Philippines mall pulls T-shirt appearing to justify rape after online backlash
The T-shirt, sold by SM Supermalls in the boys section, had “It’s not rape, It’s a snuggle with a struggle” emblazoned across front
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.One of the biggest department stores in the Philippines has been forced to withdraw a T-shirt which appeared to justify rape after outrage erupted online.
The offending item, sold in the boys section at SM Supermalls, was emblazoned with the logo: “It’s not rape. It’s a snuggle with a struggle”.
An image of the T-shirt posted on writer Karen Kunawicz’s Facebook attracted nearly 4,000 shares with people taking to other social networking sites to express their outrage.
Writing on Facebook a few minutes after posting the image Ms Kunawicz said: “I count myself among those worked really hard especially in the 90's for the rights of girls and women so it really got me upset. I was shaking when I took it. I wanted to throw up. ”
Celine Ulgado said on Facebook: “SM needs to not only pull this shirt, they need to issue a very public apology to rape victims everywhere, and make a costly monetary donation to crisis centers that help rape victims.”
The issue also exploded on Twitter. User Edward Ramirez said: “I just saw the ‘It’s not rape, it’s snuggle with a struggle’ T-shirt. Disgusted to say the least.”
Ms Kunawicz came across the T-shirt in the boy’s section of the department store of SM Supermalls, a supermarket giant with 43 branches across the Philippines and more in China.
On SM Supermalls ‘info’ page, the retail giant boasts a “program of SM Prime’s [SM Supermall’s owner] corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.”
This morning the retailer posted an apology on their Facebook page and claimed the offending T-shirt had been withdrawn from all their stores.
In the statement SM Store said: “SM does not support such irresponsible and malicious acts that mock important and sensitive social issues.
“We have immediately pulled out all the t-shirts of the consignor that distributes them, and we are investigating why it was included in our delivery of assorted T-shirts.”
Meanwhile, Ms Kunawicz has appealed to social media networks to help find the creators of the T-shirts, “That shirt upset more people than I thought,” she posted, and added: “can you help us find out who REALLY made them?”
The news comes following the clothing brand Bench/'s apology after a male star led a female model onto the Naked Truth stage show in Manila on a leash. The act provoked widespread condemnation on social media leading to the clothing store, based in the Philippines, to apologise.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments