Of course, Taylor's critics have every right to complain about his shirt; that does not make them thought police, as (also of course) various wingnuts have portrayed them, apparently in hopes of cementing the fledgling alliance between the conservative and Men's Rights movements, thus building the crotchswell of resentment needed for a big White Man victory in '16.
It's a sad situation -- but, as experience has taught us, Jonah Goldberg can always make it worse:
Many of my friends and colleagues on the anti-PC right have responded with understandable outrage. And it’s true: Taylor’s confession of wrongdoing did feel forced — awfully North Korean.
Still, the feminists have a point.Oh, no, no...
Although I like the shirt (which is now selling like hotcakes), I would never wear it to a nice restaurant, never mind on a globally broadcast TV interview. The reason I wouldn’t wear it has very little to do with my fear of offending feminists. It’s simply unsuitable professional attire. I’d ask critics of the feminist backlash, would you wear it on a job interview? How about to church or synagogue?Being influenced by ladies' preferences in menswear is Orwellian; you should instead be influenced by Jonah Goldberg's sense of decorum; he wears a shirt and tie every day, though being a legacy pledge he doesn't have to; its about Burke and little pantaloons or something (fart).
Apparently for Goldberg the real outrage is that bitches be Occupying his moral superiority:
But why are feminist motives so special? What if you’re a devout Christian, Muslim, or Jew working in the humanities? What if you like cartoonishly sexy ladies, but you hate guns? What if you’re simply the kind of person who thinks male professionals should wear a jacket and tie on TV?Also, what if you have a serious uniform fetish? Feminists are so thoughtless.
As is traditional, Goldberg finds himself out of ideas but with more space to fill, and so drifts into the gas clouds of Uranus, telling us "diversity comes at a cost" and no one knows how to dress anymore:
In this age of unprecedented cultural liberty, we’ve lost sight of the fact that common standards of decency and decorum can be liberating. They inconvenience everyone — a little — but they also free us from worrying about who we might offend or why. School uniforms, remember, constrain the wealthy kids for the benefit of the poor ones.[blink] [blink] School uniforms constrain... the...
Let us leave off. Sometimes the works of the immortals cannot be analyzed; we can only marvel at them, silent upon a peak in Derpian.
Why am I not surprised that the one time Goldberg comes to the right conclusion(that the shirt was inappropriate to wear at a press conference), it's due to his reverence to conformity for it's own sake.
ReplyDelete"the gas clouds of Uranus"
ReplyDeleteDon't you mean "His anus"
He's got an amazing ability to turn accidental honesty into the hilarity it deserves.
ReplyDelete"and can a pussy really even riot? i ask you..."
ReplyDeleteThe reason I wouldn’t wear it has very little to
ReplyDeletedo with my fear of offending feminists.
OF COURSE Jonah would not be stopped by the common courtesy of trying not to offend those of his fellow beings often found on the receiving end of discriminatory behavior. No, only his fear of offending wealthy, powerful men keeps him from upping his douche percentage. Thank heavens for small mercies, I guess.
In its majestic equality, common standards of decency and decorum forbid rich and poor alike to
ReplyDeletewear offensive shirts at global press conferences, forget to use your dog whistle and fart at the dinner table.
School uniforms, remember, constrain the wealthy kids for the benefit of the poor ones.Indeed. Wealthy kids would naturally tend to wear ostentatiously expensive clothes just to rub the peasants' faces in their inferiority. Whereas school uniforms split the difference: Sure, poor families have to buy new clothes that meet the uniform specifications, but rich kids are restricted to understated expensive clothes.
ReplyDeleteOf course, all of this is actually hypothetical, because plenty of private schools have had uniforms since forever, whether the poors were admitted or not, and rich kids with a taste for blatantly expensive clothes don't attend public schools. Especially not the ones with uniforms.
I can just imagine Jonah reading Roy's posts, and crying.
ReplyDelete"Taylor’s confession of wrongdoing did feel forced — awfully North Korean."
ReplyDeleteYeah, when the P.C. police executed him by artillery barrage and then imprisoned his family up to the third generation in a gulag, I have to admit it was going a bit too far.
What if you’re a devout Christian, Muslim, or Jew working in the humanities?If a devout Muslim working in the humanities in this country made the merest peep of disapproval about an "offensive" shirt, National Review would be leading the campaign to get him or her fired.
