Feminist Fridays

OBJECT activists recently held their first Feminist Friday to campaign against lads' mags being sold as part of the mainstream media. It was a great success! We wrote slogans on paper bags saying things like 'This magazine is sexist, don't buy it', 'Women are human too', 'This magazine promotes violence against women' etc. and we took it in turn to place every sexist magazine and newspaper in a bag, in a targeted WH Smith.

In response to our peaceful action the manager decided to call the police on a grade one alert usually reserved for terrorist attacks or other emergencies. After 15 minutes of calmly explaining to the police that we were not doing anything illegal and talking to them about why we are against magazines which portray women as sexual objects being on display to all who walk into the shop, the police came on board. They said they would sign our petition once they were off duty and proceeded to tell the manager off for calling them out at all! Thank you to all of you who were involved - it was an empowering experience and a first step towards changing people's attitudes and challenging sexism being seen as normal part of every day life.

For more information about Feminist Fridays or for help setting them up in your area email anna@object.org.uk