Reply from the Body Shop re JKR... just so dreadful...

[onlywomennotmen]

Apparently men menstruate too...

^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.

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. Every person has the right to live their life free from the fear of violence, especially gender-based violence. The Body Shop has been an active campaigner on this issue since 1994.

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

[quote PurpleGhost]@SunshineCake You're not missing anything, it just all seems so bonkers that you can't actually believe what you're reading [/quote]
Not just me then .

But seriously, I must be missing something.

Just told dh that the body shop are saying men have periods, men born as a woman? I asked that surely you need womb to bleed and they aren't having wombs inplanted when the penis is turned into a vagina. Dh said not yet .

We do need to keep the fight up and raise awareness - however we can, in what ever way is safe for your and your mental/physical wellbeing.

For me it has been the small things - meeting up with other women online and talking about shared experiences. A book club is underway. Emailing people, talking to friends etc for the moment has helped while I still consider myself in lockdown.

Yes that's the guy I emailed . Dear old David

*They're not saying men menstruat8

The reason women are absolutely furious is because the act of removing the word woman is an like an act of colonisation

The natives are re-named or totally omitted; their language is eroded; another language is imposed; they are de-centred and totally white-washed in their own territory - the one that they own; the colonising force then centres the needs of the minority population ahead of them, and thus erases their experience, as well as their visibility.

BodyShop are just shite.

They don’t like women

They made that clear.

Don’t buy stuff from them

We have money we can spend elsewhere.

Not from a company that don’t like women

For anyone who’s wondering why this incorrect use of language matters so much this thread is a good introduction.

If you don’t have time to read the whole thing now, at least flip the thread and read the last comment.

In fact, we don't need them at all! They only existed to sell us a dream of womanhood. And now women no longer exist, so does their entire purpose

This.

And this one illustrates the intended end result. Which has already happened in some countries.

People have periods – women, men and non-binary people.

I guarantee they wouldn't dare say this to their shareholders.

I was reminded of these advert

How about a campaign for sanpro vending machines in the men’s - there are still men’s loos somewhere aren’t there?
Would make sense to get a business with a campaigning history to get behind this one

Sadly, having not bought from body shop since I joined the Nestle boycott, i can't say they're losing my business. But oh my goodness if they haven't just sunk even lower than I already thought they were!!

I'm so tempted to play the Hogwarts theme song while I browse at the store some time the I distant future. It is a passive objection but I am sure it would annoy the hell out of the staff.

Every person has the right to live their life free from the fear of violence, especially gender-based violence.

I thought this was interesting. Especially gender based violence. Why that more than other violence?

Should be sex anyway, that's where it is.

This is really sad. There are some things that are really really difficult for some women (periods, childbirth) and it’s disgusting that these can be ’claimed’
I’m sure it’s been said before but this is sad so disheartening

I've just been on the Body Shop's FB page.

Jesus Christ but there are some hard of thinking wading into the comments section on there. I wanted to comment a couple of times but then thought - where would I even start? The ones defending the Body Shop's stance were just yelling incoherently about transphobia. It was really evident that they didn't have the reading skills to actually even understand what JKR had originally written; they just wanted to leap up and down with their pitchforks.

I agree @cloudyvanilla

No words :(

@RuffleCrow

In fact, we don't need them at all! They only existed to sell us a dream of womanhood. And now women no longer exist, so does their entire purpose.

Haha, oops! A lot of things cosmetic companies sell are things we don't really need. We don't really need them, but they really need their female costumers.

I'm not a fucking menstruator! I'm not defined by my uterus lining shedding on a monthly cycle. They can fuck right off

How old are they? I was going to say 20-something but actually no, they'd be better at filtering themselves.

Smug or what.

I refuse to be termed a 'menstruator'.

I mean, a plague and before that for me, half the east coast burning, was literally the worst thing about about 2020, but the word 'menstruators' comes a close third in the competition 'What I Hate About This Year'.

We have money we can spend elsewhere

Yep.
And we have word of mouth also.

TBS were nasty to an abuse survivor to make a woke point. That's not just not 'constructive', that's woman hating. So we let people know not to shop there if they value women.

That's what some gay men used to call us. Bleeders. I don't get upset about it because well it wasn't in the media or changing how we live etc.

But this looks a little like the bleeder reference turned around and gone public. Just fucking leave us alone. Women are not usually the enemy of the trans community- most women I know are very supportive. So why are we in the fucking firing line. Again.