This article is reprinted with permission from The Belle Jar.
Earlier this week, FCKH8 released a video called F-Bombs for Feminism: Potty-Mouthed Princesses Use Bad Word for Good Cause that quickly went viral, and has been shared hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook alone. This isn’t surprising—it’s a video designed to hit that marketing sweet spot where people are equal parts outraged, delighted and just plain not sure what to think. I’d be willing to bet that this video has had nearly as many hate-shares and “is this offensive?” shares as it has people posting it because they think it’s great.
FCKH8’s video is carefully calculated to appeal to a certain type of young, hip feminist (as well as being designed to cause offence and outrage among right-wing conservatives). It starts out with a bunch of sweet little girls wearing princess costumes striking stereotypically cute poses and simpering “pretty” at the camera. Then there’s a record scratch, and suddenly the girls are throwing out cuss words left, right and centre: “What the fuck? I’m not some pretty fuckin’ helpless princess in distress. I’m pretty fuckin’ powerful and ready for success. So what is more offensive? A little girl saying ‘fuck,’ or the fucking unequal and sexist way society treats girls and women?”
The video then has the sweet, princessified little girls tackle a bunch of feminist issues, namely the pay gap, violence against women and sexual assault—all while swearing up a storm, of course. What FCKH8 wants you to take away from this is that society feels more uncomfortable about cute little girls saying the word fuck than it does about the very real issues faced by women on a daily basis. Instead, what I see is a video that relies on the shock value of girls in princess costumes cussing and talking about rape in order to increase its shareability.
First of all, let’s get one thing straight: this video is not some kind of PSA, it’s an advertisement. FCKH8 is a for-profit t-shirt company—emphasis on the profit—that has put together an exploitative and manipulative two-minute-and-35-second commercial for t-shirts. And while FCKH8 asserts that all of this is “for a good cause” (they’ve promised to donate $5 from each t-shirt sale to as-yet-undisclosed organizations) the only cause that’s being promoted by this video is their bank account.
There is nothing feminist about using little girls as props in order to sell t-shirts—in fact, I would argue that this is the opposite of feminism. There is nothing feminist about exploiting a bunch of little girls by having them swear and talk about rape statistics just so that FCKH8 can make a quick buck. There is nothing feminist about creating an association between potty-mouthed little kids and social justice—and that’s not a slight against potty-mouths, because I fucking love swearing. But rather a statement on the fact that this video plays into a lot of the negative stereotypes that people already have about feminism.
On top of all that, there is for sure nothing feminist about having girls as young as six years old discussing rape and sexual assault; I would hope that at that age, most kids have never even heard the word rape, let alone had to recite facts about it for an audience of thousands, maybe even millions. I feel sick that these children are being taught about subjects like rape just so that a t-shirt company can make a provocative advertisement. The point that especially crosses the line between “this is problematic” and “I want to flip a table” is the moment where the five little girls spout off the statistic that one in five women will be raped in their lifetime, and then ask which of them it will be. Having a little girl demand to know if she’ll be raped just so that you can sell a few shirts is so far beyond the realm of what should be acceptable that I have no words for it.
This is not how we protect our children. This is not how we empower girls. Forcing a child to ask an audience of adults if she’ll someday become a rape statistic so that your company can line its pockets with cash is definitely not the way to practice social justice.
This isn’t the first time that FCKH8 has done this kind of thing either: They recently came under fire after they exploited the events in Ferguson in order to sell “anti-racism gear.” As with the f-bomb princess video, the Ferguson video featured a bunch of children rattling off facts about racism before promising to donate a portion of each t-shirt sale to some unspecified charity. This is their business model, apparently: take something that people care deeply about, commodify it, and then make money. As a strategy, it’s slick and smart as hell. It’s also pretty unethical.
Feminism isn’t a commodity that can be bought and sold. Rape statistics should not be used as a sales tactic. Children do not exist to be used as provocateurs in manipulative advertisement campaigns for clothing.
