Childhood memories always include Disney princesses who are known for their pure, innocent hearts. Challenged by bad villains, these characters eventually reach triumph with the help of good fate - thus the entire concept of happy endings.
Aiming to help rape victims attain happy endings (even without Prince Charming), Middle Eastern artist Saint Hoax came up with the 'Princest Diaries', a campaign inspired by the story of her close friend who was raped by her father at the age of 7. Here, Disney princesses were used as subjects of 'disturbing' posters to promote sexual assault awareness.
In an email, Hoax told HuffPost Entertainment, "That story shocked me to my core,"
"As an artist/activist I decided to shed light on that topic again in a new form. I used Disney princess because it's a visual language that my targeted audience would be attracted to."
The purpose of her collection is to encourage rape victims to go forward and report their perpetrators; hence she explains that the project is "an awareness campaign targeting minors who have been subject to sexual abuse by a family member. The aim of the poster series is to encourage victims to report their cases in order for the authorities to prevent it from happening again."
Posters show Disney princesses being forced to kiss their fathers with the line "46% of minors who are raped are victims of family members. It's never too late to report your attack."
That figure was inspired by the 1992 report released by the Department of Justice. Currently, the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network says that, 44% of victims are minors. Each year, there are approximately 237,860 victims of sexual abuse in the US and approximately 2/3 of those assaults were committed by someone known to the victim.
According to Hoax, this campaign may have ignited negative reactions across the globe but she's more focused on the number of individuals who were/will be empowered to speak up and attain justice.
What do you think of these posters? Are they appropriate and efficient? Sound off in the comments section below.
*If you or you know someone who is a victim of rape, you may seek help through the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1 (800) 656 -HOPE, or other organizations such as RAINN, National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence, and Pandora Project.
