YEA or NAY: The “Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street”

Occupy Wall Street…

What an awakening for this generation after years of being silenced! After about one month, cities nationally and internationally have heeded the call: Americans will no longer be bystanders in this nation as the economic crisis demands that the government be accountable to citizens and not corporations.

As an organizer myself in the NYC area, it’s been amazing to witness the growth of our local movement. Groups are stepping up and forming demands. Long-time activists in the New York City area are excited to welcome a movement whose aim is to address the needs of their communities on a local and global scale.

While catching up on my news rounds, I discovered the viral video,  “The Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street”, which has caused quite a back-and-forth on Salon.com (and I’m not even talking about user-comment-flame-wars.) Technically, a pretty well-made film, but it just didn’t sit right on my palette. On the short’s Vimeo site, filmmakers Steven Greenstreet and Brandon Bloch explain the concept’s impetus via the following:

A lot of fantastic media has been created about the “Occupy” movement. I was watching one video in particular and commented to a friend, “Wow, seeing all those super smart hot chicks at the protest makes me want to be there.” He replied, “Hmmm… Yeah, let’s go with that.”

And now, close to 300,000 views later (as of this writing), I give you, “The Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street.” What do you think–is this a celebration of womankind, or a polite excuse to objectify women?