Once a Slag...

They lyrics, “once a slag, always a slag,” blares out of my daughter’s phone as she shows me a video of herself and a friend, dancing seductively for the camera.

They lyrics, “once a slag, always a slag,” blares out of my daughter’s phone as she shows me a video of herself and a friend, dancing seductively for the camera.

I recognise the gender performances they reenact, and I question the discrepancy between how we perceive ourselves and how we are perceived by others. On the one hand, appearing desirable and beautiful is seen as a “good thing,” and is a source of power and validation (or so we are constantly told by society, media, peers and family) And on the other hand, we are shamed and victim-blamed – told to cover up, to restrict and suppress. It’s as if we are asked to be both Madonna and whore all at once. To be chaste, innocent and pure, but also sexy, wild and desirable.

This multi-layered photographic series attempts to question these complexities of girlhood and highlights the tensions between freedom and oppression. The freedom of their childish wonders and teenage defiance, and the oppression of their social and private spaces, both of which a world of misogyny is played out.

The series consists of typical teenage aesthetics - scabby nail vanish, rows of rings, junk food, TikTok selfies, and love hearts – so many love hearts; love hearts scribbled on hands, love heart rings, hearts graffitied on community centre walls, and tiny hearts that they’ve permanently tattooed onto each other’s ankles. The hearts, the friendships and the love are juxtaposed with scribbles and doodles of personal encounters they’ve experienced during their teenage years.

Born at the start of the smart phone generation and shifting from childhood, they are nowhere near adulthood yet are compelled to navigate and the cultural scripts they have unconsciously inherited.