Okay sports fans, it seems if perhaps, finally, maybe, the real Alex (amid all the fake Alexes who are actually doing the real Alex more harm than good) has spoken, at long last, via email, to someone who posted on this matter. He's not real happy that various angry feminists, women, and sex workers have been firing off nasty calls and letters to places where he engages in speaking and outreach- and that he is discontinuing his support/promotion of the CUH line of clothing...or so he says. If the real Alex is reading....well, Alex, we shall watch and see if that is true.
However, it also appears that the real Alex, or at least the fellow who sent this email (and you know, I tend to believe this is probably the real Alex-as the real Alex probably would actually speak if his speaking engagements and whatnot were being placed into questionable future status and all), well, he is not the same person as the Other Alexes who have left all the trolling comments, or so say the IP addies.
However...there is this:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=2594379
stefan kane's Blurbs
About me: I own Cuttin' Up Hookers Apparel. I drink more slurpees than you. Try me.
Who I'd like to meet: sluts.
It appears that Stefan Kane, not Alex, is the mind behind Cuttin' Up Hookers, lives in the Orlando Area, and is employed by Alex- a "team memeber" of aktenenterprises. in fact, in his photo for the Aktenenterprises "team" web page, Stefan is wearing one of his CUH shirts. Now, Stefan can wear whatever he wants, make his shirts if he wants, so on, so forth...
But Real Alex....we are a bit skeptical that you will pull support from one of your "Crack Team Members" who boldly wears the very sort of shirt you supposedly didn't know people would object to your company website. Also, the trolls pretending to be you are not helping you out in the least-so you say yourself. Enough of us grumpy, unhip "hookers" and other assorted women & men who just don't "get" the humor of this clothing line will be watching and waiting. Yep, sure enough, Stefan has the right to make and wear his shirts....even sell them. We have the right to protest his shirts and speak freely out against them to anyone and everyone we choose to speak to about it, including those with whom you set up public speaking engagements with, do outreach for, so on, so forth. He has the right to say and do it, we have the right to disagree with it...loudly, and alas, Real Alex, you will probably be the one who suffers the most for it-because it seems you have the most to lose.
Real Alex and Stefan can comment if they want, trolls, well, you aren't helping either of them really, but the fact remains: We Don't Find the Shirts Funny, and will continue to protest them. Real Alex, do what thou will.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
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22 comments:
Isn't free speech awesome?
Especially when the people who proclaim the loudest that they're just "exercising their right to free speech" but then freak out when you exercise your own...
Gotta love it.
Hmm... So, Alex, if you want to fix this, my recommendations are to:
1. Fire Stefan.
2. Stop peddling your CUH shirts immediately. We can expect to see them taken off the website today, right?
3. Donate the sum total of profit you've made off those shirts to SWOP-East.
At this point, I'm not buying it, and I think you and your associates deserve every irate call you get. Awwww, imagine that Christian school not wanting you back next year as a speaker.
I have a better idea.
May I suggest a companion line of t's called "Cuttin Up Johns" with a pic of Eliot Spitzer with a Columbian necktie?
well, yeah, free speech is awesome.
it's how we can expose dumb ideas to ridicule.
a "cuttin' up hookers" t-shirt is a dumb idea, and deserves ridicule into oblivion.
Sure, Stefan has the right to print whatever his little heart desires on a t-shirt, and Alex has the right to try and sell it. but the rest of the world has the right to tell them both that they're not exactly making their mamas proud, not by any means.
would it be useful/effective to organize a boycott of Alex's business until Stefan comes up with a better idea for a t-shirt?
Right. And are you ladies of the night also writing-in and complaining about violently misandrist themes in pop culture?
Including:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_are_stupid,_throw_rocks_at_them!
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Feminism marches on: The newest role model for young teen girls is Jenny Green, who takes a knife to boys who are mean to her.
She's the heroine - I guess - of Jenny Green's Killer Junior Year, a teen novel due out this fall from Simon & Schuster. The N.Y. Post found some publicity material that explains that Jenny is a "spoiled teen princess" who "discovers just how despicable the male gender can be - with the lying, the cheating and the utter disrespect - (and) decides to make them pay ... with their lives."
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Wow, so the heroine of a teen novel is a male serial-killing, spoiled princess. Great reading aimed at kids, eh? How you like dem apples?
Feel free to contact Amy Belasen here to send her your hallelujahs in equal force, I'm sure:
http://www.ohthatamy.com/-.html
AS the gentleman himself (or, right, okay, -someone- *koff*) said, "money talks, bullshit walks."
Hey, you talk to people in the language they understand. I saw the email. This one clearly doesn't understand the whole problem that people are having, even still, only that oh noez it might hurt his career. Well, shit, sucks that someone's that primitive, but then it's not like someone with the capacity for empathy would be pulling this shit in the first place. So, but, hey, what do you know, maybe those few humorless harpies are a bit more influential than he thought, shit shit please, not the career, not the reputation. If that's what it takes...
