In what is perhaps my favorite photograph ever taken (I mean, really, how could you not love this?), Sarah Lucas attaches a pale, plucked whole chicken to a pair of serious granny panties.

The opening of the poor lil’ chicky is strategically placed where the artist’s vagina might be.  Gives a whole new meaning to “chicken lips and lizard hips.”  [Side notes for fans of The Boss: Bruce Springsteen does an adorable cover of that song.] 

But tear yourselves away from New Jersey and travel back to England with me, where our artist/poultry fashion trendsetter hails.  No, it’s not a picture for an avant-garde Vogue spread.  Lucas’ work is all about gender roles.  Taken in this light, the photograph is actually pretty disturbing…assuming you’re not already grossed out by the raw bird. My dainty vegetarian sensibilities were quite affronted.

Basically, she’s making a connection between female genitalia and a butchered meat carcass.  Perhaps insinuating that for all the chickensh*t women have to go through, our lady bits might as well be torn apart and tossed away like the cheapest of cheap meat.  Notice the picture doesn’t show her face, which not only serves to make the figure speak universally for “The Body” with capital letters, but also reminds us that when women are objectified, no one cares about their thoughts, personality or feelings.

Used and abused, prepped for consumption, that’s how society treats women's bodies. It’s enough to make you wanna fly the coop.