Ummm... that's not a coincidence. On the page for the "Miss Bitch" t-shirt it says "Special 10% OFF code for all our friends @ www.feministing.com!" if you enter the discount code "NOMEANSNO". So, yeah, I think we can confirm that this is no coincidence. Lame.

I noticed that too.

Slight dig? I'd call it a big middle finger in your face for daring to call us on our misogyny. I just wonder why they pulled the shirt.

Oh, getting the same tired message that we're uptight bitches for not wanting to promote rape. Joy.

just have one person email them back and say: YAWN....

So it's not enough to be a no-talent hack who copies other artists' work...now he has to be an utter jackhole, too? Nice.

Special 10% OFF code for all our friends @ www.feministing.com!

Just enter the discount code NOMEANSNO

GIRL POWER!

Seriously? So they pulled the shirt because, what? They were afraid of getting too much media attention over the response to their vile apparel? I just went through and threw out every shirt I own from them. If not finding rape funny and saying something about it makes me a bitch, then I'm proud to be one. It makes me laugh that these 'business' people are so infantile that they just HAD to take stab at women.

yeah and it's MS BITCH thanks!

Nice, rose_hasty!

I'm through giving that website any more traffic. I'd never heard of "David and Goliath" shirts before the other day, and forever I'll just associate them pro-sexual assault "knee-slappers".

I guess only "bitches" aren't up for rape. I would hope that one day the whole world consists of nothing but "bitches", if that's their logic.

Ugh. For another disgusting side of David & Goliath, check out http://www.dicktees.com/index.php?mode=HDT.

It appears to be the same company.

You know, I'm almost - ALMOST - tempted to buy the Miss Bitch t-shirt and wear it proudly. You know, if it didn't mean providing D&G financial support.

What a low blow.

Well, sadierose, considering we'll get that sweeeeet 10% discount.... ;)

Hmmm, feministing should perhaps produce some shirts for us:
"Ms Bitch - Against Rape, Even When Drunk"

No one noticed the name of the clothing line is "LITTLE LOOSERS" with two (2) additional choices: Miss Lush and Miss Gossip Queen. (They are dissin' you-all! :-) Great to see you had an impact.

Also available are stupid tee's like "Boys Like Me Because I'm Pretty" ... but then again, they have a (redemptive?) shirt that says "You Say I'm A Bitch Like It's A Bad Thing", plus loads of other dorky stuff in-between.

So, my verdict is ... you had me at ... "You Say I'm A Bitch Like It's A Bad Thing".

I'm still smiling and laughing inside.

Hey now! Bitches rock! I know I mention it a lot - but the "Bitch Manifesto" is the shit - and every feminist ought to be a proud bitch! Kim Gandy is a hell of a bitch - and so is Jessica. :)

Marc

There are so many t-shirt stores online that not only manage to avoid being stupid and offensive but also actually have funny, cool t-shirts:

Threadless (you can even vote on designs so if you see something offensive, you can just vote it down)
Demockratees
Coyote's Corner
Pacsun
Noisebot

princesstamtam - you missed Miss BJ! ugh.

Eh, if you're not a bitch, then you're a pussy. So might as well speak your mind.

Er, perhaps the best reply of all would be this article from the Onion called "You Know What's Stupid? Everything I Don't Understand."

Well, Tina Fey did say that bitches get shit done!

This is meant as an insult though, not as "female empowerment" It is most definitely a slight to feminists and anyone who speaks out against rape. I wrote a charming letter to the company. I'm sorry, but I couldn't let this one go. Anyone who calls me a "bitch" for speaking out about rape can suck my balls.

