Disabled and sexy. Two words that aren’t often used in the same sentence and certainly not in images.
Is it because we’re squeamish about the idea of disabled people having sex or even having sexual desires? This is exactly the notion that Jes Sachse, a 25-year-old Canadian college student and her friend and photographer, Holly Norris are challenging.
The pair teamed up to recreate 13 of American Apparel’s overtly sexualised advertising campaigns. The series of images show Jes, who has a rare genetic condition known as Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, posing in her undies, several leotards and topless in green running shorts. There’s even an orgasm face.
In a statement on the photographers website, Holly Norris states:
“American Able” intends to, through spoof, reveal the ways in which women with disabilities are made invisible in advertising and mass media. I chose American Apparel not just for their notable style, but also for their claims that many of their models are just ‘every day’ women who are employees, friends and fans of the company. However, these women fit particular body types. Their campaigns are highly sexualized and feature women who are generally thin, and who appear to be able-bodied. Women with disabilities go unrepresented, not only in American Apparel advertising, but also in most of popular culture… In a society where sexuality is created and performed over and over within popular culture, the invisibility of women with disabilities in many ways denies their sexuality, particularly within a public context.”
The photos of Jes’s unique facial features, curved spine and uneven legs (her right leg is a bit shorter than her left) result in an amazing and empowering message to advertisers. One that shouts; bring us diversity and body shapes of all shapes and sizes. Incidentally, American Apparel gave permission for the pair to reference their imagery and display the images publicly.
The images were showed on over 270 digital screens in 50 public transport stations in Toronto in May 2010 and will also be included in the 2011 edition of the women’s health book, Our Bodies, Ourselves.
Comments
71 Comments so far
What the literal fuck.
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Check this video out!!!
Disabled and Sexy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykZLAIVSU_c
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I’m torn between thinking she looks really great but also I really hate the american apparel ads, they make me feel kinda angry and sick. But I think this is the point trying to be made, therefore I’ll add that I feel this is a very sucessful campaign and I’m glad someone’s thinking about these things it brings me hope.
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Think I’m going to be sick
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Funny and brave. Work it girlfriend!
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I’m not impressed. I don’t want to see ANYone in pictures like this. I don’t care what the body type is. Just like I don’t want to see people making out in public, sex in television shows and movies, etc. There’s no need to show nudity or partial nudity, sexually explicit material, etc.
I know sex sells, but I don’t want to see it. I find it much more beautiful, creative, and thought provoking without the “come F me” expressions, scenes, and clothing.
I understand the point being made, but I feel that there’s a better way to do it… and in my opinion, pictures like these are degrading and revolting no matter WHO is modeling. Nothing more than soft-core porn.
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You are so sexually deprived… I feel sorry for you just like I do any woman who is soooo afraid of her sexuality. You’re missing out.
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Why stoop to the level of American Apparel to show that you’re beautiful? I think this is foolish.
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Reading this article really made me realize that there really aren’t any ‘disabled’ individuals in advertisements. It’s quite sad, really, as these people are just as capable of modeling clothing as able-bodied individuals. Jes – you’re absolutely beautiful and I admire you for doing this. Well done.
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This is a lovely and incredibly valid message. She’s beautiful.
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More like INvalid message.
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Dude! I can say I’m guilty of being squeamish of “disabled” (hate that word) peoples’ sexuality, but after seeing this, I won’t have any more doubts.
Jess is f*cking hot!!
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I think people criticising the forced nature of the photos are missing the point; they’re meant to look forced. It’s meant to highlight the ridiculous nature of American Apparel ads and make us wonder why it is that when a disabled woman is doing this it disgusts us more than when an able bodied woman is doing this.
Oh and that ‘boy’ is a woman.
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This is brilliant, the fact these photographs are showing that disabled people are sexy! Why is it that we live in a world where models in shops are stick thin, perfect-looking people when in fact, most of the world isn’t like that and we idolise those people!
I love it.
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Hooray for Jes! She is a seriously cool person. Having character and guts like Jes seems to have counts for a lot more than being conventionally attractive, though I think Jes looks great in the pics too.
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I think the photos are beautiful.
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I’ve seen the models Americal Apparel uses in its advertising campaigns and I don’t think the models are at all your typical model shape. I will admit most are slim as oppose to thin, but many of them have decent bums and boobs on them, and aren’t incredibly tall as oppose to your stock standard overtall and underweight model.
