Photo: Man appears to desecrate 'Fearless Girl' statue on Wall Street

A bronze statue of a "Fearless Girl" was placed before the Wall Street bull on Tuesday night. By Thursday, a passerby had captured a man in a blue suit appearing to gyrate against the statue in an act of desecration.

Alexis Kaloyanides, whose Facebook profile picture and cover photo feature images of the Women's March on Washington, posted the photo to her Facebook and Instagram on Thursday night. The Facebook post has since been shared more than 16,000 times.

Accompanying the image, Queens-based Kaloyanides wrote, "Almost as if out of central casting, some Wall Street finance broseph appeared and started humping the statue while his gross date rape-y friends laughed and cheered him on."

"Douchebags like this are why we need feminism," added Kaloyanides, a designer at the Huntsman Architectural Group in New York City, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“The Fearless Girl” statue was installed in front of Wall Street’s Charging Bull. “The Fearless Girl” statue was installed in front of Wall Street’s Charging Bull. Photo: Drew Angerer | Getty Images Photo: Drew Angerer | Getty Images Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Photo: Man appears to desecrate 'Fearless Girl' statue on Wall Street 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

Kaloyanides told Inside Edition she choose to share the offensive act online to expose the ongoing culture of abuse and sexualization of girls.

She told the entertainment program that, "This is just further perpetuating a mentality of 'boys will be boys,' and that 'it's okay, it's a joke, just brush it off. This young man likely has a mother, a sister perhaps, a girlfriend, a wife — who knows? I'm getting tired of making excuses and laughing it off. I for one am not gonna laugh it off anymore."

Almost as if out of central casting, some Wall Street finance broseph appeared and started humping the statue while his... Posted by Alexis Kaloyanides on Thursday, March 9, 2017

The "Fearless Girl" sculpture was created by artist Kristen Visbal.

State Street Global Advisers, a $2.5 trillion asset managing firm, funded the project with ad agency McCann New York. The purpose of the installation was to build a "brand experience" and to draw attention to the dearth of women on the boards of the largest U.S. corporations.

"As a steward of nearly $2.5 trillion of assets, we want to engage with boards and management around issues that we think will drive core results," said Lori Heinel, State Street's deputy global chief investment officer. "And what you find repeatedly is having more diverse boards and more diverse senior management will actually drive better results for companies."

State Street obtained a one-week permit for the statue to stand in its current position, staring down the 7,000-pound bull of Wall Street.

Read Michelle Robertson’s latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.