Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Who are you calling a victim???

According to Dov Charney, owner of American Apparel, "women initiate most domestic violence, yet out of a thousand cases of domestic violence, maybe one is involving a man. And this has made a victim of culture out of women."

What in the world is this guy talking about? Those of us who are survivors, know survivors or simply care about survivors know that this is utter nonsense. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the misogynist hate speak that categorizes women as victims and the anti-violence against women movement as overblown and unnecessary.

Check out these other blogs to read what other activists are saying about this: Rage Against the Manchine or Womanist Musings will show you the actual ad American Apparel is using with this quote. (If you read down to the bottom of the Womanist post, you'll see that the ad may or may not be a real one, but the quote is legit.)

Apparently, there's a lot of work to do... You can start by writing American Apparel a letter to let them know you're not interested in giving their boss any of your money.

American Apparel Inc.
747 Warehouse Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Tel. (213) 488-0226
Fax. (213) 488-0334

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope PWCL and other groups like this, will hold Byron Beck of the Willamette Week accountable for his insinuation, that any minor that solicits sex/interest from an adult shares the same responsibility as the legally defined adult. Failure to recognized all victims as victims, I believe can set a dangerous precedent for under age victims of sexual abuse. The "she/he wanted it as much as I did" argument should not be allowed to go unchallenged. I am posting these comments in as many different places as I can.

Anonymous said...

Just to clarify things, the AA ad is a fake, assembled by a 3rd party to highlight Dov Charney's sexism. The quote is real.