I’ll be honest – sometimes we need a reminder that people-power works.
Our latest campaign victory with ShopClues and Snapdeal taking the fake hymen product down, has left us more empowered and confident in the work we are doing.
It was crucial for us to get variants of fake hymen products off the market since this medically harmful product was so easily available to women! The product encouraged women to compromise their health and uphold the patriarchal notions around women’s virginity.
Twitter storms and signatures from over 1000 members like you helped us create a PR crisis for the online retailers and in turn, they responded to pressure. Coordinated public mobilisation led to this victory within a day!
After @shopclues, @snapdeal takes fake hymen pills down. Here's to women's health over unhealthy notions of virginity. Public mobilisation worked, again!
P.S: Here's where you get updates on campaigns at @Jhatkaadotorg: https://t.co/l7gERdvCXr@FeminismInIndia @IndiaMeToo pic.twitter.com/yK7qRn2VxM— Jhatkaa.org (@Jhatkaadotorg) March 5, 2020
Not only did the online retailers take the product down but they acknowledged that they are ready to take action.
ShopClues tweeted: “Thank you for your prompt response and sharing the product ID with us. We’re getting this product discontinued from our website and sharing strict feedback against the merchant. Kindly wait for the next 24 hours for this to be applied.”
And…
The Communications Director at Snapdeal, informed us that they took the product down within hours of receiving our call.
This quick response is proof-enough that even the market big-shots will listen when we strategically call them out. Your regular and unconditional support is crucial as it covers our campaigning expenses that result in such important victories.
Jhatkaa.org’s gender and sexuality team is constantly looking to contribute to building an equitable society for our intersectional gender diversities.
From calling out sexism to supporting complainants to get timely justice in sexual harassment cases, we have used technology-based public mobilisation to send the message across as strongly as possible.
It’s been a great victory and we hope to see more in the coming months.
Note: this article was first published here.