ReplyDeleteJonah really is about the worst pundit in America. He wants to sound like an dispassionate intellectual, evenhandedly weighing the pros and cons of various disputes but gets paid for propaganda, so we get this "farting loudly, saying nothing" routine instead.
ReplyDeleteThe massive feminazi backlash was nothing more than, "dude, don't wear that shirt to work." Which jonah agrees with!
ReplyDelete"Although I like the shirt ..."
ReplyDeleteWait. Stop right there. Please just stop.
And it’s true: Taylor’s confession of wrongdoing did feel forced — awfully North Korean. I already suspected that Lucianne never made little Jonah apologize for anything, but this pretty much settles it.
ReplyDeleteStill, I might give this a try with my employer:
"That was inappropriate public behavior, and reflects poorly on our institution. I expect you to issue an apology."
"What is this, boss, North Korea?"
Dude made the mistake of thinking his science guy/bro humor would make him stand out in his one shot at TeeVee stardom, perhaps letting him get a grip on the sciency-talking head shortlist like Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Ah, no; no it didn't.
ReplyDelete"Many of my friends and colleagues on the anti-PC right have responded with understandable outrage."
ReplyDeleteI don't really like or approve of the word "loser," but man, talk about a Club O' Losers: imagine self-identifying as being "on the anti-PC right." Hey,what do you guys do on the anti-PC right? "When women are offended by a guy's shirt, we react with outrage. Understandably."
Speed limits, remember, constrain the wealthy kids for the benefit of the poor ones. Otherwise we'd just run you poors right off the road.
ReplyDeleteSchool uniforms, remember, constrain the wealthy kids for the benefit of the poor ones.
ReplyDeleteWait, I thought school uniforms were to keep the li'l thugs from letting their gang-colored pants sag? Has this wingnut talking point expired?
Can you imagine all the supportive comments from men around the world if the host of the ESA livestream or a female scientist had worn a shirt with naked men in provocative poses. We would surely listen to these women and take their words seriously just like everyone is expected to take men seriously no matter what.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately that would require him to step outside of his bubble.
ReplyDeleteHad he worn a shirt with cartoon characters on it, it might have worked. Back when I taught classes, I wore Looney Tunes ties, which always got a positive reaction.
ReplyDeleteBut check out Jonah's outfit from the USA Today column Roy posted a couple of weeks back:
ReplyDeletehttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sealZ4C5HIo/VFkB6UO1-1I/AAAAAAAABgs/5RhDvmM1WvY/s1600/goldfart_dunham.jpg
It makes him look like a bookie at a dog racing track.
To be fair, Jonah would find it far, far too difficult to avoid being offensive.
ReplyDeleteAbout twenty years ago, I decided the best way to go was to avoid wearing any article of clothing that used human beings as décor. Especially human beings of ethnicity other than my own - there seemed to be a lot of clothing using stylized images of Asian women out there - but then I amended my policy to not wearing any generic human beings of any ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteI have one camp shirt that has stick-figure dancers, that's the only exception to the rule.
Oppression!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good rule.
ReplyDeleteIt gets worse. The feminist reaction to this toy appears to be making Lego change its policy regarding limited edition sets .http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Research-Institute-21110
ReplyDeleteThe whole idea of reacting to clothing criticism with "outrage" is douchery. Do they have brawls after the "Worst Dressed List" comes out?
ReplyDeleteThey also make it easy to tell who belongs to the school and who does not. Security in schools is becoming very heavy.
ReplyDeleteBut fear not, Jonah. The rich kids have no problems flaunting their wealth. Everything from hair cuts to sneakers separate the rich kids from the poors and the kids themselves already know who has money to go on nice vacations, to concerts, and college, and who doesn't.
On behalf of bookies at dog racing tracks, I am offended by your analysis
ReplyDeleteActually, I've seen better dressed greyhounds on a cold day.
ReplyDeleteI loved having professors like you; when your job is ideas, the world should be an open buffet and a sense of humor certainly adds to that. Who would be offended by a Looney Tunes tie, except a stick-up-the-butt traditionalist, or perhaps a certifiable Loon? An easily upset ornithologist?
ReplyDeleteGod -- and Lucianne -- only know what cartoon characters reside on Goldberg's Pull-Ups.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that his column photo appears to be that of a pinch-mouthed, pissed-off prude with bed head. Really tells you all you need to know or dare to imagine (sanity optional).
