Sticker Shock

ChasingMoksha has an interesting story of everyday exploitation:

Yesterday when I was browsing some blogs, I ran across one that had a “blog sticker” in the left corner. The sticker said, “Stop violence against women.” I thought to myself how it would be a good sticker to display on my blog. So, I filled out the necessary request, which entails having to wait for activation. The activation cue was sitting in my spam folder today. I was about to delete it until I remembered what it was for. I did not know right away because instead of having a “stop violence against women” wording to it, it had a more generic “blog sticker request” title.

If one presses on someone’s “Stop Violence against Women” sticker, it will lead to this page. A page that is harmless enough. It lists several agencies that appear to be dedicated to stopping violence against women. However, when it comes time to actually get the sticker, I had to sort through what sticker I wanted. In other words, the whole “stop violence against women” was just a hook, an exploitation. I looked through the other sticker options and there was one available for the “Porn Lover.” Why would I want a sticker that has a pretense for stopping violence inflicted on women, when in the same breath it is distributing “Porn Lover” stickers, porn (not erotica or art, but PORN), the very culprit that inflicts and causes violence against many women. What a fucking joke.

Anything for a buck, because I know there is a buck involved.