Street Activism

I love to hear (and see!) how you're using your stickers.

Lauren in Seattle just sent some photos showing off how she used her This Insults Women stickers for some awesome street activism.

She's going to get free stickers and you can too! Send me your stories, pictures and ideas. I'll post them in my street activism gallery and give you 10 free stickers.



Here's what Lauren had to say:

"Bought some of your stickers and love them. Hope you don't mind I made some of my own via copymachine so I could make some larger ones of your version. Wanted to send you some pictures for your gallery though!"





"I live in Seattle Washington in a young "urban" club area and all the posters around here for shows and drunken theme nights at bars are covered with totally sexist images of women, not to mention there are plenty of American Apparel stores around here with all of their ridiculous ads."

"I just wanted to show what your stickers have spawned in terms of some feminist activism in Seattle. There is a big group of guys and gals who, after seeing all the stickers I was posting up, tracked me down and joined up in the stickering/postering fun. We've been trying to take pictures of what we do to encourage others to join in too."

Thanks so much to Lauren for all her street activism and for sharing the pictures. I hope you'll get out there with your stickers too! And remember to send your pictures and stories in to get free stickers.

Reason #3051 to Boycott American Apparel

Not that you need another reason to steer clear of this sexist company.

If you're thinking, "What?! I thought American Apparel was this super cool sweatshop free company," please read my post on finding ethically made t-shirts.

A 2004 quote that American Apparel CEO Dov Charney made to The McGill Daily is getting a lot of attention on blogs today. He's quoted in the article saying:

"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 culture out of women."

This is surfacing right now because there is an ad (which might be fake) floating around that incorporates the quote. I hope the ad is fake, but that doesn't make his very real quote any less appalling. As Womanist Musings writes:

"The list of facts debunking his bull*#@& is a mile long. There has been ample evidence of his hatred of women and the only question that remains is what we are going to do about it."

Well, I know what I'm doing about it. Sticker Sisters will remain committed to using blank shirts that are made by sweatshop free & sexism free companies (you won't find any American Apparel here!). I'll continue to steer clear of American Apparel shirts for my own wardrobe. And I'll keep writing and talking about my dislike for American Apparel and suggesting alternatives every chance I get.

**1/30/2009 Update**
American Apparel responds to Bitch Magazine's blog post. Doesn't change my feelings and I hope it won't change yours!

Target Women: Disney Princesses

Have you seen the "Target Women" videos? They're hysterical! This latest one fits right in with our new My Kind of Princess shirt.

"Pregnant" Boys

What do you think about these new ads about teen pregnancy put out by One Milwaukee? Seeing an image of a teenage boy who appears to be pregnant is definitely attention getting, but I don't know if it does much more than that. And I personally wouldn't use the word "disturbing" to describe teen pregnancy.

Stacey over at Shameless has a good point: "I don’t like perpetuating this idea that if boys got pregnant, then socially we’d suddenly care about the issue."

What do you think about these ads?