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anyone that has a dig at american apparel is respected by me.
i like these photos. as others have said you can feel jes’s personality coming through. i would guess she has a killer sense of humour and attitude to match. that is in such contrast to the bodies that appear in their ads usually. they seem so vacant.
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As a 24 year old woman in a wheelchair, i love this!
I have had numerous people come up to me and say “you are to pretty/beautiful/hot” to be in a wheelchair, they then stand there and stare at me, at tad confused as i dont neatly fit into their (wrong) perception of people with disability’s. It is only when a friend mentions im learning to walk again that they no longer appear confused, i then can fit neatly into a box for them.
This really disturbs me.
I think that campaigns like this will help to educate people and get them thinking.
ALL people are beautiful no matter what their ability level, weight, skin tone or height.
Internal beauty is eternal!
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Good on her! But it comes down once again to that fact that thin, pretty young things sell stuff… No matter if your fat, ugly, disable, anorexic etc etc, it always going to be one type representing clothes etc.
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I say lets give other body types a chance and see what happens. Theres a good chance those of us who dont look like ‘convential’ models will be encouraged about products modelled by bodies more like our own, if theyre well presented.
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The original images from American Apparel were grotesque enough. I get what they’re doing with the parody – kudos to them – but it’s hard not to flinch when you see these photos. And it has nothing to do with disabled people’s sexuality. Whether you’re disabled or not, I think this sort of stuff is best kept behind closed doors.
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brave girl..
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I think a few people here are missing the point. You’re not supposed to enjoy looking at these pictures – in fact, they are supposed to be confrontational. Disabled people are largely invisible in society because able bodied people simply don’t want to see them…these photos juxtapose a major brand (which normally features women who look like models) with disability and ‘imperfection’. Yes, the result is in-your-face – so wake up everyone, and think about all the other ways in which society sidelines disabled people!
Personally, I think this is brave and confrontational – good on them!
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thanks..i could not have said it better!
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I love this from so many angles. I love it from the perspective of so many people with disability who can’t express themselves without retribution or shame. I love this as a (Aus) size 12 woman with two kids in a world where a healthy size 12 is considered ‘fat’ by advertising standards. I love it for breaching many gaps for women worldwide.
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“Is it because we’re squeamish about the idea of disabled people having sex or even having sexual desires?”
No. I’m not squeamish about it because I don’t think about it. In the same way that I don’t think about my parents having sex, or my friends having sex, or the neighbours having sex, or the bloody dogs next door having sex.
It’s not a challenge because to me it’s non-existent. I thought we were moving on in the world and everyone was happy not to be looked at differently because we are supposed to treat everybody as equal.
Good luck to everybody having sex no matter who you are.
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I do not find these images sexy. Although i do find beauty in the subjects intention.
My only concern over these images is the fact that she is straddling a boy child. He looks…11? 12? Tut, tut….
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She is straddling a woman not a boy… most likely Holly – the photographer.
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Definitely a woman.
Here presents another problem, people thinking that short hair=boy? Her face is EXTREMELY feminine and you can even see her bra through the shirt in a few of the photos…
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The beauty of satire. She is giving herself- and other disabled people a voice. They are very rarely represented through media and only disabled people are able to play this part.
I personally love it because she is confident enough to express issues in our society through irony and humor that she obviously is culturally commentating on.
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All I could think of when I saw these photographs was how awful they are, no matter who is posing in them. I agree with alot of the comments below, I can see what Jes is trying to do, I just think there is a better way.
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What bothers me is that it took these pictures to see an actual belly on a female body. Why cant we see bellies? Boobs and bums are ok but a bit of belly fat is considered so offensive on a woman it is almost never seen.
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I don’t like these images at all, and it would be patronising to Jes or any other people with disabilities to pretend I like them. Do you remember the images of post-mastectomy women featured here not long ago? They were beautiful, and natural, and organic, and genuinely sexy and moving. But these pics are crass and tacky and forced. I’d love to see Jes in a more natural representation of her inner beauty, as opposed to prancing in silly knickers.
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You have put into words what. Have been feeling all afternoon, thank you. I found the pictures a little disturbing because they seemed so joyless. At first I thought she was brave but then realized that was completely patronizing. I appreciate what she is trying to do just not the method.
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I have a problem with this response. You found the mastectomy pictures beautiful but this post not?
