Thread by @latimesent

It begins with a group of women, usually blindfolded, and a beat. There is a shuffle, chanting and the unforgettable chorus:

“Y la culpa no era mía / ni dónde estaba / ni cómo vestía.” (And the fault was not mine / nor where I was / nor how I was dressed) latimes.com/entertainment-…

The performance was introduced by feminist art collective Lastesis at a protest in Valparaíso, Chile, to draw attention to violence against women.

It ends with the group pointing straight ahead and repeating, "El violador eres tú." (The rapist is you.) latimes.com/entertainment-…

The viral action titled “Un violador en tu camino” (A Rapist in Your Path) has since appeared in Colombia, Mexico, France, India, the U.S. and Turkey (where a recent attempt to stage it was broken up by police). latimes.com/entertainment-…

On Sunday, more than 200 women gathered on the sidewalk before the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and performed it again.

Their collective voices, in Spanish, rang clearly on Wilshire Boulevard: “Y la culpa no era mía, ni dónde estaba, ni cómo vestía.” latimes.com/entertainment-…

“Un violador en tu camino” was originally devised by Chilean artists — Daffne Valdés, Sibila Sotomayor, Paula Cometa Stange and Lea Cáceres — collectively known as Lastesis, a name that nods to the group’s interest in promoting theses by feminist thinkers. latimes.com/entertainment-…

The performance draws from Argentine feminist anthropologist Rita Segato‘s studies on rape and was inspired by grim statistics:

In Chile, only 8% of resolved sexual assault cases in 2018 ended up in some sort of conviction against the perpetrator, according to @MujeresRed.

One of the organizers of Sunday’s action at LACMA said the piece ultimately speaks to the ways in which “women in Chile have been abused, not only by men, but by the structure, by the state.” latimes.com/entertainment-…

And that is part of what is so striking about Lastesis’ action, writes @cmonstah.

"It calls out the state infrastructures that belittle sexual assaults and also regularly fail to prosecute crimes of sexual violence in a meaningful way." latimes.com/entertainment-…

“It’s the cops / The judges / The state / The president,” goes one memorable line from “Un violador,” as the performers point. latimes.com/entertainment-…

The political action has become a worldwide phenomenon as a performance whose defiance resonates profoundly in an era in which a cursory scan of news headlines can feel like an assault on women and their bodies, writes @cmonstah. latimes.com/entertainment-…

“This intervention, it has really turned into a hymn across women,” said Francisca Valenzuela, a Chilean American singer who participated in the action at LACMA. “It’s a slogan for dignity.” latimes.com/entertainment-…

Rebecca Hernandez, who has studied the ways in which protest movements use choreography and other signifiers to send messages, said the protest has spread effectively because it gives women the collective safety of speaking their concerns. latimes.com/entertainment-…

“There is a defiance,” said independent curator Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, who helped organize the Hammer Museum exhibition “Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985" in 2017.

“It can’t just be turn the other cheek. This is a war chant.” latimes.com/entertainment-…

More from @cmonstah on how Lastesis have created a new image for 2019: latimes.com/entertainment-…