Hallmark card yanked from shelves after woman claims it promotes teen sex

[meegbear]

http://images.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=SO&Date=20080411&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=804110427&Ref=AR&maxH=230&maxW=370&border=0&Q=80

While shopping in a Hallmark store for a wedding cake knife, Cyndi Desrosiers found a greeting card she claims is promoting sexual promiscuity to teenagers.

The message on the $2.99 Hallmark card has prompted Desrosiers to call for its removal from Seacoast store shelves and to launch an e-mail campaign urging others to do the same.

The front cover of the card features two glasses of wine held by two hands and reads, "Pardon me..." On the inside is printed, "Care for some liquid clothes remover?"

Project coordinator for the Portsmouth-based Allies in Substance Abuse Prevention, Desrosiers said she purchased one of the cards as evidence of "how desensitized we are."

<snip>

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS/804110427

Teen sex?

[rinsd]

1. Sex & underage drinking!!!

[rox63]

2. How could she tell if they were teenaged hands?

:shrug: :eyes:

[FSogol]

3. Because we all know how many greeting cards teens mail to each other

:eyes:

[Mad_Dem_X]

4. Umm...where on the card does it portray teens?

If it's just two hands holding glasses, how can one tell they belong to teenagers? :shrug:

People are getting waaaaaaaaaaaaay too uptight about stuff.

[truebrit71]

5. Oh.Dear.God. have people nothing more IMPORTANT to be outraged about?

..like, I dunno, a FUCKING WAR???

:shrug:

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Or the whole damn country going Bankrupt!!

[gratuitous]

13. Sex is bad, mmmmkay?

But if our country sends an 18-year-old over to Iraq to pop a bound, unarmed civilian in the back of the head with a round of ammo, that's not only hunky but dory.

Our culture is just plain sick.

[Vincardog]

6. That is obviously not promoting teen sex it is promoting wine. Want to bet that we will

never see this person at a protest of the war or pRetzeldent's illegal acts?

[bdamomma]

8. unbelieveable how the smallest things are such a priority to some people.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. Well OBVIOUSLY.

After all, only teens get drunk and have sex.


Right?

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Where does the teen come in?

Are they teenage hands?

[uppityperson]

11. "I have an 18-year-old daughter, and I would just die if someone gave this to her." Address?

"The target audience, in my opinion, is young adults." Huh. A mind reader.

"Hallmark spokesman Deidre Parkes said the card was not specifically directed toward a young couple. Hallmark's creative team developed the card for "any number of situations," including an anniversary, or for a long-term couple, she said."

I wonder what her address is, send one to her daughter. But that would be mean.

[VWolf]

14. FWIW I found the address

of a "Derosiers" in Portsmouth, NH.


Now I just need a stamp .......

[BOSSHOG]

12. She would have been okay with it if it depicted a Priest and an eight year old

Those wacky christian conservative values would be a daily source of amusement if they weren't so fucking dangerous.

[VOX]

21. Bosshog, you're downright psychic on this one--she alleges that she was abused at age 4 by a priest.

Which might explain her behavior at the Hallmark store.

See my post below.

[LeftinOH]

15. She's just jealous -cause she knows she'll never get a card like that..

..just look at her-

[provis99]

16. congratulations, Desrosiers! You win the "Useless Busybody of the Year" Award!

Is she aware the Victorian Age ended 100+ years ago?

[Iggo]

17. No one has to promote teenage sex.

They're built for it. They're gonna do it. Can't stop 'em. Wouldn't want to.

[SoCalDem]

18. Congrats on "giving it up" to your 14 yr old boyfriend?

with other years available like the birthday ones:rofl:

[LibertyLover]

19. It must be nice to be Ms Desrosiers who obviously has

nothing else in the world to worry about except a photo and greeting on a card - one which I would certainly consider sending my husband on our anniversary. Some day, when Ms. Desrosiers is finished being affronted by this card, I hope that she is able to use the experience to move on to other, slightly more important things to be affronted by, say like people dieing in Iraq, pollution and world hunger.

[VOX]

20. Per the Boston Herald, 4/14/2002, Ms. Desrosiers claims to have been abused at age 4 by a priest...

The idea of targeting a Hallmark card seemed as silly to me as it would any common-sense person. But I did a quick search in Lexis-Nexis and Factiva -- Ms. Desrosiers's name appears in numerous hits regarding the victimization of children by priests.

This would certainly explain her concern over seeming minutiae like the sentiment in a greeting card.

Unfortunately, I can't link to the two items below, as they're from a Factiva search. But anyone who has access to Factiva or Lexis-Nexis can search the subject.

- - - - -
More allegations of abuse surface as sex abuse scandal grows
By ANN S. KIM
Associated Press Writer
702 words
16 March 2002
19:01 GMT
Associated Press Newswires
English
Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - As the sex abuse scandal plaguing the Roman Catholic Church grows, more people who say they've been abused by priests in Maine are approaching a victim's advocacy group.

Cyndi Desrosiers, coordinator of the Maine chapter of the Survivor's Network of People Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said dozens of people, both victims and their family members, have contacted her in recent weeks.

Thirty-eight Mainers have gotten in touch with Desrosiers in the last month. They have named 15 Maine clergy members, including one nun, she said.

"I think that as more victims are seeing other victims come forward, they're getting the courage to come forward," Desrosiers said. "I think there's a real need for victims to feel validated."
<snip>
- - - - - -

PRIEST SCANDAL; Experts: There's hope for victims
Stephanie Schorow
1077 words
14 April 2002

All Editions
008
English
© 2002 Boston Herald Library. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved
Even if legal justice finally catches up with priests who have molested children, the damage they have wrought will not be easily remedied - but there is hope, experts and sex-abuse victims say.

Victims may spend years learning to trust other people, trying to regain a sense of control over their lives and dispelling feelings of shame and guilt, the experts say. Some will sink into permanent depression or turn to drinking or drug addiction.

Yet, say both therapists and survivors, many will not only survive but thrive, going on to live full lives and help other abuse sufferers along the way.
<snip>
Female victims often suffer from a sense of powerlessness, too, but they often turn their anger against themselves, while boys often act out. Cyndi Desrosiers, 37, an Augusta, Maine, resident, said she was abused at age 4 by a priest who told her she was bad and deserved this treatment. She believed him.

"He took me to a open grave and threatened to bury me alive if I told anyone," she said. So she grew up to be a perfectionist: "Unless I was perfect, I was proving him right."

Some survivors regain a sense of control by confronting perpetrators through legal action. Desrosiers, for example, believes she regained control when she faced her tormentor in a courtroom: "I could see I wasn't 4 or 5 any anymore and he had no power over me," she said.

[Richard Steele]

23. Well, I guess that explains why she's nuts today.

Clearly, she's a bit loony.

[aikoaiko]

22. puritanical New England --- and Portsmouth, NH is hippie town for NH

Go figure.