You know, the more I look at that "business," I'm a) pretty sure a boycott would be meaningless b) wondering where the hell the money is really coming from? A bunch of rock groupies and T-shirt vendors who, judging from the various comments hither and yon, seem to sell to each other as much as anyone else? This is enough to propel them into the top 25 at BusinessWeek? Really.
Not that I'm suggesting there's anything potentially -dodgy- about this set-up.
Just that, you know, o I dunno, other stuff besides T-shirts do tend to get sold at such venues. In general, in general. I've no idea really. -smile-
Is Alex's business a triangle plan? Like Amway or Avon? I'm not sure I believe it makes that much money.
Update at his myspace:
stefan kane's Blurbs
About me:
I own Cuttin' Up Hookers Apparel. Can't stop, won't stop.
Who I'd like to meet:
protesters.
What troubles me about all of this is that the peddlers of this crap are really just an extension, a manifestation of an institutionalized acceptance of severe violence against the 'bad girls.'
Are we just giving this little shit the attention that he wants? Is shutting him down going to target the source of violence against sex workers? I don't know, I'm just thinking here. Tired of the BS. It's time for some ho-positivity.
Josephine: I was thinking more "front," but yeah, whatever it is. It wouldn't be something I'd be terribly interested in pursuing, except, a) this shit, of course b) the fact that this sort of thing makes it into BusinessWeek's top 25. Does this happen a lot? is my question.
because, I dunno, I just got an email to the effect of "Abramoff's at it again"--you recall, corrupt BushAdmin top-level motherfucker who had, excuse me, has, because this shit never end, a nice tax refuge with basically imprisoned and abused immigrant labor. forced abortions, all that jazz, you know.
and it's like--is it any fucking wonder? Fish rots from the head.
as for whether it makes sense to give these assholes attention: I think so, actually. Because they were already getting at least as much positive attention as they were going to get, I think. This sort of attention, they don't want.
What might happen is Alex might hang Stefan out to dry, if he hasn't already (as opposed to doing a little cosmetic tampering with the website and hoping we'll all lose interest pretty soon). Alex has a reputation and a high-flying career, after all, and a whole bunch of distributors; he's not going to go to the wall over this one line.
Which means if Kane wants to market those T-shirts, it won't be through that venue, at least. Officially.
So far, I still don't see the bad in it, because I honestly don't think that many people who really wanted to buy a (fugly and cheap, btw) shirt emblazoned with "Cuttin' Up Hookers" wouldn't have found that already, you know.
as Lina has in her sidebar,
"You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty."
~ Jessica Mitford
So, no, it won't target the source; but if it made some little shits rethink whether or not "cuttin' up hookers" is, as some genius on feministe put it, an "abstract issue," then, hey, so much the better. If it only made them think so insofar as "shit, better not say THAT or I'll get in trouble," well, that sucks, but you need to deal with people at their own level. Appeal to empathy where there is any, sure. When it comes to ethically and emotionally stunted little shits like this--well, you do punishment/reward, as much as you can, and/or feel up to pursuing.
I mean, I look at it this way: if the shirts said "Cuttin' Up Fags/Dykes"--and make no mistake, the little dears probably do think that'd be just fine among themselves, Alex uh I mean someone already protested comparing Jews to "hookers and gays" and other "lowlifes." I'm sure they'd think it's hilarious. Why don't they have it in their lineup? Mmm, maybe because they think they can't get away with it? And if they -did- have that, would I be chasing the fuckers down? Especially if I knew the fuckers were making millions of dollars off the whole business and no one so much as was blinking an eye that this was part of their lineup? You bet your ass, and so would a number of organizations, I bet, now that they're, you know, actually organized. Existing. GLAAD, for instance, might have something to say to BusinessWeek.
as the gentleman says, "money talks, bullshit walks."
as I just said over at feministe:
Mkay, so what it looks like is, CUH is the brainchild of the Stefan Kane person, whereas the whole shindig is Alex T. (and his partner, Jared something), who is the one who was profiled as the big entrepreneur and apparently is not really all that willing to go to the wall for the sake of this one T-shirt line. SK on the other hand seems a tad more invested in keeping those T's, seeing as how this is apparently his entire "line." Whether or not AT actually -fires- the guy, or whether that's worth anything to anyone, is another question.
Meanwhile, though: I doubt there's much one can do wrt individual myspace or people setting up shop on their own at concerts and such--well, I don't know what myspace's policy is on such matters, someone want to look into that?
AS for kaboodle, though, that seems to be a separate deal; some sort of conglomerate online something or other for various fashion lines/brands, including Nordstrom and Brookstone. If one wanted them to stop carrying CUH, or indeed the entire District line (also, who owns the whole District line?), it'd probably be best to contact -them- directly, now.
here: kaboodle:
http://www.kaboodle.com/zd/help/faq.html
http://www.kaboodle.com/zm/about
About Kaboodle
Way back in 2004, Manish and his wife, Asha, grew frustrated during the remodeling of their home. They found the process of sharing and discovering new products and retailers that matched their personal sense of taste and style difficult. As it stood, the online shopping platforms were weak and most sites just compiled product catalogs, leaving people to fend for themselves in a sea of information. Finding and keeping track of one's favorite products online and deciding what to buy was a painful and inefficient experience. So, in 2005, Manish and co-founders Keiron and Chetan, who both shared his vision of a new approach to online shopping, got together to transform the process into a more social and much simpler experience.
