“It’s not a symbol of harassment. It’s a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time! I clutched my shawl to me because that sheaths the body. It was my protection, my shield. I was walking through a sea of men. I was enjoying every minute of it.”
In fact, the American girl, Ninalee “Jinx” Allen Craig, even went for a scooter ride with the man on the Vespa seen in the photograph after it was taken.
The year was 1951 and having just quit her job in New York, 23 year-old Jinx was touring Europe alone, something women rarely did at the time. She found a hotel in Florence for $1 a day where came across another American girl, Ruth Orkin, who was also traveling alone. Orkin, a 29-year old aspiring photo journalist and Jinx, a statuesque 6-foot beauty, decided to team up for a photo essay documenting what it was like for a woman traveling alone in 1950s Europe.
