I bought this shirt last year thinking it was cute. I'm not so sure now. Bryan was a little offended back when I got it, and I remember brushing it off thinking 'he's just being sensitive' (sorry Bryan). But I imagine if it said GIRLS MAKE GREAT ACCESSORIES instead I would've totally flipped my lid.
I'm not going to justify my double standard, but I think most people would have reacted the way I did. Not to say it's right. But then, women have had a long, long history of being treated exactly just like that, so much so that the idea of someone taking a statement like GIRLS MAKE GREAT ACCESSORIES seriously is actually quite plausible, and hence a hot button. Of course, some women can be and have been guilty of the same - namely treating men as objects, but it isn't at all the same as the systematic oppression of women through the ages. Men have never been at risk of having their entire sex treated (in every way that counts) as less than human by the fairer sex, and really, in their position of privilege and power and all, the idea of men being mere accessories is, well, ludicrous.
I just realized I'm trying to explain a stupid t-shirt. Who the hell analyzes the shit out of a joke?
My point is, I worried it was sexist, but it isn't. It's not the same because it isn't even an existing male stereotype of guys=accessories. If anything it's a tongue-in-cheek twist on the girls=accessories stereotype (which diddoes exist). But I honestly doubt it's seen as that. More likely it's just a form of retaliation along the lines of 'objectify me, will you? back atcha!', which doesn't get us anywhere if we're talking about combating sexism seriously.
So...title subject. Men are friends, not food. Guys, I don't think of you as accessories. Really. Out of deference to the amazing guys in my life, good bye t-shirt.
Blah blah blah zzzsexism zzzcourtesy zz...fuck it. It's too earlylate for sleep-deprived me to do this better. Any t-shirt joke that needs a whole blogpost to clarify it isn't worth it and/or very funny anyway.
i've thought abt this before (when u posted this article about rape or something), but you really are a feminist. :D that's a good thing: stand up for the women.
ReplyDelete(: and yes, a whole blogpost dedicated to a message on the shirt. It must really have been bugging you.
oh thank you :) and yeah it was bugging me a little when guys started commenting on the shirt. they claim they're not offended, but i thought they might be.
ReplyDeleteplus when you're awake at 9 in the morning after 6 hours of conversation with someone (li may) across the globe you're not very discriminating about what you decide to blog ;p
my teacher says feminism is what is making women less happy today.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a wonderful punchline.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why any guy with even a decent shred of humour would be offended by that. Or maybe they just can't see the play on the stereotype.
@Tarrant;
ReplyDeleteyes, i do believe they don't. some girls don't either, including girls who wear the shirt. if and when they take it literally, there's sexism for you.
i suppose i don't Have to stop wearing the shirt, but then i'd have to explain it all the time or give the wrong idea. and to be very honest, i wasn't thinking of it as a play on stereotype when i bought it. neither did i mean it seriously, but i vaguely saw it as a gesture of female empowerment in a i-don't-need-men kind of way (again, doesn't help). just because it's less likely to result in a widespread, harmful stereotype doesn't make it any less sexist. am slightly ashamed of that D:
@purevilmay;
i...don't know what to say to that. that's quite a blanket statement.