Topshop took down a display and cancelled the book launch for Feminists Don’t Wear Pink by Scarlett Curtis. Julie Uddin pens an Open Letter in response.
Dear Topshop,
This week you made a move which has made many of us rethink our opinions of you.
I was so pleased to hear that the book launch for Scarlett Curtis’ Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies) was going to be held in one of your stores. As a brand that caters for young women, I thought showing your support for the book was important.
However, when I saw that you had taken down the launch display a mere 20 minutes after it was put up, I was sorely disappointed.
After hours of silence, when so many were questioning your motives, you released a statement that doesn’t actually explain anything. More than anything else, it reads like damage control:
“We are sorry – this in no way reflects our stance on feminism and we will be making a donation of £25,000 to Girl Up [a UN campaign to support gender equality]. We continue to fully support the sentiment of the book, Scarlett Curtis, feminism and equality.”
How can you say that you support feminism ‘fully’, when you have just dismantled a display which symbolised feminism today?
I would like to have been in the meetings where this was discussed. I have heard from some Twitter users that it was company chairman Philip Green’s ongoing issue with Penguin Books that prompted you to take down the display. But if this was the case, why was it ever allowed to go ahead?
So, Topshop, please stop selling your ‘feminist’ T-shirts: your actions show this is contrary to the Trades Descriptions Act. And, in future, don’t use feminism as a marketing tool to boost your sales with young women.
You can’t be a feminist clothes shop only when it suits you.
