Clothing Store's Gimmick Arouses Community Anger

For the second time in four months, a window display at the Camel's Hump, a Harvard Square clothing store, has aroused community anger at what one resident yesterday called "the use of sexual violence to sell clothes."

Last week, the store set up a display of shoes, backed by large photographs of half-naked women with boots and whips, with the words, "Lady Killer," "Ballbuster" and "Deadly" in the corners of the store's three windows.

In October, the Camel's Hump, on Boylston St. displayed a mannikin dressed as a battered corpse in its window, but removed the display when feminist organizers in Cambridge protested the advertising gimmick.

Sarah L. Carleton '74, a Cambridge resident, said yesterday she and three other residents complained to the store's personnel Monday that the display was "offensive" because "they have a real sadistic, violent undertone."

Carleton and about 12 other Cambridge residents returned to the store to complain again yesterday, when the displays had not been taken down.

Store personnel yesterday declined comment. But in a statement released yesterday, P.J. Casey, president of the Camel's Hump, said the display is no different from displays used in Europe and New York.

"Basically, we, and our fashion competitors, use language and visual displays that are perfectly familiar to anyone who watches T.V. or goes to the movies," Casey said. "These are entertainment norms."

Casey added, "We feel our windows give us an opportunity to entertain and we will continue to do so."

Carleton said she and her neighbors will "continue to harass the store quietly" and may try to organize a more formal demonstration against the store if the displays are not removed.

Circe Miller, a Somerville resident who organized protests against the Camel's Hump display last fall, said yesterday that she had not heard about the new display, but said, "It's really pretty damn shocking that they're doing it again," Miller said, adding, "I guess they're seeing how far they can go."