A group of women stripped off for nude pictures with just a ballot covering their privates to encourage people to vote Democrat in the upcoming midterm elections.
The ten women took part in the raunchy photoshoot in the hope the saucy pics will send people to the polls come November 6.
Dawn Robertson, 48, organised the ‘Grab Them By The Ballot’ shoot with women of different sizes, sexualities and races after the Me Too revelations.
The Harvard Law-grad found her models, who include a trans woman, a Latina, an abduction survivor and a pregnant woman, on social media and the street.
Melodi Blackbird, 44, Susan Lipkin, 65, Gina Carerra, 56, Tara Beach, 34, Alexandra Martin, 31, Nyla Smith, 22, Gina Higgins, 37, Courtney Blasius, 31, a transgender woman who goes by the initial Z, 28, and Dawn, all posed nude with ballots placed strategically in front of their crotches.
They also took part in solo pictures with a single prop to represent themselves as part of the shoot on October 28.
Recruitment company founder Dawn said: “With the Kavanaugh nomination and Me Too and Trump, women are rising everywhere.
“What the Republicans are doing to transgender rights, the way they are attacking women’s reproductive rights and the collective trauma means that women are really coming to the forefront now.
“I hope that the pictures encourage women and marginalised communities to vote. I want them to know that their voice matters and this is serious s***.”
The midterm elections take place next week and Democrats are vying for control of Congress with a narrow chance that they could take back control of the Senate too.
Dawn, who writes about sexuality and relationships, was inspired by Massachusetts photographer Anja Shutz’s 2016 series of nude photographs Grab Him By The Ballot where women posed naked with strategically positioned ballots.
That series was in response to President Trump’s infamous comments aboard an Access Hollywood bus.
Dawn said: “The difference is we are saying it’s not just Trump, it’s Kavanaugh and all the alleged abusers who have been exposed by the Me Too movement.”
She recruited her models on social media and even at a grocery store.
Dawn said: “I pounded the pavement the night before the shoot because a woman had cancelled.
“I went up to a woman in a market and asked her to pose for me and she said yes.
“People in real life were actually far more receptive to the idea than communities online.
“I faced a lot of backlash when I tried to recruit a diverse group of women.
“I was told I was objectifying women, that nudity equals promiscuity and even that I was playing the part of a white saviour.
“But I don’t think that the pictures oversexualise the women.
“Nudity is fine, being naked is a natural expression.
“Men have sexualised and monetised women’s bodies but these pictures give the power back to the woman.”
Z, a Jewish transgender woman, said that she took part in the risque shoot to raise awareness of how the Trump administration treats the transgender community.
Last week the administration announced that it was considering legally defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.
President Trump has also sought to ban transgender people from serving in the military.
Z said: “I’m doing this to raise awareness about the impact voting has on the lives of people who are the target of erasure, violence, bigotry, oppression in all of its forms.
“Donald Trump’s administration is aggressively trying to define transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people out of existence.
“I’m optimistic that this photo shoot will serve as a starting point for more women to claim their bodies.”
Gina Carerra, 56, a Latina artist, said she had taken part in the photo shoot to raise awareness of the vulnerability of minorities under the Trump presidency.
She said: “I identify as Latina although I am blended with Egyptian, indigenous and Italian as well.
“I think these times merit that everybody gets out and votes. This is a time when millions of marginalized people, disabled, elderly, people of colour and indigenous women are all being negatively affected by this current regime.”
By Isolde Walters
