LAISSEZ-FAIRE

We live in a country of binaries and biases, where the gun is seen as a sacred emblem of power and citizens are granted the carte blanche entitlement to bear arms. With the issues of reproductive healthcare and gun safety under constant debate, our rights to autonomy and privacy is unequally protected through warped scales of justice. The French term laissez-faire means “allow to do” and "a policy of minimum governmental interference in the economic affairs of individuals and society.” In this era of hyper-polarization, these toy guns represent the political interplay of our rights and existence. They speak to the value of human life, how we choose to assign value as a society and the hypocrisy that is at play in the actions of our elected officials. Soon after Roe was overturned, a tweet I saw spawned this series of guns and ovaries. It said something to the effect of: “Hey ladies, let’s just shove some automatic rifles up our twats and we’ll have nothing to worry about.”

SUZANNA SCOTT

SUZANNA SCOTT