In one of my last blog posts I explored some pro-life and pro-choice products sold on the popular shopping website Etsy. I had written an email to Etsy’s press department asking for a comment about what they think of products such as this:
- Yeah. I’m still at a loss for words.
Anyway, the reply I had received was, to say the least, a major disappointment. I was expecting a defense of their sellers’, which was great and what I was looking for. What I got instead was this, initially:
Hello Stefania,
Thank you for contacting us. Etsy permits items to be sold on the site
that comply with our Terms of Use, which can be read here:
http://www.etsy.com/policy/terms?ref=ft_termsCan you tell us a little bit more about the piece you are working on,
and for what publication?Thanks so much,
Emily Bidwell
It didn’t help my blog post because I could not really say it myself, that everyone has the right to sell and think whatever they want, which is what I believe too. It makes it stronger when someone else says it.
Then the other day I checked my email and received this:
Dear Stefania,
This is Adam Brown, I’m the press manager at Etsy. Thank you for getting in touch, and I’m glad to hear that you’re a fan! About this issue, we would say:
Etsy is a diverse global marketplace and community, with thousands of independent shops. We respect that our members come from all walks of life and may hold different beliefs and express their artistic perspective in many different ways. Etsy does not pre-screen users or the content or information provided by users. User-generated content reflects only the opinions and perspectives of the person who posted it.
Best Wishes,
AdamAdam Brown
Etsy Press
I thought it was only fair to add it. Finally, the honest response I was looking for.
Do a search on Etsy for “fetus” and you will see other pendants like this one. Lots of them are from the same vendor. It’s hard to call any of these products “conventional,” so let’s just say there are less bizarre pendants from this vendor on the site. There’s the the “Happy Embryo,” the “Happy Heart Embryo” and the one you highlighted, the “Fairy Fetl Embryo with Butterfly Wings.” But in addition you will find some amusing and weird ones too. There’s the “Jesus Fetus with Sacred Heart,” the “Sarah Palin Embryo,” the “Zombie Fetus Embryo’” (umbilical in mouth,) the “Glow in the Dark Embryo,” the “Lady Gaga Embryo” and last but not least, the “Tiny Twins Embryo” pendant with siamese twins. This isn’t a comprehensive list.
It’s difficult to say that this vendor has an anti-abortion agenda. The pendant featuring jesus with sacred heart is clearly catholic, but I find it impossible to imagine any catholic abortion opponent actually wearing one. The butterfly wings might be taken to be angel wings, and therefore religious and presumptively anti-abortion. But it would still be astonishing to see this on an anti-abortion protestor at a rally where cameras might pick it up. It’s just too weird.
I agree, and in my original post I explain that this particular item states clearly in its description that it has no political motif attached. Mostly it’s not so much the fact that they’re putting fetuses on necklaces to prove some point on Etsy, but that I was just caught off guard to see the pro-life/pro-choice argument brought to the foreground through ridiculous products.
It would indeed be interesting to interview the people actually wearing them.