ReplyDelete"the fledgling alliance between the conservative and Men's Rights movements"
ReplyDeletefledgling alliance? Were they ever different movements in the first place? And how much allying could they possibly need, seeing how both movements are built on sociopathically selfish white men throwing tantrums whenever they don't get their way 300% of the time?
Long story short, we just got traffic calming installed in our middle class neighborhood, through which passes a street that leads to a upper middle class neighborhood and had average speeds double that of the limit (and school bus stops). One of the anti-calming voices came from a denizen of the rich 'hood, who wrote that their "speeding through your neighborhood is the price you have to pay for our neighborhood making your crappy one worth more". Running the poors off the road and scaring their kids with large Lexi has been a feature around here for awhile.
ReplyDeletelittle pantaloons, lol. I recommend we revise Burke's little platoons to little pontoons as what's keeping these wingnut welfare recipients afloat.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me that my leftist anarchist, "vote to enhance the contradictions" semi-friend is now very, very interested in the MRA movement, and adamantly claims that MRA and PUA have zero to do with each other. So far I'm blaming it on his statement that dementia comes early in his family.
ReplyDeleteWith their wives or girlfriends, yes.
ReplyDeleteDamn those liberals and their oppressive and ridiculous outrage over clothing.
ReplyDelete- say the people who had a hissy fit when Malia Obama wore a shirt with a peace symbol on it.
Thee are the people who gave us the Congressional Rape Caucus, after all.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=%22rape+caucus%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
common standards of decency and decorum can be liberating
ReplyDeleteSee? Jonah doesn't want government telling people what to do; it should be the people around them! Something something tyranny of the masses, but never mind that. Slavery is freedom!
What if you like cartoonishly sexy ladies
Why, then, you should inflict them on your co-workers at every opportunity. T-shirts! Screensavers! Statues for the tops of monitors! Hell, bring your anime pillow to work! Only some tightly-wound SJW could possibly object! Be an asshole! Wonder why you don't get invited drinking after work! It must be because you're such a special genius, you will tell yourself, as "Princess Leia" comforts you in her special way.
There's gotta be a joke here about Jonah's seat cushion.
ReplyDeleteAs well.
ReplyDeleteAs well.
Did he have Libertarian tendencies? That seems to have cross-pollination with the MRA white peener privilege thing.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1039169
ReplyDeleteHe has "friends and colleagues"?
ReplyDeleteI call shenanigans.
Left unsaid: son-of-wingnut-royalty Goldberg could have worn nothing but a Speedo and a sombrero to his NRO interview and still got the job.
ReplyDeleteNothing good can cone of that start.
ReplyDeleteThe air's probably cleaner and more transparent out here.
ReplyDeleteJonah doesn't want government telling people what to do; it should be the people around them!
ReplyDeleteUnless the people voicing an opinion are feminists or liberals or something, then it's like North Korea.
Feminists/SJWs = government, because reasons.
ReplyDeleteSchool uniforms, remember, constrain the wealthy kids for the benefit of the poor ones.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet I'm sure this human shartfest neverthless pulls the Harrison Bergeron defense at every opportunity.
"Hurr hurr hurr! Equal pay? Justice? I bet you want everybody to be just the same, like in 'Harrison Bergeron'! Hurr! FAAAAART"
You'd think Jonah would dig on kids wearing the school tie every day. Shouldn't it be part of his ideal world, all of us attending the school from Dead Poets Society, but only during the first minute of the movie before the interesting teacher gets there and there's any kind of Dead Poets Society? I'd have thought so.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, he would have dressed (figuratively) as one of his own arguments.
ReplyDeleteOpinions vary.
ReplyDeleteDead White Male Privilege Society.
ReplyDeleteJews do (ahem, speaking as one) complain every now and then about swastikas and nazi paraphenalia. And as for Christians you can't fucking shut them up about dress codes where they control the school itself.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the average wingnut's dedication to offending liberals, leftists, feminists u.s.w., I'm shocked that he isn't wearing shirts like this every day, as well as ties, pants, underwear and chinderwear.
ReplyDeleteGood to see Jonah come out in favor of punk rock and free speech, as long as they don't offend the social mores of 1955.
ReplyDeleteHow Medieival of them--school uniforms and uniforms for orphan kids used to be de rigeur so that the watch knew who to apprehends.
