Man seen walking on a leash was a 'theatrical project,' woman explains

Twitter/Fifi Haroon

Man seen walking on a leash was a 'theatrical project,' woman explains
(Image credit: Twitter/Fifi Haroon)

Last Friday, the internet was gripped by a photo of a woman walking a man on a leash in London. Speculation about the incident's purpose swirled as the hashtag #manonleash exploded on Twitter. Some thought it was an erotic experiment, while others said it might be an elaborate PR prank.

Turns out, it was for a theatrical project.

The woman in the picture, Eden Avital Alexander, is an actress and told the London Evening-Standard that the intent of the stunt was to capture onlookers' reactions to a man being walked on a leash in public. To record the scene, a hidden camera was placed in a tissue box by a woman walking beside the pair.

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"It was not a BDSM or a PR stunt; the project seemed at the start like a funny thing to be a part of and was all about the audience, which for me I think is the most important part of acting," she said. Read the rest of the interview at the London Evening-Standard. -- Jordan Valinsky

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.