Comments on: Shirtstorm

By: Michael Orton

Michael Orton — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 21:37:31 +0000

Should he have worn a white lab coat?

What was he supposed to wear? Why?

This whole thing is absurd. It seems to me that people who are more interested in his shirt than his achievement are people who’s opinions are not of great interest to me.

By: John Hunt

John Hunt — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 04:00:42 +0000

Wasn’t Amy Winehouse covered in tattoos of scantily clad women? No one seemed to complain too much about that. Well, I didn’t, but then I was a huge fan of hers, going off topic a bit.

By: Will Shetterly

Will Shetterly — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 18:16:41 +0000

Cat, did you mis the part where a female friend gave him that shirt? Do you think she thought it meant women are “only valued for sex”? My wife made me a shirt that’s very similar. I can assure you, she does not think the idea of women being only valued for sex is okay.

Out of curiosity, why is it okay for you ‘splain that pin-up shirts shouldn’t be okay with others?

By: Cat

Cat — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 16:52:55 +0000

Wow. You’re hearing a lot from people who think wearing a shirt that is all about how women are only valued for sex is okay.

Let me just be the lone voice that says if you’d be embarrassed to have your mother and your high school science teacher see your shirt, you should probably wear something different to work. Duh.

There are images you don’t wear to work. Pin-ups is one of them. I wouldn’t wear a Chippendales shirt to work; that would make my male co-workers uncomfortable. And I wouldn’t care if a man had made or bought the shirt for me.

It’s a common sense thing.

That said, he’s apologized and hopefully learned not to wear pin-up shirts to work, so I’m willing to let it go. What I’m less willing to let go is the number of men who have taken it on themselves to ‘splain to me that pin-up shirts really should be okay with me.

By: Will Shetterly

Will Shetterly — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 13:11:29 +0000

One of the questions that should be asked is whether cartoony women’s flesh is sexist, and if so, why. The argument of conservative religious people is the depiction of flesh is wrong, and the depiction of women’s flesh is more wrong, so in their solution, the question can’t arise. For people who like decorum, of course the guy should’ve been more conservatively dressed. Some people would’ve complained had he worn a T-shirt. Has anyone asked any of the women he works with whether he seems sexist?

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 13:03:04 +0000

Yet again the internet is polarised between “There is no way that shirt can possibly be sexist” and “Dogpiling and bullying for making an innocent mistake is perfectly OK”. I despair of humanity sometimes.

Even Boris bloody Johnson has weighed in now….

By: John P.

John P. — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 00:28:33 +0000

I expect when he got up that morning, the shirt was simply the first one on the pile and he would have had far more important things on his mind than the impact it would have on others. Especially if he wasn’t expecting to be called on to give a TV interview. I say well done to everyone at the ESA for what they’ve achieved with Rosetta & Philae and remember that there are more important things in life than the opinions of the Tit-verse.

By: Will Shetterly

Will Shetterly — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 16:14:24 +0000

I’m probably sounding more dismissive of this than I mean to be. Was the shirt choice a bit tacky? Yes, but let those who have never been sartorially imperfect cast the first stone. Does the shirt oppress women? Only if you think respect for women is proportional to the amount of skin covered, so women in burkas are the most respected of all. The guy helped humanity land on a comet, and his accomplishment will always be colored in his mind by people who threw a hissyfit over his shirt.

By: Will Shetterly

Will Shetterly — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 16:01:49 +0000

I wouldn’t have worn that shirt at the time, but I’m a bit conservative in my clothes. The notion that scientists should all wear suits and ties seems silly to me, but apparently that’s where contemporary feminism wants to go. As I’ve said elsewhere, this does nothing to dispel the notion that women are shallow creatures who’re obsessed with clothes. And someone else pointed out that the rationalization for the mobbing is that he deserved it because of the way he was dressed. I consider to find it revealing that to modern feminists, the women on his shirt are more important than the women on his team.

“Rage amplification” is a decent way of describing how every mob has worked since the first ape attacked another one for failing to conform.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 15:17:21 +0000

Yep, “rage amplification” (I’m stealing that term!) is a huge problem, and I recognise that I’ve contributed to it myself at times.

Not sure what to do about it except encouraging people to step back and think before posting hasty comments on something. Twitter is really at its best for light-hearted humourous stuff. It’s at its worst for emotive issues where all nuance gets lost.