For centuries our society has treated women as inferior beings. Men have said women are not as strong, as intelligent, or as capable as them. Women have been the objects of desire and lust, adored simply due to their looks which of course, must be perfect. If a woman does not look at certain way; tall, thin, round hips, a nice bust, a beautiful face and voluminous hair, society tells us that men won't give us a second glance and we will go nowhere in life.
The stages of sexism have changed many times throughout history. For example, women possessed bascially no rights during the Victorian Era. At that time they were expected to be submissive to men, obedient and well mannered. They were not allowed to express any amount of sexuality and at all times had to be covered up in order to "protect them". In Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, the exceptionally terrible treatment of women at the time is apparent when Tess is raped and impregnated and rather than supporting and comforting the poor girl, society ostracizes her and treats her as though the assult and pregnancy were her fault.
Often today there are still several notions that women "asked for it" when they are raped. Recently I read a horrifying article about how it is often believed that girls who "dress scantily" or "act promisicuously" that means they had the rape coming. Completely untrue and disgusting, it greatly angered me to realize how close minded our society still is about respecting women.
Just earlier today our school witnessed what could have been a highly offensive event or a prank just taken way too seriously out of context.
During the rally several red t-shirts with two hands forming a diamond shape and "11" in the center were sold for $13. I was a bit annoyed, knowing what the shirts really mean, which is a reference to the female anatomy, but I just blew it to the side. Not much later on, security guards were wildly racing around campus, telling those wearing the shirts to turn them inside out because female teachers were offended by what the shirts meant. Ironically, most of those wearing the shirts were girls, many girls that I know don't even know what the sign means. The more I think about it now, the more it bothers me that someone would make this shirt, which not only looks stupid but blatantly disrespects women.
So what do you think? Is the t-shirt issue really that bad or do you think people are overreacting?
-Katie M
Honestly, the T-shirt was not made to refer to the female anatomy in any way. Though I, too, thought that the shirts were stupid and not worth thirteen dollars, I also found them offensive for a different reason, the reason that they were actually meant to stand for. The diamond hand shape is a hand gesture commonly used by hip-hop moguls-specifically Jay-Z. This hand shape stands for "new world order" and is made to represent the "all-seeing eye" that is featured on the back of every dollar bill. It is also associated with free masonry and a group called the Illuminati. Now, the student who created this shirt (whom I know personally) did not use this sign to refer to a demonic secret society, nor to the female anatomy--he used it because he thought it was cool and because it is commonly used by hip-hop icons. And the "finna get it in" statement featured on the t-shirt simply means that as seniors we "run things" at the school and are planning to live up our status as top dogs on campus. I can't say what the diamond hand shape represents to you, but I can tell you what it actually means which, from the religious stand point, is far more offensive than what you think it means. I always find that it is important to know what it is you are representing through your actions and clothing. Regardless of what is popular and cool, the students who wear these shirts should know exactly what it is they are representing by wearing that shirt. People don't understand that there is power and meaning behind everything that they choose to listen to or mimic through our pop culture. They may say that they did not mean to represent the Illuminati or show support for their cause by mimicking that hand gesture but the fact of the matter is that, whether they meant to or not, they still did. The issue with these t-shirts shows how easy our generation is to lead astray because we will mimic almost anything celebrities do, and we follow media trends like blind sheep. So, no, these shirts do not raise an issue with feminism because they have nothing to do with females specifically. However, they do raise an issue with me and they should raise an issue with any other Christian student. To Christians I say watch out. Because our generation already far too influenced by the media and pop culture. And if you're still wondering, the answer is yes, that is a VERY bad thing.
ReplyDelete-Rebekah Adeyemo
Ahh the red shirts- I heard about this. I must confess I didn't know what they meant until I was told and if they were offensive in so many ways to different people they simply should not have been made or worn. I agree with Rebekah- our generation is entirely too influenced by Hollywood. Popular trends and styles are not always a good thing, as can be seen from this incident. We need to start thinking for ourselves, not trying to copy others. Also, about a woman's status in society- I think we will never be considered entirely equal to men simply because we are seen as the "weaker sex." This is a shame, considering we are as good as them, in more areas than one. However, we have made great progress since the Victorian era and we can continue that as we pass on our ideals of equality to future generations. -Dorothy Zuniga
ReplyDeleteI really like how you ended your post with a question Kaitlin, it gives us commenters the perfect platform to open the discussion on. As far as the red shirts go, I don't really find them offensive myself, even if they were to be referring to the female anatomy. It is my belief that as Seniors, we should get to have our own sense of entitlement and don attire that shows a sense of class pride. Even though I find the whole diamond thing extremely 2008 and lame, it is only MY opinion and if some one else desires to embody that type of message then that's their choice. I have seen much more offensive shirts on boys AND girls during my years at Los Osos, shirts that should have drawn attention but didn't. I think that administration is so quick to get on the students' cases for the smallest of things, things that don't hurt anyone. I mean, having security guards approach those who were wearing them and ordering them to turn them inside out? Seems drastic to me. I understand that it is important to establish limits with what students can and cannot wear, but banning shirts that MIGHT have alluded to a female body part through the shape of a diamond sounds like a power hungry move to me. When such strong dress code limits exist, it's only going to push students farther, especially because we are teenagers. It doesn't take a genius to know that anytime you tell a teenager "You can't wear that", it is only going to make them want to wear it all the more. And if these shirts actually are a distraction - which I highly doubt - then it's simply because those who find them so amusing are immature, something no security guard is going to be able to change.
ReplyDelete- Shelby H.
Ahahahaha. Sorry that day was ridiculous and hilarious. Katie, you are totally right and I am sorry Rebekah, but the t-shirts were totally referring to the female anatomy starting with Jay Z and probably not ending with the incident at Los Osos. But Los Osos clearly states that students can not wear clothing insinuating or representing sexual..things or weapons or inappropriate images etc. yet I believe the entire day was taking to an extreme.But the issue still remains the red t shirts are bad and yes people were over reacting.
ReplyDelete-Vaness C.
I agree with Katie that they were intended to represent the female anatomy, whether they wanted to admit it or not. I talked to several people wearing them, both boys and girls, who clearly knew what they were supposedly representing. I personally don't really care that much what people wear, I think the bigger issue is how many people actually wanted to wear these shirts. It shows that even our generation, which is supposedly more open minded about social issues, still does respect women as equals to men. As a female, it seriously bothers me how many girls wanted to wear a shirt representing what these shirts did. As always, the administration at our school probably overreacted, but in the end it was offensive and intended to be so.
ReplyDelete-Elise P.
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ReplyDeleteThough it might seem contradictory, I agree with all of you. Bekah, you are absolutely right that our generation is FAR too negatively influenced by pop culture and celebrities. Dorothy, you are absolutely right that women have made great gains since the Victorian era. Shelby I love what you said about how teenagers seem to only want to defy the strict dress code limits even more and as I've now long cooled down since the incident, I realize that the actions of the security guards and admin were a bit drastic. Vaness, I think people just took things too far, everyone I mean haha. And Elise, you know me girl, aha. I absolutely love how you said how it bothers you that so many girls would actually want to wear these and regardless of whether these shirts meant the illuminati or a vagina, they all knew that their shirts meant something more than "school pride". However I very strongly believe in freedom of speech.. so I'm still conflicted. Oh, I also wanted to point out that only females commented on this blog... just a thought.
ReplyDelete-Katie M.