Original RadFem Art: INSTA-EXPLOITATION: You Were Always Mark’s Mark

#MalesSexualizeOurGirlhood Comic Strip

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Comic Strip: INSTA-EXPLOITATION: You Were Always Mark’s Mark, Digital Drawing, 2025

Mark Zuckerberg. From the moment he frantically judged women on “Hot or Not”, he knew female subjugation was his goal. He played the role of “nerd,”, “nice guy”, “techie”, but he’s just a pimp by another name. This was his dream. This is what he built his empire on: the brute force of male domination and female subjugation through software.

He said you could come into this online space, but you must show yourself in parts. You must take your clothes off. You must be disembodied. You were never on equal footing as you posted your image, hoping it could lead to acceptance, to connection, to economic independence.

You saw the tricked-out-girl-turned-woman Kim Kardashian. Male capitalists told you this is “empowerment.” You saw that “everybody else is doing it.” OnlyFans met Meta, and spent millions marketing insta-exploitation to you.

Like Pavlov’s dogs, you automatically fall into formation when a camera appears.

You purse your lips,

squeeze your breasts together,

angle your backside to the camera,

pivot your foot,

tilt your head;

your body has been trained well.

Do you even question it?

The girls see you,

they copy you,

and Mark grooms the next generation...

while pointing all the fingers at you.

You’re a grown woman now, you should know better, right? Other women shame you, calling you the origin of where fault lies. But there in the shadows, pulling all the strings, are the male pimps and johns. They aim to use women and girls as their mules, messengers, and martyrs.

But what if we broke his rules?

What if we chose embodiment?

What if we showed our girls just what it means to love ourselves;

what it means to be empowered?

What it means to see through her own eyes,

not the viewer’s…

What if we made the “Marks” of the world, the mark for our female rage? What if we pointed the lens at men? What could we achieve when we name the oppressors and burn down their empires?

There are no “pick-me’s” and “pick-meisha’s,” no handmaidens, only marksmen. Grab his weapon and turn it on him. Shine a light for sisters who are struggling and need help. We can blame the enslaved, or we can finally look at the enslavers and quit saying, “Well, I expect it from him.” You give the perp a pass while buying into his lies of the “perfect victim.” This is you bowing to male supremacy.

Don’t you know no woman or girl ever wanted this?

SHE JUST WANTED TO BE SEEN, LOVED, ACCEPTED, PROTECTED, SECURE, FREE...and pimps like Mark targeted her humanity. Pimps and Johns have folks arguing over whether she can be labeled as guilty. Never he.

It was never about her innocence; it was always about how much he needed to break her, until he could transfer his blame;

until it was woman society shamed.

Until female became synonymous with hate.

Because female is already seen as never innocent.

The time to end the marksmen has come.

The time to end male supremacy has come.

Point your weapons at the men: the root cause.

This piece is inspired by all of us women who have been told to break ourselves into parts. We all do it in some way, and in 2025, women and girls are targeted through online software, along with TV and print media. My heart hurts for every woman and girl having to survive under sexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. My heart hurts when males rob us of agency, coercing so many women into “selling” themselves. My heart hurts when women and girls blame each other, instead of digging into the root. We need to find a balance between calling sisters out and helping them to return to the female liberation fold. All women have made mistakes; I’ve made them all. I inadvertently hurt women and girls collectively because of my actions and words. When fellow sisters meet me with patience and call me in, I’m able to work to correct my fuckups. I meet my mistakes with responsibility and accountability. I face the consequences by listening to the women I’ve harmed and doing all I can to spread the message of female liberation. And if ever a woman says my harm is unforgivable, I would respect her boundaries and disappear. It’s the default in our societies to blame female victims, not male perpetrators. But if you really reflect on your life, you will see that you, too, have been victimized. You, too, have been coerced by the whims of male supremacist ideologies. There are no perfect victims, just women and girls trying to survive. Remember this the next time you judge another woman. “Enlightenment” and “perfection” are myths; we are all continuously works in progress until we reach brain death. To believe otherwise is to fall into the myth of male culture’s supremacism and the trap of smug arrogance that is deeply connected to fear.

A year ago, I was hanging out with my female friend and her daughters. My friend decided to snap a photo. The older daughter automatically turned her body, pivoted her foot, angled her head, and shockwaves went through me. I knew what she was doing, but she didn’t. She was simply copying what she had seen around her. She was around the age of seven.

I watch my five-year-old niece being trained by male culture to see herself as an object. She’s the only girl of seven children, and the only child given a toy that’s a mirror. I was once that little girl....we all were in our own ways. We can’t escape men’s violence and subjugation until we dig into the roots of male supremacy. Stop blaming and shaming women and girls for the weapons created by males for the sole purpose of female subjugation. Don’t be manipulated by the pimps and johns. Stop buying into “the madonna” and “the whore.” Stop buying into, “she shoulda known better” and “he doesn’t know better.” Realize this is your absorption of male culture’s woman-hating ideologies. Realize this is your self-protection trying to plead that you could never be a victim (again). This is the reaction of a woman controlled by cognitive dissonance and fear. So afraid that if you admit you ever let your guard down, you’ll be blamed once again. So afraid that if you admit #YesAllMen, you’ll never be able to pretend you feel safe again. But it was never your fault sister, you can’t always be vigilant. Point your weapon at the man, not at other women and yourself.