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GUGS T-Shirts Cross the Line
It’s kind of strange to watch the controversy unfold over the GUGS T-shirt. (If you missed it, it says “GUGS: Grade A, Size D.”) It seems to be that the more seriously the protesters take it, the less seriously the backlash takes it, and as the backlash gets more fed up, the protesters get even more frustrated.
I was a little offended by the T-shirt myself, but I wasn’t really mad at GUGS about it at first because it didn’t seem like they understood the way it would be received when they came up with their idea. After all, the group has made a positive impact on student life over the years. But when I was in THE HOYA office last night I heard a GUGS member say that so many people want the shirts now that the group may sell them at a later date. I guess sexism is really in demand on campus right now.
What I am most concerned about, though, is the fact that they, and many other people, don’t seem to realize why it would appear offensive. People in general just don’t seem to know what constitutes crossing the line when they make jokes about women. That’s the real problem.
It’s so frustrating that people can make jokes about women that they could never (and should never) make about other historically marginalized groups. I hate it when people make jokes about going to the kitchen and making sandwiches or disparage women’s bodies, and that includes a joke about big breasts. Women do feel insecure about what men think of their looks, and we don’t want our self-worth to be based on how much pleasure a guy gets from checking out our bodies. It’s not silly to us. It may take a lot longer for us to make the message get through in pop culture, but we can do something about it at Georgetown.
I can understand why people don’t get it, though. We don’t tell people when we are insulted often enough, we don’t do a good job of talking about it to make sure that it doesn’t happen again, and few men are willing to back us up (but I should say thank you to the ones who do).
I know that this is going to make some people complain that our society puts too much emphasis on being politically correct. We are sensitive people here at Georgetown, but for good reason. More often than not, the people who don’t understand what can be considered offensive are straight, white men — a group that largely hasn’t had to deal with a lot of oppression, historically. I guess if you are not often the target of crude jokes, you don’t realize the effect that they can have on other people. Sometimes, I guess, the only way to know what’s not okay is to make the mistake of saying it and learning from that.
Even if you think that you should be able to say whatever you want, however, you have to recognize that there is a difference between what’s appropriate between your friends and in public, and a T-shirt can definitely be considered something in the public sphere.
But I think what disappoints me the most are the women who don’t see anything wrong with degrading women. It seems like a lot of women today feel that part of being liberated means that you don’t have to “act like a feminist” — just look at how many women won’t even use that word. Even women don’t always take women’s issues seriously enough.
Worse, many think that it’s even more free-thinking if you play the contrarian and argue against women’s issues (see Coulter, Ann).
For me, that’s really depressing. I know that I’ve said in this space before that the third wave was about moderating feminism — you can wear make-up and high heels; you can be a stay-at-home mom. But we still have to stand up for ourselves!
So, I’m drawing the line. If you wouldn’t talk about another group of people in a certain way, don’t talk about women like that, either. If you wouldn’t let somebody talk about your mother or your sister or your girlfriend in a disrespectful way, then just don’t do it. That old rule of “do unto others” is golden for a reason, you know.
Emily Liner is a senior in the College and a contributing editor of THE HOYA. She can be reached at liner@thehoya.com. SKIRTING THE ISSUES appears every other Friday.
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How about you don't censor my right to free speech in an academic institution and I won't censor yours? It seems that since you have such strong links to a "historically marginalized group," you would know very well the feeling of being quieted and put in the place that society wants you to remain. It also seems that someone whose roots have spent so much time in such a position would refrain from putting others in that same position now that they have emerged. Just an idea
I agree with Ms. Liner. The first commenter sees a message that objectifies women strictly as a matter of free speech, or maybe humor and free speech. I see it as a matter of respect, respect for others, respect for oneself. The commenter is free to objectify women if he likes, even without a t-shirt to make it easy. I hope he realizes the disservice he does to himself and all who see such a shirt, or such a message.
This whole thing has too be a joke, right? I cant understand that people have become so upset about it. The slogan makes not judgment on the worthiness of women based on their breast size; it simply makes a clever, factual, analogy: the burgers are large, so are size D breasts--thats it. THAT IS IT, period. any offense taken by that is purely an inference made by the reader/viewer. If the shirt had said something specifically offensive about women than i could understand but this shirt does not.
