For this post last week, blasting a well known offensive t-shirt maker for producing a shirt showing Obama and Clinton with the phrase “Bros Before Hoes”.
With all the real issues facing America and the people within it today, it’s nice to know that offensive t-shirts are such a hot button issue. Forget equality, it’s more important that Marvel Comics protrays their female comic book characters in a more realistic way. It’s much more important to make sure that our clothing doesn’t offend, rather than our actions or speech. Humor especially isn’t the place to be fucking around, so god forbid.
I won’t argue that the phrase on the shirt that has these women up in arms isn’t offensive. You can make the argument that “hos” is or isn’t derogatory based on “intent” or culture all you want. If you see it, and it offends you, that’s your right. The very same website that produced this shirt also has shirts that are: pro-choice, anti-Bush, pro-gay, anti-Christian and even anti-iPod. I guess they are so busy over there being racist sexists that they don’t have the energy to be homophobic, pro-war, technology loving Christians. I guess the shirt calling Obama “half honkey all donkey” should offend white people, yet the “Bros Before Hos” shirt should offend black people and women? I mean, the themes on their clothing couldn’t possibly be any kind of social commentary, presented in an overtly offensive way in order to shock people into paying attention.
The ease that one has in expressing outrage via the intenet in today’s society does not give you carte blanche to start bashing websites based on irresponsible reporting or laziness. The clothing on tshirthell.com is designed to create the very kind of knee-jerk reaction it did on feminiting.com. For fucks sake, it’s called “T-Shirt Hell,” not “Friendly and Bright T-Shirts for Moms and Puppies”. I don’t see how focusing on a single design, presenting it out of context and then unleashing the hounds is any kind of responsible reporting.
A final note on the phrase “bros before hos.” The converse to that phrase is “chicks before dicks,” which I have heard uttered by those who bear our children many, many times. Look ladies, just because I have one doesn’t mean I want to be called one, but I’m not really going to stress about it’s use.
Tell you what. Get back to focusing on the issues that really matter and I’ll get back to focusing on issues other than what you are focusing or not focusing on. We’re not all Neanderthals who think that porn stars/models/comic book heroines are realistic portrayals of women, but thanks for insinuating it constantly.