"To Whom it May Concern,

This letter is in response to the "rape" shirt that you so proudly were displaying on your website until a couple of days ago. You replaced this shirt with a "bitch" shirt, and I'm taking this as a slight at all the women who complained about the fact that you were trivializing and poking fun at rape, not to mention promoting the rape of women who drink. I'm getting the message that you feel anyone who complains about a company that promotes rape, is somehow a "bitch". What a sad, sad, bunch of people you people must be. This immature slight at people who speak out about rape, and your chastisement of women who don't consider walking around as a billboard for promoting rape is very funny, is nothing short of repulsive. My sister buys shirts from your company, but she will no longer now that I have pointed out what a misogynistic, rape promoting, (and now bitch-calling) company you are. I am also going to tell all my friends, and email everyone on my email list. A close friend of mine also owns a coffee shop here in New York City, actually he runs two coffee shops, one in Brooklyn and one at the Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan. In case you don't know, a LOT of people frequent these places. I will gladly place a flyer on their bulletin boards with pictures of both the "rape" shirt and the "bitch" shirt, and an explanation of your slight at feminists who complained about the "rape" shirts and how your company feels they are all just a bunch of "bitches". I'll make sure to attach your email address so they can contact you with their own feelings about this. I'm just guessing that these politically aware, female-respecting clientèle will not be appreciating your actions very much. And don't worry, I'll explain in detail the turn of events that conspired so they have a clear understanding of how your company really hates and devalues women. I'm sure you didn't want the business of all these hundreds of people that frequent these places anyways. I'm sure you didn't want the business of the thousands of people that frequent the blogs who originally brought the "rape" shirt to light either.
David and Goliath = Rape promoting, rapist apologizing, misogynistic, disrespectful, sad excuse for a company."

Maybe it's a bit over the top, but I'm sick of people making fun of rape, after the LA times article and the troll invasion last night, this is just icing on the cake - how dare they call us bitches for complaining. What ever happened to "the customer's always right". Apparently it's "the customers always right...except if they're female".

Todd Goldman, the creator of David and Goliath seems to court controversy. He made a splash a couple of years ago with his T-shirt design "Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them" (still available for sale on his website). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_are_stupid,_throw_rocks_at_them!#Alleged_plagiarism
He's also been the subject of a massive net-geek expose concerning his plagarism of other artists work for his t-shirt designs. Just Google "Todd Goldman" and "plagarism" and you'll come across numerous articles on BoingBoing, Something Awful, Wired, and a variety of other blogs.

Sorry, goofed on the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_are_stupid,_throw_rocks_at_them!

Thanks Morph and rhowan - I was about to point out that Todd Goldman is a shitface anyway. He sells plagiarized work as his own "art" that sells for thousands. Consumerist has a good article with side-by-side comparisons:
http://consumerist.com/consumer/plagiarism/designer-todd-goldman-accused-of-rampant-plagiarism-255241.php

His only "original" work seems to be shit like his "No Means No" shirt. Even "Miss Bitch" is based on a children's character.

Hey Goldman, you're not pop art, you're not modern art, you're not art at all, you're not funny - you're just the kid nobody likes.

Haha! Frankly, I think it's hilarious. They are clearly not a judicious bunch. They seem to be invested in shock value. Seems consistent with their "Ms. Bitch" comeback, except that that's not shocking. It's uncouth, but what do you expect from little boys when they get their feelings hurt?
Hahahah!

Wow! This guy ripped off a LOT of ideas! Plus he's made TONS of money. Making TONS of money off of other people's ideas, that is SO NOT COOL. This guy deserves no more respect than the scum found underneath your toilet seat. I don't know how the company is still in business and why some of the other artists haven't sued his butt off. Well except lawyers and lawsuits cost money, so I guess that's why. Todd Goldman = no original ideas AND no talent.

Yeah, you're right Jessi, Miss Bitch is just a rip off of the Mr. Men and Little Miss books by Roger Hargreaves.

So, I found a separate email especially for Todd on David and Goliath's website, and I couldn't help but drop him a few lines.

Todd,
Originally, when I emailed and phoned your company about the "No Means No" shirt, I was angry. I was angry about the fact that you were proliferating the notion that sexualized violence is funny, and that you were attempting to make a profit out of it. I won't even attempt to explain to you how wrong you are. I was angry enough to immediately throw away all of the merchandise I owned from your company, and to email all my friends and encourage them to do the same. I was, however, glad that you had enough sense to remove the shirt. Then I noticed your special message to feministing.com. If speaking up for the protection of women, and promoting the idea that rape is, in fact, not funny makes us bitches, then bitches we are. And damn proud of it too! You may have intended to insult us with your name calling, but you've only empowered us more. Maybe tomorrow you'll come up with another immature name to call us to give us even more drive to combat narrow-minded business people like yourself.

If being a bitch means that shirts like "No Means No" are no longer being sold or marketed to young girls, then I'll keep on being one.

