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In Innisfail, a small town in Queensland’s far north, there’s a small fish and chip shop that’s currently at the centre of a nationwide debate. All because of its name.
‘The Battered Wife.’
The controversial shopfront has been in place for over a year but was highlighted on social media this week, prompting state politicians and women’s advocacy groups to accuse owner Carolyn Kerr of trivialising family violence. But despite the immense public backlash, she’s standing by her choice.
The former police officer, who is herself a survivor of domestic violence, insists that rather than making light of the issue, she chose the name as a way to draw attention to it.
“Originally it was suggested to me as a little bit of a joke. But it seemed, yeah, like an interesting option with a bit of spark, you know,” she told Today. “Something that could provoke questions, could provoke curiosity. But also the play on words for the shop itself, being a fish and chip shop.”
Top Comments
I think it’s an extremely bad choice of words. I don’t think many see the funny side of this. If she has no issue with it being a survivor that’s one thing but I don’t think most would agree with her.
If I was walking past that shop and saw the sign, my first thought would not be "Oh, it must be run by a woman married to her work, battering fish". Nor would it be "Oh, someone's trying to raise awareness of DV and provoke thoughtful questions." It would be "Wow, that's really tacky and tasteless.". The owners explanation doesn't make much sense to me, it sounds more like she thought it was funny, and now has to come up with some sort of non-offensive story. The "Obviously it got your attention" comment at the end there doesn't help things, it makes it look like she was trying to be deliberately provocative.