Mall in the Philippines pulls rape-condoning T-shirt

When a T-shirt claiming that rape is really just a "snuggle with a struggle" appeared in stores in the Philippines, customers were understandably outraged.

The shirt in question was sold in the teen boys' section of a franchise of SM Supermalls, the Philippines' largest mall operator, with 46 malls in the Philippines. After the internet erupted with outrage at the shirt, it was pulled from store shelves on Tuesday. Twitter users said the shirt "promoted rape culture" and demanded an immediate response from SM Supermalls.

SM Supermalls was quick to issue a statement apologizing for the tee, calling it "unacceptable" and announcing its removal from stores.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Appropriate action will be taken to ensure this does not happen again," SM Supermalls said in the statement. While it's great to know that the company will be more vigilant about its clothing in the future, we have to wonder why this shirt made it into stores in the first place. --Meghan DeMaria

// var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));// ]]>Post by Karen Kunawicz.