Have you heard about FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture?
FORCE has been busy this holiday season. Several weeks ago, they created a faux ad for Victoria’s Secret, claiming the Pink line VS markets to teens and young women was creating a line of enthusiastic consent themed underpants. (The word “panties” makes my brain feel funny. Please to forgive me for not using it again.) VS hastily denied having anything to do with it, and FORCE took credit quickly.
Now, FORCE has gone one step further, and has begun slipping enthusiastic consent underpants on the VS shelves, alongside the Pink branded delicates.
I think that’s brilliant. It’s a great way to start conversations about consent, what consent means to different people, why consent is so important, and how rape culture affects all of us. I don’t think the intention is to label VS as rape-enablers, I think FORCE is using VS because of their primary demographic: HS and college-aged women. With the numerous, horrific stories we’ve read in the past year or so about how pervasive rape culture is becoming on our college campuses, somebody needs to have these women’s backs, and I think that’s what FORCE is trying to do.
The link above is from our friends at Jezebel, and the comments are… enlightening.
What do you think, readers? Is this an effective way to start a conversation about consent?
4 replies on “Discussion Link: Consent Underpants”
Hm.
First of all, I hate text on underwear. And I think consent needs to be established before we get down to our underwear.
But, maybe maybe, this will stick in people’s minds. Will make them look into it. And that’s something we should never turn down.
I haaaate text on underwear. I might entertain buying something for VS if it didn’t have stupid shit written across the ass.
Who ever saw blank panties and went “EU-fucking-REKA, we write ON the pants!”?
I’m torn, tbh. On one hand, opening a conversation about consent is vitally important, especially with young girls. On the other … well, the idea of sexualizing consent is skeevy. Part of what promotes rape culture (to me, at least), is the idea that everything has to be sexy.
There was a pretty good discussion about sexualizing consent a few days ago on Tumblr, I wish I could find some of the posts.