On the eve of “International Women’s Day,” a new statue appeared on Wall Street. The statue is an image of a “defiant girl” staring down the Wall Street bull and it has installed by State Street Global Advisors, the world's third-largest asset manager, with the goal of encouraging companies to include more women on their boards:
"One of the most iconic images on Wall Street is the charging bull. So the idea of having a female sort of stand against the bull or stand up to the bull just struck us as a very clever but also creative and engaging way to make that statement," Heinel said. "Even though it's a little girl, her stance is one of determination, forwardness, and being willing to challenge and take on the status quo."
The statue has quickly drawn crowds and is an especially popular with young girls and women who want to be photographed next to the statue. Alex Kaloyanides and friends walked over to admire the new installation and couldn’t believe what happened right in front of them. She publicly shared the photo and her account on Facebook:
Almost as if out of central casting, some Wall Street finance broseph appeared and started humping the statue while his gross date rape-y friends laughed and cheered him on. He pretended to have sex with the image of a little girl. Douchebags like this are why we need feminism.
Not cool, bro
Kaloyanides shared more of her story with Inside Edition:
"It was a beautiful night... there were about 15 or 20 people there," Kaloyanides said. "We started talking about the statue, a little girl about 5 or 6 years old proudly posed with the statue for a picture, it was just a nice moment. These three young men came along, and at first they were hanging off the bull... and then this one guy rushed up and started grinding against the statue of the girl, being lewd and totally inappropriate."
The men walked away laughing, but Kaloyanides wasn’t:
Kaloyanides stood by the decision to share the image online, saying the man’s behavior was no laughing matter and shouldn’t be treated as such.
"This is just further perpetuating a mentality of ‘boys will be boys,’ and that ‘it’s okay, it’s a joke, just brush it off,’” she said. “This young man likely has a mother, a sister perhaps, a girlfriend, a wife — who knows? I’m getting tired of making excuses and laughing it off. I for one am not gonna laugh it off anymore."
Thanks for sharing and thanks for standing up, Alex. We are all tired of laughing it off.