ReplyDeleteGood point . . . on second thought, don't point, the anti-P.C. right informs me that it constitutes flashing gang signs and if you have the misfortune to be photographed consorting with a pointer, you should be forced to apologize.
ReplyDeleteObligatory link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DCDYSJwwE4
ReplyDeleteI had imagined the man picked the shirt off his bathroom floor that morning, sniffed at it to see if it was "ok to wear one more day", and put it on. Hey, I have 3 brothers and one husband.
ReplyDeleteIt's not enough to be obedient, you have to look obedient too.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's school had a 2nd uniform hand giveaway for poorer (scholarship) students.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for Christians you can't fucking shut them up about dress codes where they control are within five miles of the school itself.
ReplyDeleteThe Venn Diagram is a perfect circle.
ReplyDeleteMy kids' school did as well, since it was a mix of very rich and very poor students, with a little middle class mixed in.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the poor aren't properly grateful that the rich constrain themselves to tailored uniforms for the poor's benefit.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/t39a7u4d9g1hzwu/lolcat43fc8b2a4772b6b7fe2c3fdaae58f37f16177e5e.jpg?dl=0
ReplyDeleteYou wear uniforms at work. Why not at school?
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should all just wear one at all times, just to be sure. Wouldn't want any unnecessary interpersonal tension.
That was criticism from the anti P.C. right. because head scarfs.
ReplyDelete"HEY! HONEY! THESE IS THE DROIDS YER LOOKIN' FOR! *belch*"
ReplyDeleteHey babe, let me show you my light saber.
ReplyDelete"These were sewn for you by the finest sweatshops in Vietnam!"
ReplyDeleteSounds good. I hear the Cruz '16 team already have some snazzy ones ready to go. The lightning bolts on the collars symbolize the senator's electrifying speaking style.
ReplyDelete"'Ay, I'd raid her Tusken!"
ReplyDeleteas "Princess Leia" comforts you in her special way.The Hutthugger Way? Because I could accept that.
ReplyDeleteYou mean the rings of Saturn?
ReplyDeleteThis is where I get into trouble, because I'd answer back, "You mean your mini laser pointer?"
ReplyDeleteThose shiny metallic silver jumpsuits didn't put themselves on Future People.
ReplyDeleteHey,what do you guys do on the anti-PC right?
ReplyDelete"Where ever someone is offended by someone else's behavior, we'll be there to make it worse."
Shirtgate is such a mess. The shirt-haters bum me out, man. It's a good shirt! And I suppose the guy wanted to show, "Hey! Science isn't stuffy! It's cool and fun!" Which is entirely a legit goal. And ladies usually appreciate a Vargas Girl and a burlesque show (afaik). Plus a lady designed this shirt, and gave it to him! Anyone who took 3 seconds to complain about this shirt is a philistine nincompoop THERE I SAID IT. Plus, I really hate the way the complainers played right into every moronic expectation the right has of them. Come on! Our team can do better!
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Alicublog is blocked on the NR servers as being NSFW. Makes the interns laugh too long and too loud.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably appropriate at this juncture to quote Jose Mujica, the president of Uruguay: "why are we expected to dress like British bankers?"
ReplyDeleteThe cravat was always an affectation, and a symbolic one at that--the eagerness to voluntarily put a noose around one's neck says a great deal about businessmen and politicians, particularly.
38th Parallel Logic
ReplyDeleteBy this point he should know that there's another kind of uniform that "constrain[s] the wealthy kids for the benefit of the poor ones". (There's still time for him to wear one, too.)
ReplyDeleteWalter White about halfway through his New Hampshire "vacation".
ReplyDeleteI want to be a social justice warrior. It sounds like a cool thing to be.
ReplyDeleteHow about *parts* of human beings? Asking for a friend.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I like the shirt (which is now selling like hotcakes)
ReplyDeleteDoes Jonah know that the shirt was a one-off creation? A handmade gift?
It is certainly possible that some shameless opportunist is selling a quick-&-dirty imitations, but a citation is still required.
Upvote for "more transparent."
ReplyDelete"Being influenced by ladies' preferences in menswear is Orwellian; you should instead be influenced by Jonah Goldberg's sense of decorum; he wears a shirt and tie every day, though being a legacy pledge he doesn't have to; its about Burke and little pantaloons or something (fart)."
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, they were big pantaloons; that's why JonahGold can't fill them.
