Why Anthony Recenello is going around taking pictures of women every day

I’m a middle-aged white man asking questions to women on the street to learn how to be a better guy and hopefully make other men better men and also hopefully empower women in the process.

I can tell you that I originally wasn’t interested in feminism because it seemed too counterculture (wacky, radical). Not until I moved to NYC. New York forced me to be accepting because I had no choice but to be constantly in the same room as others with whom I’d formerly disagree and otherwise never have the opportunity to meet.

New York City isn’t a destination for the already liberal and progressive. Alternately, I think NYC teaches you to accept others and because of that you surrender your reservations or are eaten by your contempt.

Six years of meeting every sort of person taught me that there are little absolutes in life. Instead it’s about opinion and perspective.

I was introduced to the “what” but most importantly the “why”. Because the “why” is something to which I can relate. I am usually not your “what” but I always am your “why”. I can see the “what” from far away. You have a nose ring and tattoos; you like your own gender instead of the other gender; you aren’t the gender that’s on your birth certificate; you believe in several gods; you’re angry; you’re in a profession unusual to what others would expect of you; you dress and groom differently than what others would expect of you. New York groups us so closely together that I can’t but help to listen to your “why” even if I’m not asking. Eventually I stop focusing on the “what” because the “why” is more important to me. Eventually I’m sitting across the table at a cafe from you and I’m looking into your eyes and seeing the “why” so compellingly vulnerable.

I became more interested in equality and respect for women because I was given grounds on which I could listen. I work on Beautiful Army each day so I can provide similar grounds to you.