Statue of WW2 kiss vandalised after US sailor's death - Sensationalist Headlines

The day after the death of the US sailor famously photographed kissing a stranger at the end of World War Two, a statue depicting the moment has been vandalised with graffiti reading "#MeToo". Red spray paint was used to vandalise the "Unconditional Surrender" statue in Sarasota, Florida, on Monday, according to local police. Police estimate the cost of the damage to be $1,000 (£765) "due to the large area that the graffiti covers". For many the image of George Mendonsa kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman represents the joy felt across the US on the day Japan surrendered, ending World War Two. However, in more recent years some have suggested the photo depicts an act of sexual assault, given the fact Mr Mendonsa did not have Ms Friedman's consent to kiss her. The MeToo movement has shone a light on historic claims of sexual assault, and opened up a debate about consent and assault. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47287048?ns_source=facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ocid=socialflow_facebook&fbclid=IwAR0nsPT5KNN9fBAaWvEzyIjclfObp1vR7V72vHSGQxZfROZ_1WkQQrYgf-U&fbclid=IwAR1Nii5G8o1sUCbWuEsLrx6UuNbV_jnxN10BiM5BTCnhC7jKS5w2quhupTk

idk it's kind of a fucked up thing to memorialize: While V-J Day in Times Square went on to become an iconic photo that was generally viewed as a celebratory and romantic photograph, Friedman had mixed feelings about it.[7] "It wasn’t my choice to be kissed," Friedman stated in a 2005 interview with the Library of Congress.[8] "The guy just came over and grabbed!" she said, adding, "That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me."[9] "I did not see him approaching, and before I know it I was in this tight grip," Friedman told CBS News in 2012.[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Zimmer_Friedman It's memorializing a literal sexual assault

i would assume that it is a reference to the unconditional surrender of japan and not some fucked up reference to sexual conquest. bad optics though.

Yeah the fact that this is a statue in the first place is more fucked up than the graffiti IMO.

There seems to be alot of expectations on people in History to consistently meet todays standards. The dude lived in a time where men grabbing a woman like this, especially a war hero, was considered romantic. The man just got back from war, grabbed a lady just like he seen in the movies and gave her a good victory smooch. Now he's a rapist. He lived in a different time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBKKAdFoIIg A better time.

What the fuck

idk it doesn't seem like she considered it all that romantic. Just because most people did something in the past doesn't make it objectively ok. Killing people for being a different religion was fine all throughout the dark ages but there's a reason we call it the dark ages.

Sure, not saying it's not a little messed up, just that it wasn't considered as such back then, and there's nothing anyone can do about that and having some understanding of that fact is better than getting a can of spray paint out and jerking your social justice all over the pages of history.

lmao dude you had me up to the different time, but that video and "better time" just turned it into a shitpost really had me jiving with your message for a second

We don't have to celebrate it though

Oh Christ it's the "baby it's cold outside" shit all over again.

He was sexually assaulting her back then, too. The standards of the time don't change what happened, they change the fact we don't accept grabbing women in celebration anymore. It's important to understand the historical context, yes, but this is a statue. It exists in today's context. Much like a hypothetical monument to a man beating his wife, this one is out of time, as is its glorification of an occasion we now know to be grossly sexist. The only thing you can say about this while being fair is that most people probably don't know it wasn't consensual. For the longest time, I figured they knew each other. Once you learn that's not what it was, acting all "who cares, standards of the time, cool moment, let's keep celebrating it" is straight up normalizing sexual assault

How about the statue of the naked guy fighting babies? Is that normalizing pedophilia and beating children?

That statue is bizarre and made to be perceived as bizarre. No one's ever going to look up to the man attacked by babies as a standard. Can you imagine why there is a difference between it, and this moment which has been seen and celebrated throughout history as romantic and inspirational?

That is exactly why it exists. It exists to show the end of the war, to show happiness, inspiration, and romanticism. If ANYONE had a problem with it, or the picture, they've had 60 years to deal with it

Do you understand why grabbing a woman without her consent for the sake of celebration is predatory more than it is romantic or inspirational?

Do you also understand that this isn't a statue made to say "lmao let's immortalize this act of sexual harrassment because fuck women"? Do you also have a problem about the ancient statues showing men trying to actually rape women?

This is a case of sexual assault. And it has been immortalized, intentional or not. A historical artifact is one thing, which the sailor's picture absolutely is. It has remained iconic for its romanticism despite the new information. I sincerely doubt that statues of men trying to rape women (care to give an example?) are still viewed as depicting romantic moments

I did provide an example, and defeated your own point. It's iconic for it's romanticism then, now, and forever. That's why a statue was made for it.

Yes. Yes, we can.

Hardly applying modern standards when the lady involved herself complained about being an unwilling participant after the fact. It was definitely a different time when it happened, and there would have been no traction or recognition of it as sexual harassment at the time, but that's exactly what it was. I'm pretty sure using a horny sailor harassing someone as a symbol of victory is pretty fucking awful.

The rape statue is not iconic for its romanticism "now and forever", is it? It's a museum piece, with accompanying information. Its historicity is undeniable and so is the skill that went into it, and while it can still be judged by the standards of the period, its meaning didn't withstand the test of time. With new information about the fact the sailor's kiss was a predatory act of assault, and not a romantic moment, no one knows if its meaning will survive, either. I don't see the problem with that. As I said before, it immortalizes sexual assault, whether that was the intention or not. You haven't denied this so far, only tiptoed around it, because it is fact.

Well, since no one will look at statues as they should, I'm done arguing. Good luck erasing history because it doesn't fit your world view 👍

I'm sure you don't appreciate how deeply ironic that sentence you've just written is but don't worry, everyone else will.

No, it's fucking stupid to relate literal ancient historical art to a statute memorializing the sexual assault of a woman who died only 3 years ago. Enjoy your boxes.

I'd wager the double meaning of both celebrating the end of the war and her limp, unresisting posture is entirely intended, and didn't same the same predatory connotations when it was created as it does now.

I literally said that understanding historical context is important, and that the historicity of these works is undeniable. What the fuck do you want? To live without having to *gasp* change your mind on something?

We literally weren't around to disagree with it. One is ancient and the other depicts something that happened in living memory. We don't expect Roman art today to uphold or demonstrate our cultural values because it isn't ours.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to add a plaque or something explaining it was not consentual as a fair middle ground.

Essentially what the vandalizer was attempting to do to begin with: add necessary context. In the case of statues like this, we should either add context directly to the statue or remove it from public view.