The Body Shop has fallen

Far more eloquent than my response. I think I dared them to call me a Menstruator one more time...

Brilliant reply, Teds

Omg teds that was PERFECT!

Sent them back this:

I’m very pleased to read that you can manage a half-hearted apology (We’re sorry but…) about what can only be seen as a tweet trolling a woman who had just opened up about her experience of domestic violence and sexual assault.

I am wondering why you think it is within the Body Shop’s remit to preach to any woman on any given subject? I see you have an ALL MALE board, and an appalling record on the gender pay gap.

As far as I can tell, you do not sell any period products, yet you clearly think that your company having involvement in one charity, makes you an of arbiter or authority on the topic of menstruation. Why do you claim this authority? You are a company selling cosmetics and toiletries - why do you think it’s your job to preach to women via your twitter account?

FYI - any born female will tell you that we know that menstruation is “bloody natural” - because we’re the ones that have them.

Involvement in charity is all very laudable - preaching to women on Twitter is NOT. You have displayed a laughable over-stepping of the boundaries here.

@TedsFederationRep I salute you! 🙌

I got the same bog-off reply about thirty minutes ago so it was clearly a mass email.

I've just sent Mr Boynton this response, but I'm not expecting anything useful or coherent back.

"Dear Mr Boynton,

People do not have periods. Men do not have periods. Women and girls have periods.

I support anyone who wishes to express their gender identity by the way they dress, present themselves and by the names they wish to use. I support their right to be treated with tolerance and respect. However, gender is a social construct. Sex is biological fact and only women and girls menstruate, regardless of their gender identity. You know this.

Please stop referring to women and girls as menstruators. I am not a menstruator, a cervix haver, or any other such thing. I am not a collection of biologically female body parts. I am a woman. Please stop dehumanising me in this way. It is misogynistic behaviour. If it was not so, you would not be advertising Body Shop products for MEN. You would be referring to them as testes havers or sperm producers.

I am, however, glad that you acknowledge you got it absolutely wrong with the company tweet in respect of JK Rowling. It was a sneer as well as an attack and it was wholly offensive. I look forward to seeing The Body Shop using Twitter to apologise to JK Rowling for having got it so wrong.

And until you take the misogyny out of your company ethos, I still won’t be buying your products.

Yours sincerely"

And when you get back to them remind them of their account ‘likes’ (ie - we can see them).

I’m done with them. I’m done with any business that calls me a person or menstruator. They can get lost.

I just got this:

Hello, and thank you for getting in touch with us about our recent tweet to JK Rowling. We wanted to respond to everyone who has reached out to us to clarify our position on this issue.

The Body Shop’s position on menstruation in relation to trans and non-binary people is that we stand with ALL menstruators. People have periods – women, men and non-binary people. And plenty of women don’t. We value learning from everyone’s experience and we believe the conversation needs to go forwards, not backwards.
We disagree with JK Rowling’s view and wanted to demonstrate our support for trans and non-binary people. We understand why addressing the tweet to JK Rowling’s personal account has been interpreted as an attack on her as an individual, and as a domestic abuse survivor. That was absolutely not our intention. We didn’t get the tone right on this one and we do want to engage respectfully and constructively on these important issues.
We believe it is important to keep having conversations around difficult topics such as this, and doing so constructively. We recognise that our engagement with JK Rowling on this occasion wasn’t as constructive as we would like to be. We all need to educate ourselves, be inclusive and stand together so that we can end the shame and stigma around periods for all menstruators and stand up for what is right in our society.

We stand by our position on the rights of trans and non-binary people, and we will learn from this execution to ensure our communication is stronger and more constructive in the future.
We are longstanding supporters of the rights of women and girls on issues which affect them and believe it is important to keep having conversations around difficult topics such as this.

We hope this helps you understand our position. We appreciated hearing yours.

Thank you from all of us at The Body Shop

Yeah - no! I'm going to respond asking them their interest in women's menstruation, since they are a cosmetics company, with an all male board.

Who is CH?

Well I cancelled my order I was about to place (£50ish) and have unsubscribed from their email. I have some shampoo in the bathroom that needs to go in the bin (or down the drain and the bottle recycled obvs).

I've bought stuff from Superdrug instead.

I'm disappointed, yet not surprised, about CH. I used to love her (and even met her and a Body Shop event!) but after educating myself a little around skincare and influencers my opinion changed. She works with TBS so it's unsurprising.

I know it’s an outsourced facility - but how much do you need the money to have to spout such nonsense to strangers?

Delete your account, tell them you want the ‘right to be forgotten’ and to never to hear from them again. Keep a copy, and if they ever send an email for their products... 🤬

I’ve had the same response - I am really cross - it is dehumanising and insulting. I have explained my reasons and said that I will no longer be shopping with them as they contributed to the JKR pile on, listening and educating seems to be one way.

Ok... I am about to get a wee bit annoyed...

'Here is why we reached out to J.K. Rowling; we stand with ALL menstruators. People have periods – women, men and non-binary people. And plenty of women don’t.

It’s Pride month so we believe it is important we have these conversations now. We all need to educate ourselves, be inclusive and stand together. Together we can end the shame and stigma around periods for all menstruators. Let’s keep the conversation moving forwards, not backwards.'

I’m just composing my ‘f-you’ note. So much to get onto one sentence...

But they haven’t addressed it have they? That seems to be the way - allow nasty tweets/comments to stand and keep quiet.

The vast majority of responses to the Body Shop tweet are condemning it.

Thanks @SirVixofVixHall I’ll see if I can find it locally.

Ok, Body Shop well and truly off my shopping radar now. (Avon too but I never shopped there.) I have been such a loyal Body Shop customer ever since I first had my own money to spend on such things back in the 1990s. Moisturisers of all kinds, body butters, shower gels, shampoos & conditioners, deodorants, perfumes, tons of makeup, body buffers, nail stuff, men's stuff, gift packages, etc etc, the list goes on.
Oh well, just so sad that they ended up being rampant misogynists. Bye bye Body Shop.

The one who makes silly knickers?

I was wondering what Anita Rodicks daughters think about this.

I was at school with one of them and met Anita and the family many times, even stayed at their house. I fear one of them at least would be very much TWAW.

Really really considering sending them a bottle I have of one of their products, just so they'd have to accept it, pay the due postage and open it. I don't want to use any of the remaining product and I want them to know about it.

I use Korres - I haven’t dared to look to see if they are spouting nonsense.

Rita Dr Hauschka rose day cream , not cheap, but really good.

I’ve used their aloe face cream twice a day for over 30 years, never again.

Can anyone recommend a cruelty free face cream for very sensitive skin (no retinol, my face hates that)? I loved the aloe cream, damn them.