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What happened when we called out a company for degrading women.

If you believe in what you’re promoting is it too much to ask that you take responsibility for it?

This week, we called out a company called ‘Ja feel’ for degrading women.

It’s fair to say we didn’t mince words. We called the clothing, tshirts for dickheads. Because, well, Exhibit A:

 

Anyway, you remember. They’re social media is filled with jokes about rape, “hoes” and tshirts that tell you to “disregard females”. It’s your standard women-hating fare.

A few things happened. Some were expected – and some were more surprising.

In the unsurprising category was the comments that flooded the site laughing about how we were “butt-hurt” because Ja Feel “fucked” us. “Butt-hurt” was the phrase used most. It is obviously some term of art when young dude-bros in this cohort want to say that they have dominated you or beaten you. They say “butt-hurt”, probably as a reference to anal rape. So when we say that their brand encourages violence against women, they make a rape reference. Genius move.

Others, again unsurprisingly, pointed out that it’s just a tshirt and we should be focusing on “actual sexism”. And there were the usual calls that we were “feminazis”, though how calling out a sexist company is anything like invading Poland is confusing.

Perhaps most surprising was the partner of a parent who asked that we remove a picture of her son from the story. That same picture appears on Ja feel’s very public social media site advertising the brand.

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It appears that the parent in question was happy to have the picture appear alongside rape jokes and very degrading images (and a group of young men who like to say “butt-hurt” with a surprising frequency), but they were not happy to be associated with criticism of that brand and what it represents (the picture is still there, with pride of place amongst the other gross content).

A similar thing happened this week when protesters who were rallying to Reclaim Australia did not like the fact that they were being photographed at the rally.

People liked the idea of being part of Reclaim Australia’s largely racist messaging when they were marching through the streets with their mates, but they didn’t want to be singled out. They like the anonymity of being in a group. But the moment that they could be identified as holding that view, they felt deeply uncomfortable.

And yet, the Reclaim Australia protesters wanted to be out there. They wanted to be noticed. Arguably, if the media wasn’t going to show up, they probably wouldn’t have been there in such numbers. Protesters want to be seen, to be counted, so that whoever they are protesting about knows that people are objecting. That is the whole point.

Until you are actually recognised as holding that view and then, well, that’s where things get real.

It is surprising how much people want to be associated with a message until they are actually called out for holding those views. Whether you like it or not, if you are carrying around a placard with an offensive message on it, people are going to associate you with that message. You are not being vilified. You are not being targeted. You are just being held accountable.

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If you are walking around with a neo-Nazi sign, don’t be surprised when people call you a racist.

If you promote a brand that says really dumb stuff about women, then don’t be surprised when people call you sexist.

Yes, it definitely happens that you might be inadvertently associated with a view that you don’t hold. If you were were crossing the street when a racist rally rolled by and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, then that’s fair enough. If you were wearing a tshirt and you didn’t know that it was sexist, then you’re possibly in the same boat.

But if you are right there, on the advertising page with a grin on your face promoting the brand in a pic that you probably sent in, or if you are marching and chanting “Muslims Go Home!”, then it’s harder to say, ‘hey, I’m not with them’. You are there to be noticed. You can’t freak out when someone does notice you.

Hiding within a large group is a luxury that you may not have in the digital age. But should that really be a problem?

If you believe in what you’re promoting is it too much to ask that you take responsibility for it?

 

If you’ve got concerns about the way that women are represented in Ja feel’s advertising, you can get behind Collective Shout’s campaign here.

Want to read more? Try:

“Dear Racist. Australia is not yours to reclaim.”

Jimmy Barnes has an important message for racists.

Dawn Fraser labelled a ‘racist’ for attack on Nick Kyrgios.

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