Prosthetic/Cyborg and Art merge as "social sculpture"

I found this piece in this month's (Nov) Ms. magazine:

The Aphrodite Project, created and run by Norene Leddy, a Fulbright fellow, is about empowering women who do sex work, making it a safer profession. She has designed "high-heeled platform sandals with a small screen for digital images and speakers for sound, as well as an alarm and built-in GPS. The sex worker can set a timer when she feels unsafe, and if the alarm isn't deactivated by its set time the shoes will emit a high-pitched sound, while the silent GPS receiver alerts either law enforcement or sex-workers advocacy groups such as PONY in New York and Coyote in Los Angeles. Wearers can also access an online community with health resources, client email lists and a blog where they can list "problem clients."

In another article I found some statistics to put the need for such a prosthetic in context:

In a 2001 study of sex workers, 69% said they'd been isolated, confined, and/or restrained by pimps

50% suffered daily abuse or near-daily abuse

 http://www.theaphroditeproject.tv/

Submitted by Jenny on Wed, 11/14/2007 - 7:24pm. Jenny's blog | login or register to post comments | printer friendly version