It would be really great if FCKH8 would realize that using little girls as shock-value props in their t-shirt commercial is not feminist in any sense of the word. No little kid should have to wonder aloud whether or not they’ll be raped one day, and especially not just so some grownup can make money.
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Anne Thériault is a Toronto-based writer and cat enthusiast who blogs about feminism, mental health and parenting. You can follow her on Twitter at @anne_theriault or read her blog at bellejar.ca
Thank you for this article. I am one who shared the video because I liked it. I had no idea that FCKH8 is a for-profit company and that this is therefore essentially a t-shirt ad. That really changes things for me.
One point on which you and I disagree, however, concerns this part of your article:
“On top of all that, there is for sure nothing feminist about having girls as young as six years old discussing rape and sexual assault; I would hope that at that age, most kids have never even heard the word rape, let alone had to recite facts about it for an audience of thousands, maybe even millions. I feel sick that these children are being taught about subjects like rape just so that a t-shirt company can make a provocative advertisement.”
This is actually the part that hit home for me the hardest. When I was 6 years old, in 1st grade, I was raped by an older boy in my school bathroom. I now have an 8-year-old daughter, and I’m somewhat ashamed of myself that I haven’t yet figured out how to talk to her about rape. When I was her age, my rape was already 2 years in my past and I was just beginning to work up to talking about it.
I’m not trying to invalidate your opinion, but just to give you my perspective. I believe we should talk about rape and sexual assault with children, because children can be the victims of rape and sexual assault. And I believe they would be better off if it was a subject that they already knew could be discussed with a grownup without shame or guilt.
Thanks for your time.
Steve, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I think you make an excellent point that we need to sever the connection between rape and shame so people (not just kids) know it’s not their fault, that they’re not bad, and that they can talk about it. Thanks for pointing that out.
The best way to protect children is by teaching them how to protect themselves. I consider myself lucky because my parents talked to us about how anyone can hurt us in different ways. My dad used to tell me, if the priest as school asks you to sit at his lap, you do not! I was not traumatized but I was cautious. When we were teenagers going to parties, my mom told me never to accept a drink from anyone. To open a new bottle of water, etc. When my kids were small I did the same. I told them the only people that can pick you up from school are us, and grandma. I was clear about being assertive as to say no, and run away. Now, kids saying bad words, like in this video, is just plain vulgar and tasteless.
I must say that I agree with the author on that point of the children discussing rape at such a young age and finding it disturbing. I felt the some type of thing when my child came home from Kindergarten to tell me about drugs (DARE program at school). He didn’t know what drugs were until his school informed him. I think we have to careful about these discussions and keep them age appropriate. Here in my metro area we have an organization called MOCSA (Metropolitan organization to counter sexual assault, mocsa.org, I’d suggest finding a local organization like them to help you with the discussion with your own daughter), as part of the many wonderful things this organization does they go to local schools to educate and prevent sexual assault but they keep the discussion at an age appropriate level, talking about good vs bad touch, what to do if you feel uncomfortable and how to tell a trusted adult. It’s not an easy discussion to have with a young child but I think that is a far more productive than teaching kids to say f*ck and shout out rape statistics.
Thank you for saying this out loud because I agree with you COMPLETELY. Children are victims of sexual assault far, far too often and have no way to describe it to adults. We DO need to be talking about it. WITH children. Of course it makes you sick, it should make you sick, but you need to push past it and face reality. And the idea of these sweet little girls kicking the door down and slapping you with the “Which of us is the victim this stat relates to” is provocative and crushing. As it should be. Which is why it needs to be said.
To the message of the original article, yeah, its a consumerist message. But really, how many of those shares are going to lead to t-shirt sales? And of those, how awesome is it to get some of the messages shown on those t-shirts into the world? The fact is, the video and its shares do more for getting the message out there than padding a bottom line, and thats a good thing. It takes money to make commercials like this, but the commercials can also be beneficial to the causes. I’m glad SOMEONE was willing to put some cash into this. Just like I’m glad Dove and Verizon are doing the same. I know they are trying to sell a product, but I’m glad that there are some ads out there with some kind of feminist values (or some kind of attempt at feminist values) to start to balance all the ads out there that are so, so not socially just in any way, shape or form. Ads fighting Ads. What more can we ask for?
