​​​​​​The most dominant theme to emerge from the #Imnot 2014, like #Imnot 2013, is that of being underestimated. However, this year's words did not have the same overtly 'emotional' and 'sexual' undertones, with the exception of one participant being called stupid for not accepting older men's sexual advances. Both women and men expressed frustration at not being taken seriously.

 

Women felt that their ideas were discarded with them being labelled as lacking in some way (dumb, tomboy, disrespectful, 'just' a woman). Furthermore, women felt that society wanted to contain those who resist chauvinistic status quos by labelling them as controlling, humourless, or selfish.

 

Men are frequently blanket labelled as violent (aggressive) without disruption, a deeply gendered discourse. For the most part, however, men struggled to identify exclusively gendered words, like women. This may be because many positive gendered discourses are male in orientation. Nonetheless, it also showcased how gender intersects with other identity constructs such as race (token black) or health (mad) which further exacerbate feelings of being undervalued. 

 

A big thank you to RLabsJozi for providing us with the space we needed to make this shoot a reality and for the incredible work they do in the heart of Johannesburg!