It is my strongly-held belief that all neck wear - especially neckties - are a sartorial expression of a deeply buried race memory, an engram if you will, of an antediluvian epoch during which mankind was held in bondage by the Serpent People. From the opening of my monograph on the subject:"The necktie is a serpent-like symbol of evil worn by the hu-males...".
ReplyDeletePS I am not a crackpot.
Yep--with his nearly breaking down crying, it sure sounded like he was reading from a script.
ReplyDeleteThere's being tone-deaf, and then there's being completely deaf, and then there's holding your fingers in your ears and yelling "LA-LA-LA-I can't hear you!" And then there's this, which I'm pretty sure science has yet to categorize or measure.
I'd have thought that outfit would be Jonah completely naked under a brown gossamer veil--to emulate the cloud of noxious vapor that surrounds him.
ReplyDeleteThe greyhounds will look a damn sight better undressed, too.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the brain bleaching now required.
At the resolutions used for fabric printing, it's very difficult to determine the racial origin of a skull. So you're probably safe. Unless it was another body part you had in mind?
ReplyDeleteThere is a minor affectation among hardcore nerds (physicists particularly) for the sneaker-and-hawaiian-shirt surfer look. It's comfortable, affordable, and doesn't look too horrible on a sedentary body type. He probably has eight more innocuous shirts, and just picked the wrong one.
ReplyDeletea citation is still required
ReplyDeleteWhat? From Jonah?
You're optimistic, aren't you?
Been reading our Robert Anton Wilson, have we? ;)
ReplyDeleteYou do get a cool sword.
ReplyDeleteDoes Jonah know
ReplyDeleteJust stop there. The question answers itself.
Breaking Derp
ReplyDelete"Whereever there's a little guy gettin' beat on, we'll be there - to help the beating."
ReplyDeleteThere should also be a death's head on there to show how bad-ass determined they are.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe a nice logo for the belt buckle - "God Is With Us" or some such. See if we can have those made in Germany.
ew.
ReplyDelete"Today is dedicated to Uranus."
ReplyDelete"Why, I'm - er - flattered."
wait, why did my comment response show up here, out of place and out of context?
ReplyDeleteThe best part: the anti-calming zealots, who verbally harassed the construction crews doing the work and the city engineer outlining the design, now have to drive through it every day, and much slower than they did before. Sometimes assholes get schooled, and these new road features are permanent.
ReplyDeleteFucked if I know, I just work here.
ReplyDeleteThat's the weird thing; he didn't. He's about the purest old-hippy-former-commune-dweller that I currently know, which is why I'm leaning hard on the early dementia excuse and hoping he forgets he knows me.
ReplyDeleteDiscus! [shakes fist]
ReplyDeleteSomeone really needs to remind this asshole what happened to Luis Carrero Blanco.
ReplyDeleteBonus points for "gossamer."
ReplyDeleteyou got the sexy bikini at home Princess Lay- ya
ReplyDeletemy understanding is that it's a Bobbitt 2.0
ReplyDeleteI thought it dated to the era before buttons, when guys needed a "tie" to close the neck of their shirts. Otherwise, chilly!
ReplyDeleteCan't have them made in Germany--the Social Democrats ruined the place with their allowing strong unions and guaranteed pensions and such.
ReplyDeleteMaybe someplace like the Marshall Islands--a place where virtual slavery is allowed under U.S. law, and where you can still slap a good ol' "Made in the USA" label on it when it's finished.
Breaking Wind
ReplyDeleteWas a reference to this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.warrelics.eu/forum/attachments/heer-buckles/26032d1233246492t-gott-mit-uns-belt-buckle-real-fake-m4_68-aluminium-nowa-dated-1939-front.jpg?s=d088fc8fab93403ce407178c8dc7ebe1
Oh, I got the reference. Just sayin' that a real conservative would not tolerate having that made in any country where there's universal healthcare.
ReplyDeleteJonah has friends?
ReplyDeleteI taught at a private (not parochial) Catholic girls' school for a year. Uniforms, shmooniforms -- you could tell the really rich girls from the merely affluent ones by the accessories (purse, glasses, cars....)
ReplyDeleteI blame the whole thing on his Nerdherder. The one who did *not* see him headed toward a camera, and shout "Jeez, somebody get a lab coat on him, huh?"
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, I took a minute to see if I could find one of those shameless opportunists. It didn't take much searching:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alohaland.com/whats-new/new-gunner-girls-sold-out
Wow. Just imagine the sort of asshole who sees that shirt and thinks I must have that!
