Letters to the Editor

T-shirt: "I was raped" Does advertising to strangers that you were raped raise awareness about sexual assault? Tracy Clark-Flory [2008-04-04]

• Strong Ambivalence

  Putting a message on a T-shirt is a terrific way to make the message so banal and cheap that it gets tuned out by a public subjected to screaming advertisements 24x7.

  It's tempting to imagine a wearer of the "I Was Raped" shirt in cleavage-revealing low-rider jeans and a visible thong, or perhaps a pair of sweatpants with "JUICY" stamped on the ass, while she drains a Jager shot and shouts "Woo!"

  Perhaps not helpful given the seriousness of the subject.

  My T-shirt of Charlton Heston kissing a chimp (a still from Planet of the Apes) isn't helping raise awareness about bestiality or white slavery.

  Really, though, is raising awareness about rape what this T-shirt is "about"? I kinda get the impression that the seller is actually just trying to make some money. That's where most T-shirt ideas come from.

  Would anyone who chose to wear such a shirt be receptive to total strangers walking up to them and asking about the rape experience? Should they be, if they're wearing the shirt, or should observers see it as a sign to stay away?

  I see nothing clear about it.

  -- blunderdog
  [Read blunderdog's other letters]
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