Piper Shaw, an inspiring singer-songwriter from Florissant went viral on the popular social media app “Tiktok” after visiting the local Five Below. Piper went to Five Below on Saturday, November 21st in hopes of finding a birthday gift for her nephew. However, she found her way to over 1.8 million views after posting about the “Ms. Monopoly” she found in the store. The video shows Piper walking into the store, picking up the game, and reading the slogan… “ The first game where women make more than men.“ Piper then calls for tiktok to take action to have the game removed from the stores shelves.
Piper saw the slogan as portraying that only in a boardgame can a woman make more than a man. However, Tiktok users misunderstood her view and begin pestering the comment section on her video stating that she was against women empowerment. Turns out the popular game “ Monopoly” was originally created by a woman and stolen by a man who repackaged it as his own creation. After Hasbro released the female version of the game (“Ms. Monopoly”) they were pressed by the media to give credit to the game’s original creator Lizzie Magie but failed to do so.
Piper was intrigued by Magie’s story and shared it with her followers. You can find the viral video on Piper’s “Tiktok” page @itspipershaw
Now, over 2 million views later, she has a lot more to say about women empowerment, Ms. Monopoly, and the stories of female creators overlooked in their fields – so much so, that she wrote a song to encompass her thoughts.
“I’ve always expressed myself through singing and songwriting,” Shaw says, “so when the comments started rolling in I grabbed a paper and a pen and wrote ‘Strong Woman’. I wanted them to know the true story behind the game but also wanted them to know that they couldn’t break me. I will always fight for what I believe in because I am a strong woman.”
