Cranking out porn and violence against women - Krank clothing

A Collective Shout supporter was recently in a mall teeming with children and Christmas shoppers when she was confronted by Hustler T-shirts hanging at the entrance of a Krank Clothing store.

According to the Krank website, the company claims to be “Australias largest motox and lifestyle store”. It's a place where adults and young people would go for all their motor sport gear. They have clothing divisions for men, women, girls and children.

But Krank doesn't just cater for motor sports. It is also a distributor of pornographic apparel, stocking the Hustler brand.

Besides their unashamedly sexualised images of women in porn star poses on men’s t-shirts, which treat women as playthings purely for men’s pleasure,  Krank also appears to endorse violence against women with slogans such as “Bitches Get Stitches “ and “ Talk Shit, Get Hit". In other words, some women deserve to be hit, right? Wrong!

If that's not enough, Hustler also creates rompers for babies, much like the those previously sold by Cotton-On Kids which were the subject of a boycott last year. Hustler's rompers have slogans such as, “Boobman since day 1“, “Hung like a 5 year old” , “Lil Pimpin” for boys and “Lil F*cking Princess” for baby girls. 

See Psychologist Collett Smart's article 'Self-image vs Sexualised image' for an analysis of the impact of these images on young people as they grow up.

Hustler Clothing & Apparel is proudly distributed throughout Australia, exclusively by Killer Instinct Clothing, which also stocks skateboarding and biking apparel.  Larry Flynt who is the president of Larry Flynt Productions which produces pornographic videos and magazines, most notably Hustler, was named by Arena magazine as Number One on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list. According to Flynt:

There's no excuse to go about your business in a half-assed way. We are only alive for a finite number of days, and we're poorer for every hour that we spend in soft-hearted pursuits. We rob ourselves when we submit to diluted entertainments, buy products that lack solid integrity and settle for second-rate gratifications. Life is short, and there's precious little time to fool around. We've taken great pains to compile top-shelf products that allow you to optimise that time. Congratulations on choosing to lead an existence of uncompromising freedom of choice.

Hustler supposedly sells products with ‘solid integrity’? According to the dictionary, 'integrity' means,"the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles". On freedom of choice, what about our freedom not to have to see Hustler porn in stores where we walk alone or with children? What about our freedom not to be portrayed in a pornographic light? And for the men in our movement, what about their freedom also not to be besieged with this material, or to be stereotyped as loving the objectification of women? And as parents, what about our freedom to keep our children from being the targets for sexualised merchandisers?

But we will exercise our freedom not to support women-hating retailers such as Krank clothing.

Our supporter Michelle wrote to the Westfield shopping centre in Penrith and complained about the images hanging at the front of the store that she had taken photos of. This is what she wrote:

I have sent an email to one of your retailers, Krank Clothing (see below) to request the removal of inappropriate items of clothing from their store. I would assume that as Centre Management, you would be concerned that one of your retailers is stocking highly sexualised clothing that objectifies women and exposes children to inappropriate images. Please read the email below that has been sent to Krank Clothing for more details. I am also happy to supply the mentioned images to you so you know what I am referring to.

EMAIL TO KRANK CLOTHING:
As a local resident of Penrith (and a mum to 2 young boys), I am deeply concerned by the highly sexualised clothing that is currently being sold in your store at Penrith Plaza. Many of the T-shirts sold in your store are demeaning to women and I don’t understand why you would choose to stock such a clothing style. Objectifying women is not art and it should not be labelled ‘trendy’.
I am in my thirties – I’m not an old prude. I simply want something better for my suburb and my kids. Items of clothing such as these contribute to the early sexualisation of children and the objectification of women.
I am requesting that you remove items such as the “Hustler” T-shirts and similar styles from your stores. I have attached examples of the t-shirts I am referring to.
The marketing material displayed in the Krank store is also of concern (see attached “Unit_Poster”) and does not belong in a shopping centre display frequented by families. It also adds to the issue of objectification of women and is demeaning to women. How does a almost-naked woman sitting on a bike relate to a piece of men’s clothing?
I ask that you carefully consider this matter and would greatly appreciate your response within 7 days. I will also be forwarding this email to Westfield Penrith Plaza Centre Management outlining the same concerns.

Here's the weak response Michelle received from centre management (there has been no response from Krank):

Thank you Michelle for your email regarding the Krank Clothing store at Westfield Penrith.
I have raised your concerns with both the Centre Manager and the Retail Manager and we acknowledge your comments.
While some of their products may not be to your liking, they are operating within the boundaries of their lease agreements with Westfield.
However, we will ensure the store manager has been made aware of your comments.
Sincerely, Therese
Therese Ferry
Marketing Manager Penrith
Westfield Marketing
E  [email protected]

Please add your voice to that of Michelle's, regarding the Hustler clothing and babies wear, to the following contacts:

To contact Westfield please email Therese at: [email protected]

To contact Krank clothing, please email: [email protected]

To write to Killer Instinct about their clothing please email: [email protected]

To find the stores and beach shops to boycott in your state that stock Hustler apparel here is the link with all their contacts and email addresses – of course 'City Beach' is again on this list!  http://www.killerinstinct.com.au/page/stores.html

Please share the responses you receive with us.

We also have a number of other products listed in this post 'Don't give sexploitation companies your xmas dollar', that we have crossed off of our shopping lists.

author: CS team member Collett Smart, Life Smart Solutions