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johannesburg

Rape is a huge problem in South Africa.

According to the United Nations, South Africa has the highest rates of rapes in the world.

Photo by Zeno Petersen. All photos used with permission.


Despite the progress made post-apartheid, such as interracial marriage and same-sex marriage, dismantling toxic masculinity and destroying rape culture still has a long way to go.

That's why people started hanging undergarments in the streets of Johannesburg.

It's not only a direct call for change — it's also an example of South African values and progress.  

Creators Jenny Nijenhuis and Nondumiso Msimanga stand with their exhibition. Photo by Zeno Petersen.

Using donated pairs of panties through the #SasDirtyLaundry hashtag, a Facebook page, and collection centers across Johannesburg, Jenny Nijenhuis and Nondumiso Msimanga created a 4,000-foot-long washing line installation that displayed 3,600 pairs of panties, the approximate number of rapes that occur on a daily basis.

Eloquently called “SA’s Dirty Laundry,” the exhibit has taken the city by storm.    

“I had been feeling like we live in a world gone crazy, there is so much turmoil, hurt, disconnect and lack of self-love,” Nijenhuis writes in an email. “I felt powerless and unable to do anything about it. Then I realized that we can do something about it without reaffirming the status quo. I approached Nondumiso and asked her if she would work with me in saying something, as women, as human beings, as people who’ve been given a gift. So we started a journey together, we decided to be that change. To encourage other women [and] other people to join us and start a revolution without the need to revolt.”  

Photo by Brett Skolmen.

To bring people together, the artists took an idea from Ram Dass’ "Be Here Now."  

“We’re living in a country (world) which is drowning under the weight of systemic dysfunction,” writes Nijenhuis. “Duality or polarization is the world that most everyone is living in all of the time, in every moment. The only solution is to take the poles of every set of opposites and see the way in which they are one.”    

Alumni of the University of the Witwatersrand and Rhodes University, respectively, Nijenhuis and Msimanga have found creativity to be critical in their lives. Both are survivors of sexual assault, and both wanted to air South Africa’s dirty laundry to create a connection with others without expecting anything in return.

“This book [Lewis Hyde’s "The Gift"] helped me to see that an artistic talent (or any talent for that matter) is not something that you own,” writes Nijenhuis. “It is given to you, you are a vessel for it and in being that vessel you put a gift out into the world with no expectation of return. If you truly do this, the gift is given life by the people who receive it and value is placed in life and the gift is passed on.”

Photo by Jenny Nijenhuis.

The number of daily assaults portrayed in the display — 3,600 — has been criticized. (According to the UN, 132 rapes occur per day in South Africa.) Nijenhuis points out, though, that rape statistics can be tricky. Every police organization uses data differently in South Africa.

And because rape survivors are often treated like they’re the ones at fault (a similar issue in the U.S.), rape victims are less likely to report a crime.

While they weren’t looking for anything in return, the artists’ installation certainly grabbed viewers' attention.

Many were shocked at the extent of rape culture in South Africa, and the dialogue has started to go viral on social media. While they aren’t sure what’s next for the exhibit, they are sure that they want the message behind the exhibit to continue spreading around the world.  

“The problem in South Africa is that there’s a culture or belief that women and girls are owned and that sex is a man’s right,” writes Nijenhuis. “We hope that the exhibition therefore will educate and make people more aware of what their choices and beliefs are and how these choices affect the lives of women [and] others every day.”  

While world leaders were traveling to Paris to attempt to finally agree on what to do about climate change, people all over the world got together to hold their feet to the fire.

The ostensible goal of the COP21 conference in France is to produce a legally binding agreement that will help reduce emissions and slow down global warming. But climate change is already here, and the usual conference scenario — lots of important people talking a lot while getting little done — ain't gonna cut it anymore.

That's why this weekend, hundreds of thousands of people around the world gathered to send a message to their leaders:


Less talking, more doing.

1. Bogota, Colombia

A protestor holds up a heart-shaped sign that asks world leaders, "Are you ready for extinction?"

Photo by Guillermo Legaria/Getty Images.

Hopefully, she's exaggerating for rhetorical effect.

Hopefully.

2. New York

Everyone's favorite Science Guy, the one and only Bill Nye joined the crowd.

Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill Nye the Science Guy. Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images.

