No Means No and I Thought That was Settled
But I guess not. Odd how these debates that stormed through campuses in my time-the 80s–reappear. And just as it wasn’t funny at Queen’s when the "No Means No" posters were defaced, it isn’t funny now. All sex should be safe, sane, and consensual, with an extra emphasis on consensual. You can write to Bluenotes and complain using their handy feedback link, bottom right on their page. Some useful stats to help with those letters are at women against violence against women and Acquaintance Rape.
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Student group decries T-shirt
A new T-shirt being sold at Bluenotes stores across the country is a big no-no, the Canadian Federation of Students says
The
men’s top is red, and has the words "No means have aNOther drink"
across the front in white letters. It sells for $15.50 plus tax.
No Means No is a slogan that has been used by the CFS in its
campaign against date rape and dating violence for the past 10 years,
said Brent Farrington, national deputy chair of the student group.
"I think it’s incredibly unfortunate that it is . . . inversing the
meaning of this slogan to mean it’s okay to date rape somebody. Not
only is that socially irresponsible, it’s corporately irresponsible."
Mr. Farrington said the company has not responded to calls from the CFS to remove the shirt from store shelves.
"The only reaction we got is that that’s the stuff people buy these days."
Several calls to Bluenotes head office in Toronto yesterday were not
returned, while calls to individual stores indicated the item was
available across the country.
Dana English, co-ordinator for the Avalon East Coalition Against
Violence in St. John’s, said she’s frustrated by the way she says
Bluenotes is "marketing a myth" that endangers young people,
particularly women, and is worried about the damage that may cause.
"[The T-shirt slogan] would be particularly damaging for someone who
was a victim of rape or another sexual assault," Ms. English said.
"It only takes one guy to start wearing this shirt before a lot of
guys are wearing the shirt, and what kind of message is that shirt
sending to females?"
Ms. English said she was first alerted to the T-shirt by a coalition
member, who complained to the manager of one Bluenotes location.
"The manager agreed with her that the T-shirt was offensive, but
said the decisions [on what products to sell] were made at a national
level," Ms. English said.
"I went into [another Bluenotes location] and had the exact same conversation with the manager there."
Bluenotes is operated by Canadian YM Inc., which operates 240 retail
apparel stores across Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico under
the names Bluenotes, Stitches, Suzy Shier, Urban Planet, Sirens and
Siblings.
