Seth Udinski, FISM News

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Last week, the New York Times reported that the arts and crafts retail company Michaels has removed a series cross-stitch books from their retail stores, a series that was originally released as part of an observance of Women’s History Month.  The books, complete with overtly feminist themes and messages, were recalled because of foul language.   While most messages merely contained rude and tasteless wording such as “Smash the Patriarchy” and “Bad Hombre,” there were four cross-stitch patterns that contained various uses of foul and explicit language, including the F-word.

Predictably, many in the pro-feminist camp were outraged when the books were taken off the shelves and put into the trash.  Some accused the store of removing the books simply because of the “uncomfortable” conversation surrounding the feminist movement.  One disgruntled individual said, “Whoever threw this out probably needs it the most.”

Michaels, to their credit, issued a statement clarifying their reasoning behind the removal of the books.  The statement read,

It is our policy not to sell products with the ‘F’ word in or on it in our stores. It is not in line with our brand and that policy will not change….Had this same book not had the four explicit patterns in it, it would still be on display in our stores as planned.