"The climate is changing. It's our fault, and we have to get to work on this now," Nye reportedly said at the rally, according to the New York Daily News. When even the best-case scenarios include scary outcomes like more flooding, bigger and badder droughts, and massive crop die-offs, it's hard to disagree with the (science) guy.

3. Sao Paulo

Photo by Nelson Almeida/Getty Images.

Hulk would very much like to smash climate change.

If only, Hulk. If only.

4. Oslo, Norway

Though Norwegian glaciers bravely held on until the late-1990s, they're now retreating just like in most of the rest of the world.


Photo by AFP/Getty Images.

Unless a comprehensive, binding climate agreement with teeth gets signed in Paris this year, the glaciers of Norway will likely be forever remembered as having peaked right around the time Smash Mouth did.

5. Santiago, Chile

Her sign reads: "People in charge: This is my Earth, and it's also yours and your children's. Don't destroy it."

Photo by Martin Bernetti/Getty Images.

Good — if dire — advice, Chile.

6. London

At the London rally, Welsh singer Charlotte Church performed a new song she wrote about confronting Earth's impending climate crisis.

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images.

The song is still untitled as of publication, but might I suggest, "Wake Up and Do Something, You Dolts?"

Has a nice ring to it, is all I'm saying.

7. Amsterdam

A Dutch man with a killer beard carries a sign that reads, "This road is a dead end" — and not only because it appears he's about to smash into a giant scale replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Photo by Bart Maat/Getty Images.

He's referring to this road. The one the Earth appears to be on. Turn around much, Team Paris?

8. Frankfurt, Germany

Frank Rumpenhorst/Getty Images.

Should the worst-case climate scenario come to pass (a temperature increase in excess of two degrees Celsius, a world-altering mega-sea level rise of 20 feet or more, and millions of displaced people around the globe) figuring out how to fit bugs with World War I-era gas masks will be the least of our problems.

9. Mexico City

Photo by Yuri Cortez/Getty Images.

This mask: precisely 150% less scary than the effects of a sea level rise that conforms to even the most conservative estimates.

10. Nantes, France

A few days before the climate talks were set to begin, folks all across France got together to protest a ban on large gatherings that was imposed after the Paris attacks.

Photo by Jean-Sebastien Evrard/Getty Images.

Though some of the marches devolved into clashes with police, this one manifested as a nice, chill circle.

11. Johannesburg

In South Africa, thousands marched to draw attention to the connection between climate change and worsening poverty.

Photo by Mujahid Safodien/Getty Images.

According to a World Bank report, rising global temperatures could help lead 100 million more people down the path to extreme poverty, unable to afford even the most basic spooky skeleton mask.

12. Dhaka, Bangladesh

Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/Getty Images.

World leaders planning to bulls*** their way through the climate meetings should think twice before messing with these women or their brighly-colored flowers.

13. Montevideo, Uruguay

As a result of climate change, Uruguay has been contending with increased rainfall and more intense storms.

Photo by Miguel Rojo/Getty Images.

Thankfully, these protestors chose one of the decreasing number of bright, near-perfect sunny days to send a message over to France.

14. Ottawa, Ontario

Photo by Patrick Doyle/Getty Images.

A protester on Canada's Parliament Hill, modeling what many in coastal cities around the world will be forced to wear just to say afloat if too many glaciers melt.

15. Vienna

Photo by Joe Klamar/Getty Images.

According to a 2014 study published in Nature Climate Change, climate change could reduce the Antarctic penguin population by up to one-fifth, rendering it no longer possible to make it through "March of the Penguins," without bursting into tears for the wrong reasons instead of the right reasons.

16. Madrid

Photo by Gerard Julien/Getty Images.

Estimates released by the UN in 2011 clearly demonstrate that, if we really wanted to, we could be using renewable energy to meet 80% of the world's power needs within the next 40 years — and that still wouldn't be enough for these Spanish marchers demanding 100% renewable energy with their delightful yellow sun placards.

17. Geneva

"Hey world leaders, what's good?" — this polar bear. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images.

If arctic sea ice continues to melt at current rates — up to 9% per decade — polar bears may be forced to move to major cities around the globe and march defiantly in parades. Which is why the world needs to act — now.

'Cause let's be honest, leaving aside all the grave consequences drastic climate change might wreak, that would be super weird.