Axis of Eve
Axis of Eve was a 2004 political organization and business based in the United States, whose name is a play on words satirizing US President George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil" epithet for Iran, Iraq and North Korea. They described themselves as "a coalition of brazen women on a mission to EXPOSE and DEPOSE President Select George W. Bush."
Appealing to young women who were both liberal-minded and fashion-minded, the group produced a colorful line of "protest panties" including women's underwear (made by American Apparel), tank tops, and men's boxers. The slogans on the underwear were based on the risqué double entendre possibilities offered by president Bush’s name (e.g. "Give Bush the Finger") and by some of his most infamous phrases (e.g. "Weapon of Mass Seduction").
Axis of Eve followers, encouraged to call themselves “Eves,” often purchased protest wear in bulk and coordinated group trips to political marches and events. During the Republican Convention in New York City, the group organized a "mass flash" demonstration in which over 100 women assembled and showed off their panties.
According to their website (no longer active): "Axis of Eve reclaims women’s bodies as instruments for positive politics and regime change. The mass flash is a demand for transparency and accountability. We bare our protest panties to boldly call for an end to political cover-ups."
Axis of Eve apparel quickly achieved international public recognition as a part of the trend in political clothing, frequently appearing alongside other politically-based products in major publications such as Vogue, Ms. Magazine, Time Magazine, The New York Times; San Francisco Chronicle, BUST Magazine, The New York Observer; Time Out; Village Voice; The Nation; New York Newsday; METRO, Miami Herald; Wall Street Journal; German Cosmopolitan; Der Spiegal; French Maxim; Canadian Gazette; and Readymade.
On election day 2004, they allied themselves with Annie A-Bomb and Melissa Bang-Bang, burlesque performers who are now part of the oft-political Cabaret Red Light, for an effort to increase voter turn out in Pennsylvania, considered a "swing" state that year.
External links
- "Axis of Eve is just beating around the Bush" Sunday, May 23, 2004 - San Francisco Chronicle