periel aschenbrand
New York native Periel Aschenbrand has made it her goal to turn both apparel advertising and the sexual objectification of women on their heads. Inspired by Barbara Kruger and Vivienne Westwood, she runs the tee shirt company Body as Billboard, using the “prime advertising space” of a woman’s chest for activist, rather than corporate, sentiments. She is also the author of The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own, an audacious memoir of sex and politics.
Aschenbrand’s activism derives from her time working towards an MA in creative writing at the University of Arizona, where she studied under French feminist Monique Wittig. This passion merged with tee shirt making when, at age 27, she was teaching a summer course in philosophy to high school students in Massachusetts. Periel noticed that the girls in her class wore tops emblazoned with company logos or slogans such as “Mrs. Timberlake”. As an exercise, she encouraged them to construct tee shirts with political messages instead. Her students decided to make shirts that simply said “Rwanda” and to wear them on the last day of the program, evoking a strong response from parents coming to pick their children up.
Aschenbrand then made a tee shirt for herself that read “The Only Bush I Trust Is My Own”. When she walked into the trendy L.A. boutique Catwalk wearing it, the owner requested some for the store on the spot. That first order quickly sold out, and the shirts were worn by the likes of feminist icon Gloria Steinem, actress Susan Sarandon, and quirky fashion designer Betsey Johnson. This led to the founding of Body as Billboard. She has since made and sold tee shirts printed with a variety of messages, including:
• “Drug Dealer” (Proceeds are donated to the AIDS Charity Keep a Child Alive)
• “What Would You Give For a Great Pair of Tits?” (Breast cancer awareness)
• “Knockout: Stop Violence Against Women”
• “Marriage Is So Gay”
She has addressed standing room only crowds for annual Take Back the Night marches and Voices For Choice fundraisers at Northeastern University and NYU. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Observer, New York Magazine, WWD and The New York Post.
For more speakers on young feminist activism, see: Shelby Knox, Third Wave Foundation, Amy Richards, Guerilla Girls, Jennifer Baumgardner, Nancy Lublin, Angela Rose
For more speakers on feminism and business, see: Nancy Lublin, Linda R. Hirshman, Ellen Bravo, Johnny Temple, Debbie Stoller
