Hobby Lobby Vandalism Activism Hyped by WaPo, Feminist Sites
It doesn’t take much to make “news” in The Washington Post these days.
Upset at the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling, last Thursday 29-year-old feminist New Yorker Jasmine Shea decided it would be a great idea to leave condoms randomly around a Latham, New York, Hobby Lobby store and spell out the phrase “Pro-Choice” with block letters in various places. Of course she took lots of selfies posing next to her artwork to post to Instagram and Twitter. For that she made a national story in The Washington Post July 9.
It’s a mystery how Shea, who has a mere 286 followers on Instagram, and about 800 on Twitter, which is small beans compared to the typical popular user, somehow managed to get her “activism” noticed by a leading national newspaper. Shea herself even tweeted, “I’m still in disbelief I’m newsworthy.” (Hint for Shea: your ideological confreres at The Post really, really want to see a popular feminist backlash to Hobby Lobby, and they’re not above manufacturing one.)
However her efforts weren’t completely unnoticed. Feminist blogs like Bitch Magazine, Jezebel and Feministing, who spewed hate after the Hobby Lobby ruling, each ran stories on Shea advocating readers to follow her example on July 8, just the day before the Post story ran. The Daily Dot also ran a story July 8 with the headline, “Here’s how to prank your Hobby Lobby.” The Post referenced the feminist blogs and noted that gay activist Dan Savage and actress Wendi McLendon-Covey approvingly tweeted out Shea’s Instagram prank.
Which leads one to wonder: Are feminist blogs and anti-Christian activists where the Washington Post is now getting it’s stories from?
As Shea originally told Bitch Magazine, she came to the store armed with a bag of condoms, which she intended to pass out to female employees. That plan was quickly abandoned when she realized there was only one female employee on duty at that time. So instead, she decided to put the condoms randomly around the store and to take several selfies with re-arranged block letters spelling out “pro-choice.”
The more conservative Washington Times also reported on the story but they did not give it the fawning attention that the Post did. Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life told The Times the woman’s actions were “pretty absurd” and the newspaper reminded readers, that Hobby Lobby still covers 16 different types of birth control so “protesters can safely ‘leave their condoms at home.’”
Actress Zooey Deschanel (“New Girl”)’s blog “Hello Giggles” called the actions “creative.” Hmm, somehow it seems like that’s possibly the least creative thing you could do inside a store filled with craft supplies.
This isn’t the first case of vandalism. Liberal ThinkProgress editor Adam Nathaniel Peck spelled out the message, “All women deserve birth control” in a Maryland Hobby Lobby the following Tuesday which earned him a PolicyMic feature story.
Before the ruling, one video posted on Youtube showed aborted baby Jesus dolls hung by wire hangers placed around a Hobby Lobby store.
Well at least petty vandalism and creepy, sacrilegious dolls are better than advocating arson.
You go feminists, keeping it classy.
— Kristine Marsh is Staff Writer for MRC Culture at the Media Research Center. Follow Kristine Marsh on Twitter.