At six years old I’d been raped for about a year. I wish I could have been talking about it. I know many women who have similar stories. What we would like for a child’s experience to be and what it is doesn’t always add up. What if these FCKH8 fuckers are making some money the message does have power. Actually I was thrown by the ad and had to take a while to think about it time most people don’t devote to thinking about rape culture and inequality.
Steve I’m so sorry you had to deal with being victimized at any point in life especially as a small child. I for one approve the message sent in the video. Regardless of it being a for profit company, the message is one that needs to be heard. If it takes foul mouthed princesses to do it, with their parents permission… So be it! I’d rather my daughter live in a safer world, and earn equal pay than worry about semantics.
Terrific piece! I couldn’t agree more. I unpacked the ad from a feminist media literacy perspective on my blog at http://rebeccahains.com/2014/10/22/fckh8s-f-bomb-princess-video-isnt-offensive-its-exploitative/ on Wednesday morning. As I explained there:
>>“F-Bombs for Feminism” betrays a social media marketing perspective devoid of ethics. The video’s ethos is so steeped in a “Generation Like” mindset that having the video widely “liked” and “shared” is clearly what matters most—resulting in the company’s decision to push girls as young as age six into the roles of cultural provocateurs.
>> As a social media marketing strategy, it worked brilliantly. The video went viral almost instantaneously, prompting heavy traffic to FCKH8.com. There, t-shirts proclaiming “This is what a feminist looks like” and “Girls just want to have fun-damental rights”—as worn by the women appearing at the video’s end, of course—are up for sale.
>>Sadly, despite what major corporations and indie brands alike would have us believe, empowerment can neither be bottled nor sold. Commodification of feminism is not empowerment, and FCKH8 is not empowering girls or women through this video. Instead, they’re using girls as a means to a commercial end: to raise awareness of sexism to sell their t-shirts.
>>How ironic that a company that positions itself as feminist has no problem commodifying children in this way. <<
FCKH8 is a non profit business. It’s no more exploitative than MS. Magazine, also a business.
As a retired teacher, I can guarantee there are few kids who haven’t heard the f word by the time they are 5 years old, not that they know what it means, but they have heard it and lots have said it.
I find the video extremely empowering for those kids. They will never forget the experience of being considered competent by a bunch of adults at such a young age. And I would guess they will be ardent feminists throughout their lives.
I agree with you fully Rebecca. How empowering this experience has to be for those young girls! Tho the company is for-profit, they state it on their website along with why they do this and how their campaigns got started. But it is not just some company selling t-shirts. And who says you have to be a non-profit to be committed to a social justice cause?? Boo on you Ms for not checking your facts or for distorting the truth. And how exactly different are they from Ms? Not much… And yes, these issues affect children, so Carter G, I agree with you fully as well. STOP the ills which lead to necessary marketing like this, and we won’t have to worry about seeing our young children using language folks feel is “offensive”. I could go on all day about the backwardness of this authors opinion. And I’m a mom who teaches parenting, is a social activist and works for non-profits!
I agree with Steve, above. I discussed sexual assault with my children from very young ages…since forever, it feels like. I may not have used the word “rape,” but I certainly would have explained it had the word come up. But discussing boundaries, boundary violations, and how power relationships can make touch seem “weird” even if it also kind of feels good? Those are conversations that need to be had VERY EARLY. My kids are 11, 10, and 8. They know about sexual assault. If we don’t have language to describe such things, how can we combat them?
(By the way, other than that point, I really appreciate the article and you make great arguments!!)
