Over 5000 people have joined a campaign calling for high-end Australian lingerie store Honey Birdette to end sexist and unsafe practices in their stores.

The campaign, which has been dubbed “#NotYourHoney”, will today see young workers stage an action outside Honey Birdette’s Melbourne Central store. Activists have collected testimonials from current and past Honey Birdette workers and will attempt to display these outside the store from 12:30pm.

Many current and former Honey Birdette workers contacted the Young Workers Centre to express their support for the campaign and share their experiences in the wake of the petition. Customers and prominent members of the lingerie community have taken to social media using the hashtag #NotYourHoney to voice their outrage at the company’s behaviour and support for the campaign.

The petition was started by Chanelle Rogers, a former worker at a Honey Birdette boutique in Melbourne, after she spoke out about sexual harassment of workers by customers and clients.

Rogers’ petition calls for Honey Birdette to stop encouraging the sexual harassment of workers by customers, to implement policies and procedures to protect the safety and wellbeing of workers in their stores, and to end their sexist in-store dress code.

Photos will be available online under the hashtag #NotYourHoney following the action.

Quotes attributable to Keelia Fitzpatrick, Young Workers Centre Coordinator

“Honey Birdette claims to be about “empowering women” – but the only people Honey Birdette are empowering are customers who want to sexually harass women”

“We’ve had many women contact us to speak out about these awful workplace practices, but what’s really alarming is how many of these women are speaking to us anonymously. There’s a real culture of fear among the workers at Honey Birdette”

“It’s time for Honey Birdette to practice what they preach and empower staff to stand up for safety at Honey Birdette”

Details:

Honey Birdette Melbourne Central

12:30pm to 1:30pm

For further information:

Amy Fitzgerald, Communications Organiser