In early March, crowds of hungry NYU Shanghai students entered the cafeteria and sat down for lunch. It appeared to be a day like any other, except when you looked up: printed in cutout letters on one of the skylights were the words FRIGID BITCH and COLD PRUDE. To some, it was a joke. To others, it was offensive and rude. But in the end, it was an art project called “Up the Skirt,” created by Tirza Alberta, Elena Huang, and Tyler Finley, meant to inspire conversation about the objectification of women. However, not everyone saw it that way, and those four words started a discussion on what is—and isn’t—appropriate for public discussion. “Up the Skirt” was started as part of an event called Creative Impulse in Public Spaces. “We were given a chance to put up installations or creative work at locations around the school,” said Tirza Alberta. According to the official artist statement, the project was inspired by the ways that society views females: calling them “whores” or “prudes,” effectively slut-shaming or virgin-shaming them. According to the artist statement, “women are frequently not treated as humans with agency, but tools to be used for someone else’s benefit.” Alberta, Huang, and Finley wanted to challenge these views in a public space. “Some of [the students and staff] were very supportive and moved by the message, especially those who had the experience of defending either themselves or their friends from people who slut-shame,” said Alberta. “But some others thought that it was a rather crass message, considering the place where this piece was installed.” The location of the message sparked debate about whether it was an appropriate message to be on such a public display, as it challenged the safe spaces many students had set up for themselves. The idea of “safe spaces” has become incredibly popular across American college campuses in the last few years. In the face of movements such as Black Lives Matter and growing awareness about college sexual assault epidemics, students demand spaces where their individual identities can be recognized and where they can be safe from their traumatic memories. Safe spaces don’t have to be physical places—most often, they come in form of ideological communities, where students want to be protected or distanced from ideas that harm or challenge them. Safe spaces are viewed as many as essential, communities where students can be free to develop and foster their own ideas without challenge. But, just as safe spaces have grown in popularity, so has the movement against them.In the classroom, professors have noticed that the idea of safe spaces has prevented learning and altered curriculum. An article in The Telegraph compiled several examples: a law professor was asked by her students to leave out material on sexual assault law to avoid triggering assault survivors, and students in some universities are allowed to skip required readings altogether if they feel disturbed by the book’s content. These, of course, are relatively extreme examples, but safe spaces undeniably have had an impact on challenging ideas in the classroom, even in NYU Shanghai. “Up the Skirt” can be viewed as a challenge to a safe space—in our small community, where many female students hope to be free of such insults, they find themselves staring up at the very words they hope to never hear. Undeniably a challenging art piece, “Up the Skirt” inspired protest precisely because it made people so uncomfortable. Universities, especially small and liberal ones like NYU Shanghai, are supposed to be a place where ideas are spread freely and students engage in open debate to tackle the world’s biggest issues. But increasingly these debates are limited by safe spaces—we don’t want to offend or hurt anybody. We don’t want to be the only person opposing a popular opinion. These are all rational concerns, and yes, there is a difference between having an informed debate about racism and calling people racial slurs. However, safe spaces too often blur the line between the two, making them one and the same. To some, safe spaces may not be an issue, or maybe even viewed as beneficial. But if you are only around people with the same ideas as you, people who don’t challenge you even when you’re misguided, it is only too easy to become the very narrow-minded people you despise. Without being challenged by outside ideas, students run the risk of becoming uninformed, arguing for one side of a debate without any awareness that there is another side. Though living without safe spaces can make people feel uncomfortable or even attacked, learning from and challenging new ideas in public spaces is essential to true growth. As “Up the Skirt” showed, ideas that make people uncomfortable also can challenge others to watch their words. This article was written by Savannah Billman . Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Creative Commons