Control a Woman for $13.95 inc GST
Got this through the Melbourne Anarchist Feminists. Pass it on!
Following a fantastic week of International Women’s Day activities, a colleague popped into Borders Melbourne Central to buy a book. Imagine her surprise when she was paying at the counter she noticed the following ‘gift’ for sale.
“Control A Woman Remote Control“
From the product description: “Tell me about it! Control a woman? Good Luck! ‘No’ just a joke, these remotes are really fun, make her do what you want! Would you like her to stop “Nagging, Moaning, Calm Down”?
“How? Just point the remote at the subject [woman] and push any button on the remote, and then hope for the best.”
“These commands are among a few of the features of this ultra-handy new remote control for the hopeful, the manufacturers make no claims for the performance of this item however….10 points for trying! $13.95 inc GST within Australia.”
She asked the salesman why Borders were selling it, particularly just after International Women’s Day. He shrugged and appeared embarrassed.
Some of you may believe that the ‘Control a Woman’ Remote control is intended to be funny. Maybe it’s just me, but this week in particular highlighted the stunning range of statistics relating to domestic violence and gender inequality that continue to prevail here and overseas. I find this “gift” downright distasteful.
As a snapshot, around the world, at least one in three women is beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Among women aged 15-44 years, violence accounts for more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic injuries and war put together (World Health Organisation, 2005). It is estimated that, worldwide, one in five women will become a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Violence against women during or after armed conflicts has been reported in every international or non-international war-zone. Between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda; between 20,000 and 50,000 women were raped during the conflict in Bosnia in the early 1990s. In Australia, 38% of women over 15 will experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetimes. Several global surveys suggest that half of all women who die from homicide are killed by their current or former husbands or partners. In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United States, 40%-70% of female murder victims were killed by their partners, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In Colombia, one woman is reportedly killed by her partner or former partner every six days. Hundreds of women were abducted, raped and murdered in and around Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, over a 10-year period. And women are most at risk at home and from men they know, usually a family member or spouse.The idea that woman can or should be ‘controlled’ by their partner is at the root of the global epidemic of violence against women.
If the senior management at Borders want to know more about why control of women by men is not an appropriate subject for a novelty item of this kind, have a look at http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/pdf/VAW.pdf.Maybe then they might appreciate why the ‘Control a Woman’ ‘novelty item’ is so offensive and completely inappropriate for an organisation that values its public standing. We doubt the ‘toy’ manufacturers will – they came up with the idea in the first place. But Borders should know better. And by removing the item from their stores today, Borders will significantly impact the commercial value of the item, and this may in turn influence the manufacturers.
As one impressive woman commented to me this week, ‘It will take more than $13.95 to control this woman.’ Damn right.
Joanna Shaw
Strategic Partnerships Coordinator
International Women’s Development Agency Inc.
T +61 3 9650 5574
W www.iwda.org.au
