Lands End apologizes for mentioning a feminist
So Lands End – it’s a clothing company, I think – had a feature on Gloria Steinem in its spring catalogue, and then…it said it was very sorry, and it scrubbed all mention of her from its website. As one does.
“We understand that some of our customers were offended by the inclusion of an interview in a recent catalog with Gloria Steinem on her quest for women’s equality,” the company said in a statement. “We thought it was a good idea and we heard from our customers that, for different reasons, it wasn’t. For that, we sincerely apologize.”
Because…? Women are not equal, but are stupid lazy weak deceitful sluts? Yes, pretty much. Here’s one such:
“This family will not buy one single thing from Lands End ever again unless this drive highlighted by Gloria Steinem is fully retracted. You’ve had great customer service for book bags for us in the past … never again!!! Lauding Gloria Steinem is beyond what I can understand from a company that ‘appears’ to celebrate family.” (Posted to the company’s Facebook page.)
Because “celebrating family” means disparaging women and keeping them down.
But the people who celebrate anti-family stuff like treating women and girls as just as complicated and important as men and boys – those people did their own shouting at Lands End.
“Well, now that you’ve pulled it, I won’t be placing my order,” another (former?) customer wrote on the company Facebook page, echoing hundreds of other angry comments. “I don’t intend to teach my children that anyone should do business with a company that is ashamed to even talk about feminism. You see equal rights as a divisive issue? Thanks for letting me know not to give you my money.”
Hostility to feminism is a deal-breaker around here, too. Just fuck right off with that.
I left them a few choice words. I’ve spent literally thousands of dollars there over the past 30+ years. When flying through Minneapolis I always stopped by their store in the airport. Not one more dime do they get from me.
Count another former customer here.
Well, what good would a toxic, pernicious clinging to hierarchy be if we couldn’t poison _every_ aspect of our lives with it, up to and including recruiting things as biological and otherwise potentially intimate and nurturing as your actual family, in order to turn them into cells within it?
I’m not certain I’ve ever bought anything from Lands End. Will make very sure not to, now, until they reprimand and/or replace the wretches who made this deeply gutless decision. And Lands End, I _do_ buy clothes.
Email written. I pointed out to them that over the years I’ve bought a lot of work clothes from them–but as someone who works in a ‘masculine’ field, and has suffered from sexism as a result, I can’t support a company that doesn’t support my right to be treated as an equal, in the workplace or anywhere else.
Do they assume feminists don’t buy clothes? Oh, right, we’re all bra-burning harpies who don’t dress up because we are ugly and prefer to wear comfortable, ugly clothes.
Except – that isn’t true. And my husband and I have bought quite a bit from Lands End. Time to rethink that.
Yet another reason to eagerly anticipate the demise of the Sears Holdings Company (pretty sure Land’s End is still part of it)…
Good god Lands End’s PR department must be staffed by the stupidest people in the world. I wonder who they will feature in their next catalog. The Duggars, perhaps? The Royal Men of Saudi Arabia? Maybe that secret society of Illuminati hunters Scalia was in?
I mean now that they have shown us that they don’t have what it takes to feature an interesting feminist person.
You mean, they weren’t objecting to her Cis-female Privileged failure to grovel before the altar of Trans Orthodoxy?
Abortion is the real issue not mentioned in the Chicago Tribune article linked above, or in this thread explicitly yet. That’s how Lands End got flack about “family” meaning “pro-life”. That’s why the Lands End apology mentioned religion.
Oh, is it? I didn’t realize that. But Steinem is a feminist, and most feminists are pro-abortion rights, so they still are basically apologizing for featuring a feminist.