Hi, I'm Eli Coughlin-Galbraith. I owned and ran, with my part… Eli Coughlin-Galbraith needs your support for Support Shapeshifters through a
Hi everybody. Eli here.
Here's that second part of the post I promised.
On December 19th, the day after signing that sale contract, we received word that the FDA had sent Shapeshifters a letter, and sent similar letters to eleven other companies that sell chest binders. The gist: they allege that chest binders are medical devices, and are subject to a large host of regulations. The FDA Commissioner also made a series of statements at the same time, which appeared to target the same set of companies, but did not align with anything said in the letters. (Source)
And of course: not every shapewear company received a letter like this. Underworks is absent from the list of recipients. So is Spanx. So is any company that sells compression shirts, rash guards, or sports bras.
The target is clear. In all posted letters, any phrase that contains the word “dysphoria” is cited. In one case, “gender euphoria” is cited (source). If you use these words, you’re in violation. If you sell binders for cis men, you’re not.
This is a targeted action against transgender folks, just like every other targeted action against transgender folks that this administration takes. No-one we have consulted has been surprised, only grim. The only real option available to us is to respond within the system, with professional help, in expensive and stressful ways.
On top of all this, Shopify, the current store platform, just disabled its built-in payment processor because we have been anonymously flagged as “predatory or deceptive” by anonymous “banking partners” whose decision is final. If you’d like to let Shopify know what you think of them cutting off the income of trans people without process or recourse, I suggest sending a message to the “Trust and Safety” team at [email protected]. To be clear, this will probably have no effect.
A lot of really kind and wonderful folks have reached out to ask how they can help. So we set up a legal fund to defray some of the costs of responding to the FDA while the store income is down, and that is here: https://gofund.me/4dd707af7
All proceeds of this fundraiser will go to covering legal costs of responding to the FDA. If we exceed the goal, the excess will cover lost business income from Shopify cutting off credit card processing.
Bryce and Gwen are doing an incredible job of getting up to speed on all the regular operations of Shapeshifters amidst all of this shit, and I could not be prouder or more impressed by how they've taken the helm. I cannot wait to see how they run Shapeshifters when given a damn minute to breathe. Thank you all for your support in helping them get there.
All my love,
Eli