ReplyDeleteAFAIK, the "difference" between conservative and MRA is that the conservatives desperately wish they weren't gay, and the MRAs desperately wish they were.
ReplyDeleteI feel that way when PETA does something silly (like their effort to get people to call fish "sea kittens" for example.)
ReplyDeleteI'm a strong believer in animal rights myself, but that's a little embarrassing.
You could also consider that a common point, since they're both disgusted by their own sexuality (and everyone else's, too)
ReplyDeleteI work at a small, elite university that almost exclusively manufactures engineers and scientists; I tend to end up with mostly grad students in my dental chair since the undergrads are too overwhelmed and freaked out to even care about their teeth. Too many engineers here and too competitive for sneaker and Hawaiian shirts on students or researchers, however I do have a physics PhD candidate with butt-length hair who always shows up in a nice 3 piece suit; looks snappy on him but he's got the svelte competitive ballroom dancing bod for it (really, he is, and he wins) .
ReplyDeleteI sincerely think the comment I quoted is why we got an unanimous decision to do the calming project, even from 2 city council members who live in the rich 'hood.
ReplyDeleteThe pointing mayor didn't apologize, did she? Crap, I hope not.
ReplyDeleteI'm a former geologist, "former" mostly because of economic cycles and bad timing on my part as to when I was born, but I will admit that I don't miss the casual sexism or the smirking that made it clear that I was supposed to be OK with whatever naked/fucking/tits/ass image was being passed around and commented on by my co-workers. Welcome it did not make me feel, and I always got lots of stars on my annual reviews for working so well "with the boys", especially the rowdier ones like drilling crews. I worked so well with the boys because I shut the hell up and crammed down any discomfort I may have felt, so yay me I guess.
ReplyDeleteTime for some homemade spike strips, I think.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see that anyone had linked to this piece, which I found out about courtesy of bspencer (aka vacuumslayer) over at LGM. The pull-quote: "The idea that sex-positivity and sexual liberation means everybody expressing every sexual thought and acting on every sexual desire, the minute it pops into our heads — this is bullshit."
ReplyDeleteHuh. Well, where I'm coming from: Perhaps strangely, I have never had a dude manager. Not at an office job anyway (publishing, advertising, entertainment, and politics being the fields I've worked in). I have to go back to the 1990s when I drove a delivery van to find a male boss. Currently I work in an office where the dude-bros are occasionally, embarrassingly dude-bros, but where also a girl decorated her cubicle with posters of shirtless firemen. No feathers appear ruffled in either case. All misdeeds seem to be pigeonholed and accepted within the boundaries of their pigeonhole: Dude-bros are 22-25 and will grow up soon; Chick digs firemen.
ReplyDeleteMy experience might be outlier-ish and thwart my sense of "what people are up against" typically. But I just don't see a shirt as "sending a message." Passing nudie magazines around would not be a thing that would happen here, or really anyplace I've worked since the delivery van, so it boggles the mind that that shit is going down among real adults in the past decade anywhere except an army barracks or oil rig. It sounds like you worked on an oil rig! Maybe that is also an outlierish place? (Which does not make it okay -- just less shocking to me.) Here, someone once brought in a crate of free Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues and set them out for people to take; at the end of the day the stack was still untouched, because (I suspect) no one wanted to essentially shout "I enjoyed staring at girls in bikinis!"
That said, my understanding of his shirt was as something worn for the art of it, maybe with a layer of irony. That's how everyone I personally know who would have worn it, would have worn it. I certainly would not see a coworker wearing this shirt and think "Ohhh shit, here's a dude who is going to ignore the girls on the team." I'd just think he was the art director or the wardrobe assistant or headed to a themed happy hour at 5:00.
I never worked in oil, I did environmental monitoring work so these were water well drillers, which means 2 man crews with small rigs. The most sexist men I ever worked with were middle aged civil engineers with MS degrees. Truth be told, I much prefer working with men; case in point being the bossy, bullying WT dental assistant I currently have to tolerate who is doing a perfect mean girl imitation since I called her on the yelling/bullying crap.
ReplyDeleteI will say though that the university where I work has pretty strict rules and about sexism/inappropriateness/etc., and that shirt would get a grad student disciplined right quick. Too bad the rules designed to make a STEM uni more woman friendly don't have anything about just being a bitch.