What is the difference?
Yes women with a mastectomy have this as a result of cancer – people with a disability live through challenges on a daily basis also.
Why shouldn’t they enjoysexual relationships? It’s a normal part of life.
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I have a problem with your response.
‘What is the difference?’: well if you’d seen the mastectomy pics you would know. They were lit and photographed and composed beautifully. These are, as I said, tacky and crass.
‘Why shouldn’t they enjoy sexual relationships?’ – did I SAY they shouldn’t? I said I didn’t like these particualar pictures of Jes, NOT that she shouldn’t have sex. Honestly.
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I think you are missing the point – these pictures intentions are not to turn the viewer on, but to show the difference in reactions to a thin, able- bodied woman and a disabled woman in the same overtly sexual positions. This is also why she is posed that way –
to satirically comment on society. Perhaps if she were trying to take photos that “naturally enhance” her “inner beauty” (not outer beauty?) then she may have different lighting, but that would completely take away from the fun that is being poked at American Apparel and the American standard of beauty.
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i’m with grace on this one…
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I’m a photography major and I find these photos to be really fun, creative and artistic. Just because you prefer one style over another doesn’t mean one is more artistic than the other.
The style of these photos IS brash and forward; that’s the point. They’re bright, straight-on and perky, just like the subject matter.
Honestly…who are you to judge what is beautiful and what is not?
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“DISABLED” PEOPLE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO ENJOY THEIR SEXUALITY, and no one ever said otherwise!
I think they should just have some class and not stoop so low to the level of American Apparel. There are more tasteful ways to show it!
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I’d struggle to find anyone sexy while wearing a sweat band. I’m old enough to remember John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.
I think it’s a shame that so many people think that the way to be noticed and taken seriously is to be overtly sexual. I love seeing diversity in the media but I like it more when people get attention for something more positive than getting their gear off.
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I love the photos, the only thing that makes me feel uncomfortable is how young the boy (?) looks, but American Apparel ads always make me feel uncomfortable for that reason…..
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The ‘boy’ is a woman
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I just don’t quite get it.
Are they trying to say “we can be sexual too”? Because congratulations, if you want to not be taken as a mind/person/personality but merely a body a guy can f*** as so many able-bodied women are – you can be. But how would that be a positive thing?
I know I’m going to get shot down here, as majority of comments in support. But this just sits really uncomfortably with me, probably the same way the usual American Apparel campaigns sit uncomfortably with me.
Its overly sexualised and I hate it. No matter whose body is in it.
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I think it’s more a commentary that people with disabilities are made invisible in media – how many movies/books/artworks/advertisements feature people with disabilities? Advertising is just the format with the most impact when pointing this out since it’s ~everywhere~. And American Apparel is just iconic of all advertising companies who say “Oh we’re totally inclusive”, but only use thin, white girls.
You’re right though, the objectification that American Apparel partakes in it quite upsetting. I think that this is a parody of that which makes a point about the marginalisation of people with disabilities.
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@Jess in Melbourne – Very, very well said.
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I think advertising campaigns for many products are highly sexualized, but I don;t consider it is particularly helpful or desirable to drag people with disabilities into the fray.
Frankly I find it a bit voyeuristic and think instead of going to the circus sideshow to gawk at conjoined twins or “dwarves”, now we can gawk at Jes. I am glad she has the confidence to appear in photos and presumably go to the beach, walk down the street in shorts etc, but do we need to sexualise everyone? We sexualise kids, women, MTV video clips. How about appreciating women for being intelligent, caring , thoughtful, assertive, powerful etc? Knowing the flak women cop for a bit of fat or cellulite, I hope Jes can cope with some of the horrible comments I know some people will make.
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She looks like the girl from “Blossom”.
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Oh my god- Yes, she does!! I was trying to work out who she looked like!
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Incidentally Mayim Baylik (Blossom) is now playing Amy on Big Bang Theory.
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It’s great to see and a wonderous step forward. Jes is quite attractive and if I weren’t happily married…haha. But you see the real Jes and she seems like a wonderful person as well.
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I have a very good friend, who is the godmother to my daughter. She has babysat for me many times. She has a masters degree, runs her own business from home and has two gorgeous (most of the time!) sons. She can often be found as an inspirational speaker at various clubs etc (for free) and is just a great friend and all round good person. She is also blind.
