The Semiotics of Coathangers

Something interesting happened today in my brain when I read a blog entry over at Feministe. The entry was about Poise Pro-choice Messenger bags. Now the first thing I saw was the photograph in the blog entry, with its arresting symbol – a coathanger framed in the universal "prohibited" symbol (a red circle bisected with a single red line – see below).

When I saw that, I immediately thought it was a reference to Mommie Dearest – "No…wire…hangers!". Oops, wrong – slap wrist – stop being camp. It is in fact a symbol for the pro-choice movement. So then I had a moment of being deliciously confused over whether to laugh or be serious. That’s the trouble with semiotics – most of the time we bring our own cultural baggage that gets in the way of the pure reading of the word.

By the way, this is a remarkable meeting. I think that that particular three-year old is going to turn out just fine.