Sexual violence and toxic masculinity is still the reality of the world we live in today. Wether or not it is a war between nations, a conflict between classes, the battle between gender and sexes, or a war that we fight within ourselves. It is my sincere hope that we can still fight and defend ourselves and others from sexual violence, educate each other and have a better understanding of one another and move forward as humanity.

In a technological world where communication can happen at instant speed, we are less cautious with interacting with people online. We don’t know if the strangers we encounter are friends or people who will take advantage of you. And it’s easier to do harm to others over the internet. In many ways the internet and the modern world has made it easier to connect with one another, and yet it is easier to feel more isolated and easier for us to enact and enable the worse parts of ourselves.

As artists, we get our start from drawing from observation. And occasionally, that involves nude figure drawing. Some of the models are fit, but what I like about it is the exposure to people who are not “magazine photoshopped models” but rather ordinary people. Men, women, old, fit, some with healthy weight, different skin tones, and I draw every lump and wrinkle time permitting on to the paper.

And my take away is that everyone is beautiful, or beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What was unknown, strange, shocking, and at times scary becomes known and familiar.

In my re imagining of Little Red Ridinghood, they did not rush from the meet and greet to non consensual rape and “vore”, but took the time to get to know one another, through conversations, each other’s company, and from careful observations that dismantle and disproves their initial snap judgements.