Pulling the Punches
Sometimes there is very little need for a comment....
Superdrug today pulled a women's boxing set from sale following complaints from a support group for male domestic violence victims.
The ManKind Initiative said the man-shaped inflatable punch bag encouraged women to hit men.
It wrote to Superdrug's managing director calling for the £9.99 product to be withdrawn.
The Hers Boxing Set comes in pink packaging and contains a man-shaped punch bag and a pair of boxing gloves.
The ManKind Initiative complained that owners were encouraged to insert photos of a man for the punch bag's face.
A picture on the product packaging shows an arrow pointing to a man's groin saying "kick him here".
Mark Brooks, chairman of The ManKind Initiative, said the fact that Superdrug did not sell a similar product for men suggested domestic violence against men was more acceptable.
"As a charity that receives hundreds of calls a year from distressed men suffering from domestic violence, it is disgraceful that a national retailer like Superdrug should be openly selling products encouraging such acts," he said.
Superdrug responded by saying it would pull the boxing sets from its shops and website.
"We apologise if any offence has been caused by selling this product, that was never our intention. We are withdrawing this product immediately," a spokeswoman for the chain said.
Superdrug will offer to donate all profits from previous sales of the Hers Boxing Set to The ManKind Initiative.
The charity says at least one in every three acts of domestic violence are committed against a man.
May I suggest that it was slightly unnecessary to withdraw the product because women essentially get frustrated at men and their many faults and would like to punch them to let out aggression, but actually don't. This kit is a humourous way to let off steam and a joke amongst women who all know how irritating men are. It's not actually encouraging women to go punch men now, is it, because they can do all that on a blow up punch bag!
World's gone mad.
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4 comments:
May I suggest that if it had been the other way around, a woman-shaped punch bag, there would have probably been far more outrage due to women as victims of domestic violence being higher profile than men. Seems like double standards, and I'm glad that it was challenged with good result.
I would suggest a gender neutral punch bag, but why try and evoke negative feelings against human figures at all. Why isn't a regular boxing punch bag sufficient for people?
If you need to insert a picture of someone to punch and kick, then I think you're more of a problem than the person you hate that much.
I don't disagree with your commentary, but the fact remains that some men do get beaten by their women and you wouldn't condone a similar "fun" product designed for men to take out their frustrations on their fat, frigid, irritating, pre-menstrual women, now would you?
I have had to call the police because someone I knew was being beaten up by their wife.
There are derogatory products around about women, and don't forget that PMT stands for putting up with men's tediousness!
I personally wouldn't need a picture in my punch bag; all my mental images for a good violent workout are stored in my head and ready for by next kickboxing class!
But I still think this product was a bit of fun. Some people will be banning self defence classes next.
Didn't you miss the wo- in front of men are irritating, Trixy? :)
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