Recently I read an article about a woman who started prostitution to pay for her college tuition. Her ex-boyfriend found out and outed her to her entire family. They said “how can you stand to look at yourself?” I pictured a disco ball with its distorted image and I thought about this girl and the way her family thought so poorly of her and I realized that maybe for a lot of woman in this situation shame is unfortunately a big part of it.
The disco ball is an extremely simple design, composed of only a styrofoam ball, glass mirrors and a hook to hold it up. There are no wires or buttons the only thing needed to activate it is a light source. The history stems back all the way from the 1920s from a german silent film. It’s mostly used in clubs and discos but can be seen in many situations as a decorative piece. I would want to change the purpose of a disco ball to hold a more immersive purpose. Instead of the disco ball providing rays of light for party situations id invert the ball so one person may stand in the middle of it and appreciate the lights and reflections completely on their own for an immersive experience like a kaleidoscope but instead of just in your eyes it’s all around you. It would be used mainly for entertainment but can easily be very relaxing (especially with music) and just plain fun to look at. Though when you look inside the inverted disco ball and the see the distorted picture of your face imagine the way women in sex work feel when they’re asked how they could look at themselves.
