The New York subway is filled with body shaming adverts and I’ve had enough

One advert shows a woman holding two clementines over her breasts, looking sad. She then holds up two melons and grins inanely

Just one of the many adverts female commuters are subjected to on the New York subway (Rachael Revesz)

New York City is awash with negative, body-shaming and sexist adverts.

As New Yorkers hail a yellow taxi, the advert on top of the cab will likely be promoting "FlashDancers NYC" on Broadway, "Private Eyes Gentleman's Club" on West 45th or "New York Dolls" on Murray Street.

When New Yorkers descend into the subway, the negative body-shaming continues. One advert screams about “bikini fears” and shows a stick-like figure with projecting hip bones plastered next to a discounted rate for breast surgery. It could all be yours for just $3,999. Limited offer only.

Another advert shows a woman holding two clementines over her breasts, looking sad. She then holds up two melons and grins inanely.

It is hard to quantify why these brazen adverts have such a negative effect. For any woman who is happy and secure, it is unlikely an advert like that will make them hasten to book the next available appointment at a plastic surgeon.

It is more the slow, creeping, insidious effect of body shaming that takes its toll.

Just when you’ve finished a long day at work and your coffee high has worn off, that advert shaming your bikini body readiness, your breasts or your wrinkles will give you a nice little kick in the stomach.

Luckily for New York, a troupe of dedicated activists are traveling on public transport and slapping reaffirming and positive slogans on these adverts.

“This advert degrades women,” one sticker reads.

“I am free to have a body that is unique to me,” another says.

Two women called Jess Andersen and Ashley Simon, founders of My Body Does, were among those inspired by the push against that infamous advert in London for protein pills alongside the slogan “Are you beach body ready?”

A petition to remove the advert gathered more than 71,000 signatures and shortly afterwards the new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, banned body-shaming adverts on the tube.

Compare this situation to New York.

Entrepreneur Miki Agrawal fought hard to get the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to display adverts for her innovative, period-proof THINX underwear last year - the MTA board was made up of "white, middle-aged men" - as they said the images of an egg yolk and a fruit, representing a woman's body, were too “suggestive” and might offend children.

Yet the subway freely flaunts adverts for the Museum of Sex - the latest one features two cream puffs with cherries on top - and for breast surgery.

While mayor Bill de Blasio continues his crusade to stop horse-drawn carriages from ferrying tourists around Central Park, he might notice the much more harmful journey millions of women make every day on public transport.

The message these adverts send is clear. And our message back is also. We don’t want to feel negative about ourselves, either at 8am, 5pm, or any time in-between.