The Potty-Mouthed Princessess Are Baaaack (To Talk Domestic Violence)

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Yep, they’re baaaaack! Those pretty little punk princesses who aren’t afraid to drop a few F-bombs to make a serious point.

You may remember the “F Bombs for Feminism” video they released in October which got everyone talking. Some were outraged that a group of underage girls were made to say curse words on camera for the sake of a for-profit business, FCKH8.com, which sells t-shirts. Fair enough, we can understand the conundrum.

But they address this in the previous AND current video “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Part 2: Girls F-Bomb Domestic Violence” by saying if you are offended by little girls saying the F word, you should also be offended that domestic violence and rape happens to far too many women.

To be precise 1 in 4 women are victims of domestic violence and 1 in 5 women are raped, here in the United States.

“What’s more offensive? A little girl saying fuck? Or the fucked up and sexist way society barely lifts a finger when men raise their fists,” they proclaim. “We want a future we can dream about! Not one that we’ll fucking scream about.”

Now before you get angry that a t-shirt company is profiting off a publicity stunt (it is more than that) the proceeds of the sales of t-shirts promoted in the video below and the previous one go to a list of their favorite charities fighting for human rights and equality.

Plenty of people will be up in arms about the way the young girls are portrayed with fake black eyes and bruises, but don’t worry, they address that also.

“Got a problem looking at my fake f*cked up face?” asks one defiant girl. “Umm, isn’t one out of 4 women beaten? The REAL disgrace!” says another.

Is it too much using underage girls who have never experienced any of these horrific crimes to speak up about important issues? Does it dumb down the seriousness of these statistics because the videos have somewhat been turned into viral sensations? Or do we unfortunately live in a society where people are so freaking fed up with being ignored that the only option left is to get clever and get the message across in another way?

” The use of shocking imagery in this situation is quite paralyzing, and it’s meant to be,” writes Jezebel about the video.

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Lacey O’Connell, mother of a 7-year old featured in the video stated, “We did this video to help break the silence on domestic violence. In our household swearing is absolutely unacceptable but if it takes princesses saying the F-word to raise awareness we will call it a success.” She added, “I was very personal for us. I was one of those 1 in 4 women who are victims of domestic violence. Equality is still an issue and at the root of this is the problem that men and women are not treated equally.”

Her young daughter Kennedy who appears in the video chimed in, “I don’t normally say the F-word in life because my mom doesn’t let me but I want people to learn from this video that it’s not fair for women to get punched in the face. You can’t do that to women. It’s just not right to do.”

The fact that the company is adamant about using this concept should tell us that we aren’t speaking loud enough. Violence happens everyday, to men and women. Women are disproportionately affected by violence, however, and this isn’t a fact that is going to go away if we just ignore it.

“We get that some adults are uncomfortable with how these little girls are using a bad word for a good cause and seeing them in this shocking injury make-up. But isn’t the real shock the ugly fact that 1 out of 4 women are bullied, beaten and bashed and that as a society we’ve become desensitized and accepting of violence against women as ‘normal?’” said the video writer/director Luke Montgomery.

“These girls don’t need their mouths cleaned out with soap. Society needs to clean up it’s act. I’d rather see these girls in abuse make-up speaking out today so when they are older maybe less women will have those injuries in real life. In a culture that abuses women daily with things like paying them less than men for the exact same work, is it any surprise that so many men think they can abuse women too?”

The potty-mouthed princesses may not be your cup of tea, or you may in fact be downright offended. Here’s what we challenge you to do, get offended by the facts in the video also, and please feel free to one up FCKH8 and do something to change the status quo. Here’s hoping one day organizations won’t need to make outrageous and sensationalized videos to bring home the point that violence and rape is no joke.

Oh and just so you are aware, FCKH8 plan on releasing one more video in this anti-sexism series, so brace yourselves, the fun isn’t over yet! Here’s to an organization not afraid to face criticism if it means their message could possibly save the life of even one woman.

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