Kaboodle is a social shopping community where people discover, recommend and share products. Kaboodle's powerful shopping tools allow people to organize their shopping through lists, discover new things from people with similar style, get discounts on popular products and find best prices. At the heart of Kaboodle is a fun and engaging community of people who love to shop. Community members create and join groups, share advice, feedback and product suggestions and personalize their profiles with polls and other widgets. Kaboodle was launched in 2006 and has 500,000 registered users and over 6 million monthly visitors.
Oh, look: here's a form where you can send them feedback.
http://www.kaboodle.com/za/feedback?p_ret=%2fzd%2fhelp%2ffaq.html
***
Meanwhile, the next place these are apparently going to be live-vended is at this shindig:
http://www.thebamboozle.com/
Kane is now "laughing all the way to the bank," p.s.
Okay, so it seems that CUH is in violation of several of the "terms and conditions" on myspace. I'll just copy the ones that may be applicable. The first one, if nothing else, should get them kicked off:
Content/Activity Prohibited. The following are examples of the kind of Content that is illegal or prohibited to post on or through the MySpace Services. MySpace reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in MySpace's sole discretion, violates this provision, including without limitation, removing the offending Content from the MySpace Services and terminating the Membership of such violators. Prohibited Content includes, but is not limited to, Content that, in the sole discretion of MySpace:
8.1 is patently offensive and promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
8.2 harasses or advocates harassment of another person;
8.3 exploits people in a sexual or violent manner;
8.11 furthers or promotes any criminal activity or enterprise or provides instructional information about illegal activities including, but not limited to making or buying illegal weapons, violating someone's privacy, or providing or creating computer viruses;
8.29 displaying an unauthorized commercial advertisement on your profile, or accepting payment or anything of value from a third person in exchange for your performing any commercial activity through the unauthorized or impermissible use of the MySpace Services on behalf of that person, such as placing commercial content on your profile, posting blogs or bulletins with a commercial purpose, selecting a profile with a commercial purpose as one of your "Top 8" friends, or sending private messages with a commercial purpose..."
So, it seems to me that they are, by many accounts, breaking myspace rules. You can report photographs online, but more usefully, I think, you can go here to send comments and concerns to their people:
http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?
fuseaction=misc.contact
Josephine--That's a good question. AKT calls itself an "umbrella company" for some 15 companies (I haven't seen anything other than t-shirts, but apparently they do web consulting too.). Amway calls what it does "multi-level marketing." Anybody know the difference?
I agree with belle--this is bad publicity, and I don't see any harm in it.
Okay, letter written to kaboodle, letter written to myspace... Just beginning to formulate later to Business Week.
Anyone interested in somehow disrupting their sales at the bamboozle? I live about four hours away and could possibly be persuaded to participate in some sort of demonstration.
Just got this email from Kaboodle. I don't have a specific email from this Brenda person (it was one of those "Feedback Response" things), but... Seems like it would be useful to keep writing to them, again, not because Stefan doesn't have a right to sell his shirts, but because, well... We also have a right to boycott and criticize those who are affiliated with him:
Greetings Kristin,
Kaboodle doesn't actually sell anything; we are a social shopping site where
our users add products from across the web to their lists.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we'll investigate and take
appropriate action. We definitely want to keep Kaboodle a fun place for all
of our users.
If you happen to come across any other inappropriate sites, please let us
know. It's users like you that help us improve our community :)
Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Thanks!
Brenda
------
Brenda Ton
Community Feedback
Kaboodle, Inc.
www.kaboodle.com
Hey, it looks like Kaboodle *did* remove the CUH shirts right away. See:
http://www.kaboodle.com/brands
?sq=fc%3Dc#brandSearch
Make sure to thank them.
awesome, thanks KR.
per myspace: even if they take the "it's just a joke/expression" tactic, at minimum I'd think it breaks 8.1.
belle- you're totally right. Well done. Has there been any response from myspace? I see his [profile is set to private now, but the pic of the shirt is still on the front...
But yes, in addition to targeting this individual, it seems appropriate to point out that this is indeed a trend that is quietly accepted in many arenas and we're only able to mobilize action against it when it is blatant. Can this situation be used to highlight the common more subtle perpetuations of violence against SW's?
I'm so, so glad to see that at least some good has come from the way everyone mobilized on this. It really, really makes me truly feel good inside my whithered, cynical, little heart. Yay.
Also, an aside to belledame, who said:
" This one clearly doesn't understand the whole problem that people are having, even still, only that oh noez it might hurt his career."
Am I havin deja vu? ;)
EB: you noticed that too, eh?
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