Diana Oh had an important message to share — and she feels she should wear whatever she wants when delivering it.
Oh dressed in lingerie and stood for 90 minutes in the middle of Times Square last month as part of a new project aimed to change the way people view and talk about women who tap into their sexuality.
The 27-year-old East Village resident created the concept of {My Lingerie Play} and said she planned to have 10 demonstrations throughout the city featuring women — alone and in large groups — wearing the sexy clothing in unconventional locations.
“The solution is not to tell women to stop being sexual beings. We are not asking to be harassed, abused, talked down to, or violated no matter what we are wearing,” the project’s mission statement reads. “Being a sexualized woman does not strip us of our humanity. The problem isn’t sexualization. The problem is the DEGRADATION that comes along with women expressing it.”
Oh told the Daily News that the project was a byproduct of a solo show the actor and singer-songwriter wrote based on her feelings on wearing lingerie. In that show, she would change into multiple outfits, then tell a story and sing a song about each garment.
Her goal is to explore what she calls “a new wave of feminism” she is advocating — women being sexualized without being dehumanized. This includes women being able to wear whatever they want without fear of being verbally abused — or worse.
She also believes women should not feel they have to fit the mold of what others think they should look like or wear.
Hye Yun Park via Vimeo
Hye Yun Park via Vimeo
Hye Yun Park via Vimeo
Hye Yun Park via Vimeo
Hye Yun Park via Vimeo
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“I was standing in a Macy’s and I saw these mannequins (wearing lingerie) and I felt judged by these headless, plastic things,” Oh said. “I couldn’t believe I was comparing myself to something completely inanimate that doesn’t have a face.”
Recently, Oh was followed home by a group of men at 2 a.m. – and she included this story in signs written on bags that were held up during her Times Square presentation.
“I can be a woman who enjoys wearing lingerie but can’t enjoy not being catcalled when wearing more than lingerie,” she said. “Women can encompass all of this. Women can be sexual beings without being complete objects.”
In the video Oh stepped in the middle of Times Square dressed in black lingerie, standing on a soapbox and holding up the messages written on bags.
Her friend Hye Yun Park, who filmed the video, told The News the audience was overwhelming attentive and respectful, with only a few passersby shouting at her or displaying attitudes of sexual aggression regarding her outfit.
Many of the people — including men with young daughters and those working as costumed characters like Elmo and Spiderman — stopped to read the messages and expressed their support. Some women who had been victims of sexual harassment became very emotional, she said.
“It was neat to see people really care,” Park said. “We have the right to be sexual and wear what we want and be respected. I want to be a woman that’s not afraid of expressing myself the way I am as a strong feminine sexual being.”
jlandau@nydailynews.com Follow on Twitter @joelzlandau
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