Nice work, meeneecat. I was terrified when I saw these posts on Feministing, because I remember thinking David and Goliath merchandise was so cool when I was younger. I think my sister still does think it's cool. I'm going to call her.

Thanks to everyone who contacted this company. I feel a lot of solidarity, so if that is one small good thing to come of this, so be it.

This is a little off topic, but in response to meeneecat's first comment above: does anyone else question the use of insults like "suck my balls?" It seems to me that equating performing a sex act on a man with an insult (suck my balls, blow me, suck my dick, etc) is saying that the act is degrading, and in turn that sex is degrading to women, and on down that path. It seems to me to reinforce the ideas that women don't like sex, sex is not about women's pleasure, women must perform sex even if they don't like it, that's what women are for, etc etc etc. Does this occur to anyone else? I don't think I've seen it discussed here before but perhaps I've just missed it. I wonder sometimes if women using these phrases is a sort of subversive way to twist the typical usage and derogatory nature, but it still just doesn't sit well with me.

Anyway meeneecat I definitely don't mean this as a personal attack on you for using the phrase, I hope it doesn't appear that way. I am just wondering if you or anyone else have thoughts on the topic.

Wow. Just wow. I can't believe they actually called out feministing like that. Boo hoo, we made you take down your horrible shirt (seemingly ripped off from here, btw). Calling us bitches *really* stings. Ha.

I knew Todd Goldman had a reputation of being a plagiarizing asshole, now I can safely add misogynist to the list. I'm embarrassed for thinking David and Goliath was cool when I was younger :(

PS - Lori, I've thought about that too. It sort of bothers me when I hear women (or really anyone, for that matter...) say things like "Oh, so and so can suck my dick" or anything similar. It just seems to revolve around the idea of balls/dicks implying power and dominance. It almost bothers me as much as the phrase "grow a pair."

FeministMe, I'm so glad you said that. I've been feeling really overwhelmed the past couple days, and it's so great to be reminded of the good that is done on the feminist blogs.

Sorry Lori if you were offended by it, that wasn't my intention at all and I feel badly that you were so upset by it. I wasn't using it to upset anyone here, I was directing it at the company, if it came across as being offensive, I guess I was trying to be offensive in a way that was twisting around a sexist comment that men use all the time. Maybe I shouldn't have used that particular phrase, I can see people would get upset by it. Maybe I should have said "kiss my ass", since we all have asses, male and female. Again, sorry to upset you, I'm not a sexist pig, I swear.

AMEN!!!!! As a survivor of rape, and quoting a fabulous bumper sticker I own, "UNLESS SHE SAYS YES, IT'S RAPE." I don't care if you're drunk, disabled, mentally challenged, married, single, straight, gay, feminist, or the epitome of anti-feminism, Unless someone agrees to it, it is RAPE.

Oh I definitely didn't mean to imply that I think you're a sexist pig or anything close to it meeneecat. I didn't think you were using it toward anyone here or with the intent to offend. Was just pondering the language is all. Thanks for thinking about it and responding. =) I agree that kiss my ass probably has less sexist connotations.

Oh I forgot to add j.helene, I guess I didn't see sucking balls or dick as a dominance thing because my girlfriend and I have done that many a time (you know suck each other's dicks) and it's never in anyway a dominance thing, it's more of a gender bending type thing I guess. Or maybe it's just a weird lesbian thing. I guess in my mind I didn't associate it with male dominance, but I definitely see how people do and it shows me how ingrained sexism is even with myself.

I take it as a compliment. I would order one, but after that last shirt I'm not giving any money to their business.

Honestly, I don't think they're going to care about more angry letters. It's what they want. They love getting everyone upset and worked up. I think the best thing to do with crap like this is embrace it and laugh it off. Yes, I'm a big fucking bitch, and that's on a nice day. Get over it. There's nothing more to be said or done about this little group of children.

