“Open Invitation” is a series about the disconnect between how women feel and how we’re interpreted, and how what wasn’t meant to be is so easily twisted into something seductive or sexual under the male gaze.
Sunlit and Sexualized is the piece that started my “Open Invitation” series.
I saw a TikTok talking about how girls and women think tan lines are cute, a sign you’ve been outside, having fun, living life. But men? They love tan lines because they outline their favorite body parts. Something we see as lighthearted and harmless becomes sexualized the second the male gaze gets involved. This was the moment I realized how often our empowerment or innocence gets twisted into seduction, and it set the tone for the rest of the series.
