe don’t leave them out in the streets at night around a bunch of drunks, though. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006/60 "2017-03-13T18:07:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Why is there no outrage over all the tourists molesting the bull’s balls? That’s animal cruelty! If the statue of the bull had been put in place to raise awareness of animal cruelty, then, yes, any outrage over tourists molesting the bull’s balls would be reasonable. But the the statue was not raised for that purpose, which is why you don’t see any outrage to such activities. On the other hand, the statue of the girl was put in place exactly to raise awareness of International Women’s Day, which at its core is meant to combat the exact type of dismissive behavior towards women that the guy was photographed doing. I’m not sure how you (and other posters defending this guy’s actions) don’t see this difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasp-fearless-girl-statue-in-ny-latest-social-media-outrage/782006.md?page=4)