By the way, someone listed other places to buy t-shirts and I wanted to add:
http://www.oneangrygirl.net/order.html

It makes sense to me meeneecat that you might not naturally think of that phrase as derogatory now that you mention your own personal experience. "Suck my balls" as a derogatory comment toward women obviously depends on sexism AND heterosexism. It may be that the reason it strikes me so easily as sexist is because of my own hetero experiences. Any time a guy has wanted me to do any of those things it has felt really uncomfortable because I have always heard it used as an insult. When a guy says "suck my dick" the message I hear is "I am better than you, I have the power, and the way for me to show that is to make you perform undesirable sexual acts on me. You pleasure me at your own disgrace because I am superior and I am in charge; I take pleasure in degrading you." Perhaps that wouldn't be the message I hear if no one in a position of privilege and power over me had actually wanted me to suck their balls. Anyway, interesting discussion of it. Using it as a gender-bending sexual experience between lesbians never occured to me either!

wow, i *love* their attempt at being badass. when truly, it's the women who got them to pull the shirt who are the badasses. or bitches apparently.

Bitches get stuff done!

I'm never going to get sick of that line. :)

As we were reminded last weekend, Bitches get things done!

When you click on the little picture at the D&G page, it shows the picture of the rape shirt.

I don't think it's heterosexist. If you said "suck my clit," it would be degrading as well, though admittedly without the patriarchal history.

Also, antiope, awesome t-shirt company. I especially love the one that says "Please prove your masculinity some other way."

Hey, if speaking up makes you a biotch, then you go, biotch ! Let's do as Malcolm X did for the n-word, let's claim it and take out its sting. But not on t-shirts for little girls.

An oldie but goodie reminds us that "Bitch" is an acronym for

Boys,
I'm
The one in
Charge
Here

or another :

Being
In
Total
Control of
Herself

You heard, of course, that Penn Jillette says during his act that Hillary can't win because America doesn't have a White Bitch Month. And the crowd always cheers when he says it.

Gotta love this phallocratic society. Or not.

That tshirt makes me think of Heartless Bitches International heartlessbitches.com

I proudly embrace my bitchiness, if that is what qualifies.

So what's the response to this? A Feministing logo with the slogan "Bitches get stuff done"?

A googlebomb to link "lame asshole" to Todd Goldman's wikipedia entry?

I've been called so much worse than a bitch. Boring. :)

No way! I looked at the site - saw the Miss Bitch shirts and though "I'm just being paranoid". Of course not.

That said the coverage over at Jezebel has been pretty sickening.

I love the idea though that these guys are trying to attack us - by dressmaking. Stand aside women, or I'll embroider another insult on this. Surely if their weapon of choice is sewing, they are gonna lose this one...

The other thing is - if they think there's something wrong with us for wanting the shirt pulled - why did they pull it? If they think it was an acceptable shirt to sell - get on and sell it. If not the phrase they're looking for is "we would like to apologise...".

The idea many of us are arguing is the idea of reclaiming epithets.

Let me give you an example. I am a Quaker-officially known as The Religious Society of Friends. Quaker is actual a pejorative term. It's an insult that implies that we would tremble at the presence of God in some sort of misguided zeal. It was a response to our founder who found himself on trial for making comments for challenging the status quo and found himself thrown in prison for doing so.

Though the attacks on here can be personal and nasty, thank God we have gotten to the point that expressing our opinions rarely results in being thrown in jail or being killed by those who feel threatened by dissenting voices.

If the rules of 400 years ago were in play, then everyone who comments, post, or contributes here would be either jailed or killed, depending on how "lucky" we were.

This, is just too funny. The owner of that company just shot himself in the foot, totally underestimating the strength of women's feelings on the subject of rape. I sincerely hope that every single woman sends him a message, AND passes it on to all the other people she knows. Hit him where it will REALLY hurt- right in his wallet.

Just wanted to point out the color option is "punch". You must have roused some feathers if every detail is so aggressive...

Kevin, it's hard to find the point in several of your posts. What is your point here? That we should be glad that speaking out against someone calling us bitches for speaking out against rape-apologist humor doesn't land us in jail, so we shouldn't speak out? (which makes that freedom pointless)

Or that in the process of reclaiming a sexist slur (not a new concept to most of us, so you don't need to "explain") we shouldn't speak out against hateful use of that slur?

I'm Mr. Bitch. And proud of it. w00t. Congrats for pulling their card, again.

Obviously these people aren't the most intelligent (or creative) folks around if 1) They would rather attack customers and visitors who take issue with a product instead of apologize/assume responsibility, and 2) Their attack is even less inspired than the crap I used to deal with when I was 12.

It doesn't even deserve a response, really.We fought with brains, they're fighting with bullshit. Game over. We win =)

It's just so easy to see their point!