Your accusation that the message is somehow disingenuous because they’re a for-profit company seems hypocritical to me. Correct me if I’m wrong but, aren’t both the Belle Jar and Ms Magazine, also for-profit? By your logic, it could be said that you exploit feminism and women’s issues for a profit. You sell magazines (and ad space on blogs), FCKH8 sells T-Shirts. All of you sell these products with a feminist message. It seems a little elitest of you to be so degrading about FCKH8 selling t-shirts, as if your product you’re selling is intellectually superior, therefore you get a pass for being for-profit in your sale of feministic messages.
Next, you say its exploitive to use children in this type of advertisement. Are you against children being used in any advertisements? Just off the top of my head, Jello, Tide, Band-Aid, every proprieter of sugary, unhealthy foods, all use children in their ads. Do you think it’s wrong for other for-profit companies to use children in their ads? If your answer is ‘no’ then I don’t find why this particular for-profit company using kids in their ads is so exploitive and other companies with no social message whatsoever, isn’t. You’re basically saying it’s wrong for children to know about these issues and that it’s ok and non-exploitive for a company to sell their products by propping kids up in their ads as long as their isn’t an actual, important social message. Are you really going to argue that this message is somehow unsavory for children to know about? Kids should know about rape and the rape statistics. Like others have stated, this has only the potential to arm children with knowledge to help protect them and to open very important lines of communication with adults if/when it’s needed.
One of the scenes at the end was my personal favorite, where a little boy has a princess dress on, too. This message is undeniably one of the most important things for ALL KIDS TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND. The boy says, basically, “when you try to insult me by saying I’m acting ‘like a girl’ you’re saying that it’s bad to be a girl!” I agree with the cussing kids, fuck that sexist shit!!! This is an extremely important issue for kids to be introduced to. The younger, the better! Because that particular sexist bullshit is something MANY KIDS, some being younger than the youngest kid in this video, are actually dealing with right now as I type! How dare you be so dismissive of that and treat it like it’s some taboo discussion to have with kids. None of these issues should be considered off-limits for young kids to learn about and these particular kids in this video who were given their scripts to memorize, as a result, are armed with some GREAT knowledge about sexism. I”m not seeing the under-handed exploitation you so condescendingly write about. I would be absolutely proud to let one of my kids be in this “commercial” to sell these low-class, 2nd rate t-shirts.
PS, my kids and I have watched this video several times, together. We love it! My 5 year old son gets called a ‘girl’ all the time. But, because I exploit the FUCK out of my feministic views, he is well-armed with a very quick reply “so? girls are cool!” If ony he wasn’t such a sweet kid and added a “so fuck off!” at the end! :/
Well first of all I didn’t have to pay to read this article, therefore, it’s free online reading material. So according to your argument the author of this article is exploiting kids for profit holds no weight. Secondly, the author did not say that she was against children being used in advertisements, the author is against them be exploited for a profitable opinion. It’s not like the girls were modeling coats for Burlington. Thirdly, I would be mad as hell if my daughter had to guess which one of her or her friends was likely to raped according to a statistic.
Fourth, not all feminist types are super open and liberal either. I am a stay-at-home because I choose to be, but I tell my daughter that she can be anything she wants, even the President of the United States if she applies herself. Basically there are other ways to arm your children against sexism without robbing them of their innocence. I will have conversations with my daughter about sex and assault but in an age appropriate manner and I certainly wouldn’t use the “F” bomb to explain it. There is no real reason for people to talk like that anyway, including adults. My daughter loves princesses, but I emphasize the self-made princesses, the ones who fight against the norm like Merida from Brave for example.
Basically, there really is no good reason to have a bunch of LITTLE GIRLS and a BOY, talk the way they did, or try to figure out which one of them will eventually get raped because it’s a statistic. I want to retain my daughters good heart and innocence as long as I can. The world will catch up with her soon enough.
Just as an FYI free online reading material still sells ad space. Reddit’s free to use and they still have sidebar ads. Youtube is also free to watch or upload videos, unless you’re subscribed to a pay to view channel, and they sell ad space. Bloggers can also sell ad space.
