Some Like It Hot

Oct 30 2019

We look at our more fantastic art of frontliners to see how HKers resist not just with hardhats & umbrellas, but also by being really, really, ridiculously good looking.

Most of the HK protest art we’ve seen depicts frontliners as fearless freedom fighters, braving tear gas & fire for ideals. But sometimes, just sometimes, the art depicts them as sexy. The women have the busts & butts out & the men are swoll & sweaty, all inspired by anime.

These Kong Girls are pure fantasy. They all sensibly hv masks but seem to hv forgotten abt pt of going black bloc, the existence of sports bras, or pants. Still, their defiant stances say-don’t let the packaging fool you, we’re here to break ♥ & maybe a few MTR turnstiles.

The Kong Boy pics get just as ogle-y. Bulging muscles attached to washboard abs, intense gazes into the distance… & a much higher frequency of ripped t-shirts and toplessness than what’s usually seen-or recommended-in skirmishes. Sometimes, artistic license is a gd thing.😬

Frontliners becoming new idols for this rebellious age is a relatively recent phenom & it’s not- afaik- bcos HKers hv gotten hotter since Jun. More likely, it’s bcos more artists from various backgrounds hv started to add their creations to the city’s evolving gallery.

These rare glamor shots in our art can also be seen as reaction to CCP plans to steer ppl back to ‘traditional’ masculine & feminine ideals & the weird slut-shaming the govt hv been deploying on HKers. Our art says- fuck your gender stereotypes & outdated views on sexuality.

Not only are HK men in our art allowed to ooze sex - far cry from puritanical CCP propaganda- they can show vulnerability & compassion, none of which detract from their masculine identity. If anything, their humanity makes them more relatable than those pics of beefcakes.

Our art also says HK women will dress how they want, fight how they want. We’re told Lam’s austere wardrobe/ the restrictive cheongsams that’s bane of many HK schoolgirls make a lady. Frontliners’ black uniforms, as revealing or protective as one wants, is a liberation.

Our art fights agnst CCP’s suffocating ideas of gender roles & morality by flaunting HKers’ SEXINESS. But HKers know we aren’t the svelte gods these pics paint us to be. Our mvmt is broad-based, w/ ppl of all shapes & sizes, ages & races, genders & orientations involved.

All different but still valid, important & beautiful. You can be a scrawny teenager on a human chain, butch woman manning supplies, man w/ crutches at a rally… our art sees us all as luminous beings, not becos of how we look but becos of the beauty in our ♥ & actions.