Feminist Lisa Frank Catches Flak From Lisa Frank’s People, Fires Back with Pastel Kittens

Quote from Alice Walker

Earlier this week we shared the news about the Feminist Lisa Frank Tumblr page. By Friday, the Tumblr page had apparently caught some hell from Lisa Frank’s own representation. They went so far as to issue an intellectual copyright infringement notice to Tumblr in order to get the photos taken down. The creator of the blog posted this:

I tried reaching out to them both before and after the infringement since I am crediting them for their artwork, not claiming to be affiliated with the company, and not intending to make any financial profit from this, but I’m not very optimistic about hearing anything back.

However, they did write back. And the reply was dripping with that special kind of parental guilt you only get when they want to make damn sure you know you really f’ed up. In another Tumblr post, the creator shared what Lisa Frank’s people said:

We at Lisa Frank are not upset so much as disappointed that you decided to use Lisa Frank’s artwork without asking for her permission and did so in association with a strong point of view, without considering whether Lisa would have used her art to promulgate that view or not.  It was particularly ironic that Lisa was disrespected in this way to deliver a message of respect for women.

Whatever you may have intended, Lisa is aware of a number of critical posts that have mis-ascribed your blog to her. For all of the above reasons we request that you stop using Lisa Frank’s art without her permission and allow Tumblr to remove Lisa Frank’s artwork from its site.  We hope that, as a fan, you understand.

Uh… okay?

This wouldn’t be the first time the Lisa Frank company has popped up on the controversy radar. This story from Jezebel is packed with comments from former employees who used to work in the Tuscon, Arizona based factory.

Still, it looks like that as of this morning, the Feminist Lisa Frank blog is refusing to give up.

How’d that get there, indeed? Fight on, you crazy blogger.

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Jessica Lachenal

Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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