I strongly disagree with you on many points, but I will address one specifically. The actresses in the video are aged 6 to 13. In their lives they have already been subjected to rape culture, so why then should they not be exposed to anti-rape culture? Keeping children in ignorance just because they’re children has never done a bit of good. It is going to take a lot more activism in this world to defeat sexism, so to me it seems vital to teach young girls about issues that will be significant in their lives. Girls the ages of these actresses are abused and raped every day in this world, so why is it wrong to teach them how to understand it? Fight it? Report it? Support their friends who may have gone through it? You seriously underestimate little girls, suggesting they have undeveloped minds that are incapable of taking in this information and using it to create a better world. I am certain you wouldn’t say the same about children speaking out about climate change, pollution, or animal rights. Those are all issues with ugly truths. But by all means, please keep the “sex” shrouded in mystery so all they learn are the pervasive messages that seek to hold them back in life.
Thanks for the article. I found it touching that the man Steve shared he had been raped at a young age, as the film only showed young girls. And statistics are that young people (boys & girls) are raped – even younger than 6 years old. Tyler Perry was molested at a young age also… I volunteer with local Domestic Violence Center, and they are looking at ways of not only healing, but preventing, breaking the change. I wonder if this film can be a way of doing that … We need to hear children’s voices more & more. They are our future and maybe a film like this will help young people come forward or prevent harm. I attended a NAACP Youth Council at a town hall meeting with 30 young people on the board & adults were ask only to listen. This came as a response of a young girl being killed. And Greg Mogenson (of 3 Cups of Tea, who has helped build schools for girls in Afghanistan), advocates that we have children on our board & city councils, as their voices need to be heard …. Firstly, I would love for Eve Ensler (Vagina Monologes; 1 Billion Rising; to view this film. I would trust her input from all of the work she does all over the world with men & women ….Secondly, I would also like to see the folks behind “Misrepresentation” (check their website movement on woman’s images in media & download stream on Netflix) – many communities are showing this …. Thirdly, I would like to hear an interview with the folks behind this campaign – where their ideas come from; who does the tee-shirts; where does the $5 go; and what impact are they having ….Fourthly, I would like to hear from the young girls – how was it for them to participate in this & what does it mean to them. I wonder if they have been effected by rape in their family and just to hear from them on how they see their work impacting our community. And if they received a good pay for their work!!! And would like to hear from their parents, siblings, friends on what they thought of their work in the film ….
I am not someone who says “f…k” in my own poetry or working with healing violence & trauma, however, this piece of art work got my attention … and human trafficking (slavery) is huge right now – In Florida where I live, it is 2nd in the nation – Miami is a hub, Jacksonville, then the I-10 runs from Jxville to Dallas, another hub … and many children are victims of this …. Soooo, I do think it is time that there are adds, and real talk about what is happening – billboards, tv adds, facebook … for to not do so, is to not talk about the pink elephant in the room … and if it takes young girls like this to grab attention, that will start a dialogue, I say “this is brilliant piece of work” and needs to go viral … and I do want to know who the $5 went to as I like to know more of the connections …. Thank you for listening and caring … p.s. I’m like Andy Rooney of 60 min – “The Rest of the Story Is” …. I hope to hear from you …
I agree with the writer, and I’ve been dismayed to see so many friends passing this along thinking it’s cute. Steve, I’m so sorry about what happened to you but if you learn about or even better enroll your daughter in a self-defense class you’ll see that there are excellent ways to teach kids to defend themselves (or report if necessary) without teaching them the horrifying idea of rape. I see nothing but damage coming from the notion that a child should understand rape, and am appalled at these people peddling that shit. I fuckin 8 them!
That was exhausting. I don’t think that one woman can write how to protect women or girls. I agree with having a problem that it’s a for profit ad. Everything else is so jumbled and self-righteous.
To hear my children tell it, they hear worse words than this on the bus and at school every day. Big deal, sort of funny.