This Woman Lets People Touch Her Vagina In Public To Fight Against Rape

Milo Moiré, a performance artist, wants to teach people a thing or two about consent. And she’s doing it by letting people touch her breasts and vagina. In public.

​“What happens if a woman[s] sexuality is on public display ... [and she] takes the initiative, thereby creating clear rules for the intimate exchange?” reads a line from her website in regards to “Mirror Box.”

She wants people to understand that when a woman says "Yes," she really means it. And when she says "No," she's established clear boundaries for what is appropriate or inappropriate. 

Moiré’s inspiration may come, at least in part, from the brutal sexual attacks on women that occurred only twenty minutes away from her home of Dusseldorf in Cologne, Germany, over New Year’s Eve celebrations. On that night, there were over 1,900 victims and 1,000 mostly immigrant men involved in sexually assaulting, groping, and in some incidents, even raping women.

The attacks themselves weren’t even reported on national news until days after, when social media outrage made ignoring it or sweeping it under the rug unavoidable. It began a public outcry for protection and opened a new debate for women’s rights, as well as Germany’s asylum policies.

Moiré wanted to show people what consent really means — in public and on a massive scale. She stepped into busy areas and announced via a loudspeaker what her intentions were. She invited anyone, woman or man, to come and touch her body parts for thirty seconds.

“My name is Milo Moiré, I’m a performance artist, and I stand here for women’s rights and sexual equality,” she said in her video. “We have the same sexual appeal men have, but we decide when we will be touched or not. Today, you have the chance to touch the box for thirty seconds and feel free.” 

In a statement about “Mirror Box,” Moiré claims that she’s paying homage to an Austrian performance artist, Valie Export. Export, she says, fought for women’s rights in the 1960s through art. In 1968, Export stood in Vienna with a Styrofoam box covering her breasts and invited people to reach in and touch them.

Obviously, by introducing the ability for people to touch her breasts and vagina, Moiré is hoping to mimic the statement and to make it more powerful.  

While there are some areas of the world that this display has gone over well — in places like France, Germany and Switzerland — her recent attempt at art performance in London, England went well ... until she was arrested for public indecency and actually ended up spending 24 hours in jail and owing a hefty fine.

While Moiré herself rails against the laws and thinks they should be “regulated uniformly,” she still hopes to continue traveling and practicing her performance art in the name of women’s rights.

Merethe Najjar is a writer, editor, and award-winning author who focuses on news, relationships, mental health and more.