After public backlash over a sexually suggestive post degrading elderly women, River Heads Pharmacy has resurfaced the same post - this time with the caption:
“*edited for the easily offended* Customers love it when Mark makes them cream. There’s that’s better”
Aside from the poor grammar, let’s be clear: that’s not better.
The post appears to have been temporarily hidden, only to be unhidden with a fresh layer of sarcasm aimed at those who took issue with the original content. This isn’t an apology. It’s a smirk. A deliberate dig. A signal that mocking women - particularly elderly women - is fair game, and anyone who disagrees just needs to lighten up.
But it didn’t stop there.
Mark McMurtrie, the pharmacist behind the post, then shared a screenshot of an email from one of our campaigners - sent respectfully and in good faith - calling on him to remove the post. Instead of addressing the concern, he posted it publicly, complete with a facepalm emoji, in a clear attempt to ridicule and intimidate.
This is unacceptable behaviour from anyone - let alone someone entrusted with community health and care. When health professionals start using their platforms to publicly mock women for raising legitimate concerns, we have a serious problem.
And let’s be honest - where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
This pattern of behaviour - the original sexualised post, the mocking edit, the attempted public shaming of a woman who spoke up - reveals more than bad judgment. It shows a disturbing contempt for professional accountability and community standards.
We’re calling this out not because we’re “easily offended”, but because the normalisation of degrading “jokes” about women - especially in trusted spaces like pharmacies - reinforces a culture of disrespect and harm.
When we ignore the foundations - the so-called "harmless" behaviours - we cultivate a world where this violence becomes inevitable.
Crimes of sexual assault, femicide, rape, trafficking, do not occur in isolation. They grow from a culture that teaches men they are entitled to women, and teaches women to tolerate or fear violence as part of everyday life.
Our communities deserve better. And we won’t stay silent when this kind of behaviour is waved off as “just a joke”.
TAKE ACTION: Email River Heads Pharmacy demanding they remove their degrading Facebook post!
See also:
River Heads Pharmacy sexual innuendo post violating practitioner-patient boundaries
How Everyday Sexism Fuels Male Violence
How sexualisation and objectification harms women and girls: What the research says
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