We go out together a lot (hey, we work similar hours) and it drives me bonkers when shop assistants etc address ME rather than HER e.g. what size is she? or what is she looking for today? Hello, blind, not stupid! When she was pregnant she was abused for bringing children into the world that she couldn’t take care of. Ummm, hello? Said children now 10 and 14 and doing GREAT! I have to say, she deals with people much better than I do, I suppose she has to… but please people, remember physical disability does NOT mean mental impairment.
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I did an experiment in year 11 with a group of friends. Basically we had; 1 x middle-class, white girl (me), 1 x blind girl, 1 x chinese girl and 1 x girl with cerebral palsy (walking with sticks). We went to our local shopping centre and dropped books to see who would help us.
I had 6 people help us.
My friend with cerebral palsy had 1 mother and daughter help her, and only begrudgingly after struggling for over 4 minutes.
My Asian-heritage friend had 1 person help her.
My blind friend had no one help her, had 9 bystanders and 1 person say very loudly “oh look, the blind girl fell, someone should help her.”
I work in the disability sector and Australians just don’t understand disabilities (as a massive generalisation). I’ve been out with clients and had people talk to me, over the top of wheelchairs. It’s like HELLO! PERSON CAN HEAR YOU AND INTERACT WITH YOU TOO! Actually, the majority of my clients have a far higher intelligence and education than me. I guess it just shows how shallow humans can be; looking at the body rather than the person.
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Such a great contrast to the conventional beauties posing in the MTV awards photos..somehow they seem to be taking themselves so seriously, and seem kinda boring in comparison to this..Its real, its funny and its confronting.
I like it.
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Great shots, her personality shines through, and unlike in the original American Apparel ads, she appears confident and spunky, not forced and uncomfortable like the able-bodied, “everyday girl” models in the original shots.
Giving Jes and Holly permission to recreate the images is the only thing American Apparel have ever done that I like.
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She’s got ‘tude!
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F’n'a she has
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I think the photos are great and what a fascinating concept. I do think that sexuality and disability are not seen as co-existing. I feel for Jes but I get the feeling that she has a funny, bubbly, likeable spirit which would give her strength as she lives her life.
I would worry though if her billboards were to be seen by teenagers on public transport. Kids can be so cruel and I would just hope that Jes wouldn’t hear their comments. Then again, maybe I am being too hard on kids…. (sadly I doubt it though…)
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Hey Anonymous,
I tend to agree that teenagers might have a go- they can be cruel, I’m a high school teacher and I’ve seen it. They can also be super open minded and empathetic.
But I think that’s sort of the point. They might feel uncomfortable/shocked/surprised but that is because they are NEVER exposed to images of everyday people, or people with disabilities in the media for mainstream advertising (fashion, etc). The more images like this get out and become normalised, the less people will react to them.
We need HEAPS more of this.
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like!
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is her boyfriend of legal age? he looks very young…
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I couldn’t work out if the companion was a girl or boy – ?!!
not that it matters, just curious
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seinfeld moment!! ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”
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She’s a woman… probably the photographer
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Excellent. There was a great radio doco last year on similar theme. ‘The too hard basket’ – and John Blades who is living with MS won a Walkley for it… If you’re interested the audio is here – http://www.abc.net.au/rn/360/stories/2009/2762394.htm
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I can’t see how Jes ‘suffers from’ anything. She, in contrast, looks to be having a great time. One in five Australians live with disability and do so in many different ways – suffering often doesn’t come into it.
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Hi Shawn, you are perfectly right. That was the wrong word to use and it has been changed. Apologies!
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Quite honestly, I expected to not like these images .. but I thought they were great! Interesting how clearly Jes’ spirit, humour and strength shone through, loud and clear. Sure, I didn’t look at her with envy (like I might at regular models), but I did think she would be a great girl to get to know! And I certainly don’t think THAT about most models.
It reminded me of the audition of the girl on So You Think You Can Dance a couple of years ago (?) – she had a similar look with long, elegant limbs and a (proportionally) shorter body. But when she danced, she looked like the most graceful fairy. Again, I expected to feel something negative, but I was blown away by the raw beauty and power of it.
Seems I may not know myself as well as I thought.
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That’s a great comment – how you think you’d like to get to know her, but don’t think that about most models. I agree with you. You can see personality in these photos, and individuality. I really like them, and if they were real ads I would be immediately drawn to the company.
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I love those moments
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