Girls who don't want to advertise rape are such prudes!

...

This shit is just revolting.

Has anyone seen this *winner* of a shirt yet? http://www.davidandgoliathtees.com/shop/images/tees6/7274_2L.jpg

UGH!

Offensive. This site is definitely run by an asshole. This is meant to be offensive. At the bottom it says 10% off for our feministing friends. They support some sick fucking rape shirt and now they want to be anti-feminist. This company needs some media attention to their sick fucking shirts. No, I dont think it will bring customers, but highlite how lax mainstream perceives rape. I'd like to see a repurcussion happen against the head of this company due the lax attitude they endorse concerning rape. Maybe after walking funny for a couple days he wont think it so funny.

re: the "suck my balls" bit

I found that part of this conversation interesting, and it made me think of the way I express myself in those terms as well.

meeneecat mentioned that perhaps "kiss my ass" would have been better, and after I thought about it, I remembered that the phrase I personally use the most is "suck my ass", which I actually get a lot of satisfaction from saying out loud. ;) (Try it! It's fun! LOL)

Anyhoo, I was just wondering what everyone's take is on that one. Do you think it could still be taken as offensive like "suck my balls"? Strictly curiosity on my part... Let me know what you all think! :)

Instead of buying that shirt, which I am slightly tempted to do, I will instead create my own design similar to that, so I don't have to give the asshole money. What's good for the goose, eh?

Re: comrade kevin,

I'm a Quaker too, and I appreciate the sharing of our backstory, but I also took that as the old excuse "at least you're not getting jailed for free speech!" We have a right to complain, just as the asshole has a right to give his opinion via the "miss bitch" shirt. We want to further use our right by boycotting his business. Yes, it's good that we are not getting jailed....so what's the point? Should we stop speaking out because it's no longer civil disobedience? Or should we all just thank our lucky stars because things could be worse?

Mz. Stilletto-
I am not sure how I would react to that phrase. Kiss my ass doesn't seem sexist to me because is not sex/gender specific, it's not an explicit sex act... things like that. Kiss my ass is more akin to something like bite me in my mind. I think on it's face I would say suck my ass is more like kiss my ass, but is reminiscent of the degrading use of suck my dick, so I would hesitate to use it I think (although it does sound fun and funny). I have always been a fan of go fuck yourself though. Which is about all I'd have to say to the assholes who make these tshirts.

This is the e-mail I just sent him, by the way.

Miss Bitch?

In context, I take that shirt, and it's little message to me and the other readers at feministing, as a compliment. Did we ruffle your feathers? If complaining about a shirt that makes a joke out of rape makes me a bitch, then I will proudly wear that title. I am simply curious as to why even pull the rape shirt to begin with? Was it for the sole purpose of being able to refer to us all as "bitches?" Or were you trying to mollify the feminist sleeper cell? If it was the latter, you failed. If it was the former, you have the maturity of my 11 year old brother. Be happy to know that you have certainly lost my business forever, as well as, hopefully, every other self respecting bitch who hears about this.

signed, me

My tactful response:

Dearest David & Goliath,

Yeah, I'm a bitch. A bitch who stands up for women. So shut the fuck up.

Isn't it fascinating when misogynists turn out to have a side line in something heinous like plagiarism or embezzlement?

is it terrible that im tempted to buy this shirt and hang it on my wall?

What a childish response by that site, you can almost hear the company president going "oh yeah, link the rape shirt that we got in trouble for selling with a Miss Bitch shirt, because that's what those girls are, they're BITCHES!!". This would be followed of course by making a 'No Girls Allowed' fort under their conference table.

And I completely agree with whoever said that they've been called way worse than a bitch before.

Wow, it's truly mind-blowing how many ideas he's stolen:

http://www.miketyndall.com/todd_goldman/

Message I sent them:

Hello there,

I must congratulate you on your innovative venture of t-shirt making. I'm sure no one has ever thought of that. I'm sure your company will be incredibly successful, given the fact that your company seems to find rape hilarious! I mean I get it, drunk girls + rapists = hysterical. I can't possibly understand why Feministing would find that offensive. You're right, they're bitches! But what do you need to worry, there's hardly anyone in the t-shirt market right now. Congrats on being original and hilarious at the same time!