- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
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.
