These shoes were made for streetwalking
Issue #32
With her Aphrodite Project, artist Norene Leddy uses GPS technology to create shoes that allow sex workers to protect themselves
By Kelly Mellott
Published: June 1st, 2007 | 12:00am
Most people don’t voice support of illegal or legal sex workers in the U.S., but artist Norene Leddy isn’t like most people. And Platforms, the latest series in her ongoing Aphrodite Project, aren’t like most shoes. Designed for prostitutes, these sandals combine fashion with function and art with action.
Leddy, who explores female sexuality and its place in society, began the Aphrodite Project in 2000 while in the Republic of Cyprus — the Mediterranean’s third largest island — on a Fulbright Fellowship to explore the cult of Aphrodite in the past and present. She found a culture that not only worshiped the goddess Aphrodite with temples, but also with sacrificial sexual acts for fertility of the land and people, and as homage to the ancient ways of life. Here, prostitution was viewed as a social service and lawful commerce, united with religion, ceremony, and public policy.
“In antiquity the pornai, or streetwalkers, wore leather sandals with tacks in the bottom that spelled out ‘follow me’ to lure clients,” says 34-year-old Leddy. “I wanted to make sandals for contemporary prostitutes, but I thought they should do more than spell out ‘follow me,’ and address the fact that prostitution — legal and encouraged in antiquity — is illegal and extremely dangerous today.”
SERIOUS STREETWEAR:
ABOUT THE SHOES
The Aphrodite Project: Platforms is Leddy’s reaction to the culture she discovered and provides sex workers in locations other than Cyprus the opportunity to discover the rich mythology of Aphrodite along with protection from potential threats. The platform of these sexy sandals features an LCD color screen with video artwork inspired by the landscape of Cyprus. The wearer can personalize the videos to display promotional information such as an e-mail address or a phone number. In the back of the heel, a speaker plays audio tracks of Cypriot sounds, such as the waves at Petra tou Romiou (Aphrodite’s birthplace).
Platforms’ safety features are perhaps the most interesting aspect of the footwear. Each sandal features a piercing alarm system to ward off attackers as well as a silent alarm that will alert public emergency services of the wearer’s location when set off, thanks to a built-in GPS receiver. A secret compartment in the platform provides the wearer with a place to hide important items such as money, house keys, or condoms.
Platforms also offers sex workers the ability to communicate with others like them in an online community with e-mail service, calendar, “problem client” blog, chat rooms, and downloadable audio and video for the shoe’s screen. A tracking service on the Platforms Web site, theaphroditeproject.tv, gives streetwalkers a way to locate other workers with transmitters, though this is a voluntary service that can be turned on or off at any time. Health resources will also be available for access on the site.
“[I wanted] to build a series of shoes specifically for contemporary urban prostitutes, taking their actual needs into consideration, and to stimulate public dialogue about sex work — just because it is illegal doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist,” Leddy says. “All sex workers are not 16-year-old junkies who were abused as children. Many are beautiful, strong women who have chosen to do this work for a variety of personal reasons, which doesn’t fit with the way we usually think about sex work.”
PRODUCED ONLY AS ART OBJECTS —
FOR NOW ANYWAY
Because of U.S. laws, the production of Platforms would be illegal if made commercially (they would have to be rebranded as safety shoes or clubbing shoes as opposed to shoes for prostitutes) so they only exist as prototypes and unique art objects for now.
“That went against the project goals,” Leddy says. “So we decided to publish DIY instructions for how to make your own shoes, which is a lot more empowering, and more in the spirit of the project.”
The Aphrodite Project: Platforms team is currently working on the do-it-yourself instructions for the shoes, in both video and text, which will be published online in the fall. The team, which consists of Leddy, technical leads Andrew Milmoe and Ed Bringas, and Web director Melissa Gira, was also recently featured in Sex in Design, a book by Lou Andres Savoir.
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