Tuesday, February 27, 2007

No means what?

This story is kicking up a bit of a racket. When I first read the story it seemed pretty straight forward. I was on campus when CFS came up with the "No Means No" campaign and it was needed at the time. There was a problem with date rape on campuses in the country. I don't know what the current situation is like, but I'm willing to bet it hasn't gone away.

The comments section to the story is interesting, with many people lamenting Political Correctness and the death of freedom of speech because BlueNotes are pulling the shirts. And many people also pointing out that there are far worse shirts being sold out there, even by BlueNotes and that women are hardly innocent of the kinds of shirts they wear (the story of one father saying his son started wearing a shirt with "girlfriends belong on leashes" after his girlfriend wore a shirt saying "Men make nice pets" is amusing, I confess).

All of which are fair points. Personally, I had no problem with BlueNotes selling those shirts and I think CFS and other organizations made a mistake trying to get it banned. And it's not a freedom issue or a PC issue or even an equality issue. It's as simple as this – any half intelligent woman who is standing up in a bar and sees a guy coming towards her wearing this shirt should just punch him in the nuts as soon as he offers to buy her a drink.

The assholes in life are not always easy to spot. Sometimes they are quite stealthy. They very rarely come with the gift of a t-shirt for easy identification. So don't knock a good thing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

She should punch him in the nuts? For wearing a t-shirt she doesn't like? Or for offering to buy her a drink?

Really?

Om

Anonymous said...

C'mon "anonymous"... he doesn't mean literally.

Punch in the nuts or not, he is doing her a favour, either way. She may be willing to say yes, but want another drink. :-)

I saw a T-Shirt at Walmart yesterday, in the boys department, that said "Breakfast Included".

towniebastard said...

Well, I was using the "punch in the nuts" for dramatic effect there. However, let me put this to you. You once told me that any time you were at a bar than any drink you bought after the first one you considered the night a failure. So clearly you have a finely honed ability to get drinks from men....;)

Wouldn't a guy coming up to buy you a drink, wearing that t-shirt set off your asshole detector? And if I recall, you have one of the better asshole detectors that I know of.