Further more, the author states that women (generalize much?) derive some of their selfesteem from the opinions of man. This horrible. This is not how people should think or where they derive their self worth (i.e. other people). So this reasoning for the shirts being offensive is moot- Gugs can not be held accountable for the mental defects of others.
It shocks me that groups that feel that they have been "historically marginalized" are so quick to jump on the "majority." Gugs was not responsible for any sexism in the past and cannot be held accountable for it. Times have changed, not everyone who makes a joke about a minority is being derogatory. it is campaigns like this that promote the idea of feminazism and ultimately lead people to reject these causes.
Really, LEARN TO TAKE A JOKE
Tim your desire for "respect" does not supersede my right to free speech. I can and will exercise it.
"If you wouldn’t let somebody talk about your mother or your sister or your girlfriend in a disrespectful way, then just don’t do it."
This is precisely what bothers me. In which "way," precisely, are these T-Shirts speaking to the author of this article?
Here's what they say to me: "GUGS hamburgers kinda look like big breasts..."
Here's what I say in response: "Wow! GUGS hamburgers really do look like big breasts."
As it happens, women have breasts. Sometimes big, sometime small, sometimes in between. But is acknowledging the physical similarities between two items (here, hamburgers and breasts) deserving of a collective outcry?
If, for example, GUGS hot dogs looked more like penises than most other hot dogs do, I wonder if there would be t-shirts to that effect as well. I suspect there would be. But I wonder if there would be an outpouring of resentment from men? I suspect not.
Of course, as a stereotypical East-Coast liberal, I am a self-loathing non-minority. A male, even. I therefore recognize--and, indeed, frequently lament--the historical disadvantages that women have faced as a result of my ancestors' behavior. But query: what do breasts have to do with that? Or hamburgers?
Emily, I read your column regularly, and I truly enjoyed your comments about modern feminism. But part of modern feminism is learning to pick your battles a little more carefully. Actually, I think you said that.
All the best,
Joe
Note: I am a heterosexual white guy, and I approve of this message.
Joe wins for Hoya-commenter of the issue. Dead on again. The shirt doesn't say anything about my girlfriend. In fact, my girlfriend would probably be insulted by being lumped into the group of girls who think that this shirt is anything more than harmless.
And no, it's not because she would tolerate a second of subjugation by men. It's because she's smarter than this.
Hi guys,
Your columnist here. I just wanted to reply to a couple of comments because I knew they would come up. I originally didn't include this in my column because I thought it would be kind of tacky, but I think it addresses some things that you guys are talking about.
Anyway, imagine if a bunch of girls on campus decided to get together to print and wear some shirt with some sort of play on words describing a particularly large penis (like Joe's example of a shirt about hot dogs). When I posed this scenario to a few of my guy friends, they responded, "She would look like a slut." (Ironically, two different groups of guys independently gave me this same exact response.) They wouldn't necessarily be personally offended by it and they wouldn't really care if girls wore a shirt like that, but at the same time, they thought that it would make the person wearing it look really dumb. And if they're going to call a girl who wears a shirt like that a word like "slut," then what do you think that says about people who wear the GUGS shirt?
So, not everybody is going to be offended by the shirt. I get that. But at the very least, I feel like you have to admit that the shirt is in poor taste. I guess if you're OK with that, go ahead and wear it, and I'm sure other guys our age will laugh at it. But I feel like people who have outgrown boob jokes won't find it very funny, and it just won't reflect well on you, the group, or the university when they see it.
I think GUGS has contributed a lot toward improving campus spirit at Georgetown. I for one always get a smile on my face when I pass by Red Square on Friday afternoons and I see GUGS grilling and I hear classic rock playing from their radio. But I think that GUGS can come up with a better idea for a shirt than a boob joke.
-- Emily
So how is this any different from the "Save Second Base" t-shirts, which I find MORE objectifying to women (although still not worth complaining about)?
(1) Those shirts were for breast cancer awareness.
(2) The idea was probably conceived by a girl.
So basically, if GUGS were a cause that girls supported, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. I guess we can just selectively apply our outrage to shirts with the same message based on whether we really like why they were printed or not.
Re: Save Second Base.
My fiance (a full-fledged boob-having girl) made the exact same point last night. Emily, no one is saying "Calling girls sluts is appropriate;" we're simply saying that these T-Shirts don't say anything of the sort. If you identify any and all references to breasts as derrogatory, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that that's your problem, not mine. Like you said, pick your battles.
Joe
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