Photograph by Andrew Hinderaker
The Guerrilla Girls were a group of women whose names are still unknown today who used gorilla masks to allow them to campaign for women’s rights without fear of repercussions in their careers or personal lives. Their campaign was especially impactful because of the masks they wore, which had a few different effects. First of all, the fact that they had to wear masks in order to avoid repercussions just shows how dire the need actually was for social change. These women felt the need to hide their identities because they were afraid that they would be discriminated against if people knew who they were. Secondly, and somewhat related to the first point, the masks allowed them to use a no-holds-barred approach at activism. They were some of, if not the first feminists ever, to not have to worry about the backlash from their campaigns. This was very powerful because they could get in the face of the public and really utilize any tactics to spread their message since they didn’t have to worry about their own images, or whether or not people would judge them and their families (if they had them). Finally, women walking the streets in gorilla masks are not easily forgotten. The people they interacted with on the streets probably remember those encounters to this day. Especially since they seemed to be operating in a city, it would be quite terrifying to be approached by a group of people wearing gorilla masks. Had they simply gone around the city and handed out flyers, no one would have probably paid any attention to them. It was the gorilla masks that made them stand out from other activists and made those who interacted with them really remember them, rendering it an extremely effective social movement.