By LINDA MOSS
moss@montclairlocal.news
The Montclair business owner who called out a local ice cream shop’s cow logo as being sexist, and was blitzed with hate mail as a result, is launching a campaign to make paper snowflakes to put a spotlight on sexual assaults.
Amy Tingle, the co-founder and owner of The Creativity Caravan, posted her plans on Facebook on Tuesday. It marked the first time she has spoken out publicly since a brouhaha over the logo for a new Bloomfield avenue ice cream parlor called Dairy Air Ice Cream Co.
Last month Tingle blasted Dairy Air’s owners for a using what she characterized as an offensive, sexualized cartoon of a cow that had a beret, blond hair and human-looking buttocks jutting out from a ring. Her complaint, an open letter on Facebook, started a debate between those who agreed with her and those who dismissed her concerns as overly politically correct.
The furor went viral and drew national and even international media attention, and the shop’s owners – apologizing and saying they never meant to offend anyone – announced that they planned to replace the old logo with a revised “fun” version.
But during the discussion and media coverage of the logo, Tingle was the target of threatening messages. She said she is no longer remaining silent, and has actually embraced the derogatory term, “snowflake,” that her critics hurled at her. Snowflake is derisive name for overly sensitive, too fragile and easily offended liberals.
“This is my winter project for 2018,” Tingle said on Facebook.
“I am making snowflakes. I am making them out of medical paper, the kind found in rape kits, the kind used to collect specimens from a victim’s traumatized body – hair & nail clippings, skin, debris. Paper snowflakes printed with sexual assault statistics. Paper snowflakes printed with the names and ages or hometowns of any sexual assault victim who is willing to share that information with me. Paper snowflakes because I want people to understand that my letter was never really about a cow and that calling me a snowflake simply adds fuel to my creative fire.”
Tingle also described why she wrote an open letter complaining about the Dairy Air logo and what happened in the aftermath.
“Because I saw something that deeply upset me,” she posted.
“Because I wrote a letter to express myself. Because I spoke up about the objectification of women and the direct correlation I see to rape culture in this country. Because I was totally blindsided by the whirlwind of media. Because I used my voice, but have been silent in the weeks since. Because I received SO MUCH hate mail. Because I clearly struck a nerve. Because I got called a snowflake over and over and over again. Because the name ‘social justice warrior’ was tossed out to hurt me but it didn’t, it gave me strength … Because SO MANY people thanked me. Because women reached out with their personal stories.”
Tingle’s post and snowflake campaign produced a flood of support on Facebook.
“Thank you Amy…yours is the first snowstorm I support and won’t try to shovel away,” one person posted.
“The winter is coming,” wrote another.