Has H&M captured the plight of rape survivors in a movie-themed capsule collection?
There was a launch party last night for H&M’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo collection at the Thompson Hotel in Toronto, but Montreal-based blogger Natalie Karneef will not be raising a signature cocktail in support of what she describes as a collection that “[glamorizes] rape survivors.” As a survivor herself, she is uncomfortable with the idea of creating clothing that is modelled after a rape survivor’s armour against the world. “Your innocence in the way you present yourself is lost, and the way you dress then takes on a new meaning,” Karneef says. She brings up some interesting criticisms, but we prefer to think of Lisbeth Salander as more than a rape victim—she is an accomplished hacker, and since we’ve seen Hackers, we know Salander is dressing in a manner befitting her tech vigilante lifestyle. Perhaps H&M was simply celebrating just that. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
The idea that this H&M collection glamorizes rape victims is ludicrous. The character of Lisbeth Salander wore clothing like this BEFORE she was brutally raped. She did not start wearing this clothing as a result of the rape. I know many people who are not rape or abuse victims who dress in this type of manner, so again, the idea that women who are abused or raped immediately adopt this type of attire is not only narrow minded, but also completely unreasonable. I have been a rape victim myself (in fact, I lost my virginity through rape) and I chose not to dress in a so-called “guarded” manner because that only continues the victimization. Surviving a rape is something that will stay within a person’s psyche forever, but hiding oneself away from the world and becoming jaded is not the way to get over the trauma. That type of behaviour only gives more power to the rapist, which is something that they should never have had in the first place. Women are perfectly capable of being strong-minded and in control of their fates and I think that is what Lisbeth’s clothing is all about. To me, the women who are weak and not in control are the ones who dress like Paris Hilton, not Lisbeth Salander.