A pornographer (and atheist) explains why the science guy’s shirt crash-landed

[Ravenna44]

29. Interesting point

I want to answer this because I kinda hear where you are coming from, though my POV differs. It seems to me you are missing the piece called *context*... Specifically, the context that most girls and women do deal with crap (sexual objectification, diminished respect, outright contempt, etc) on a daily basis, from men, merely because they are women. This means that in the Real Actual World the shirt is not just a celebration of sexy naked females but a continuation of a specific message that males bleat at females (and frequently beat into females) all over the world.

In a post above, I mentioned that the guy should perhaps have chosen a shirt depicting black men in loincloths with big lips, eating watermelon. You would be right in saying that there is nothing inherently offensive in those images either. Some black guys have worn loincloths in hot climates; some have thick lips; some like watermelon; so hey, lighten up! what's the problem?

The problem is context. And If you give it two minutes' thought and try to see té other guy's viewpoint, you will probably get it.

Like the author, I will now give my bona fides. I am a high-earning professional with a graduate degree. ( I feel impelled to say this to keep you from dismissing me as a "whiny victim.". ). Yet along the way I have been insulted and assaulted, called "cunt" and "feminazi", threatened with rape by strangers, ex-boyfriends, and guys I turned down; had my breasts grabbed repeatedly on the streets of Europe, actually had my hands pinned by a male colleague while other male colleagues looked on laughing, etc. I don't report this because I want your pity; I am just giving a catalogue of everyday life for a perfectly average woman in the sciences. No it hasn't made me curl up in a ball and give up my dreams - but it has been unjust and offensive and at times criminal and physically dangerous.

For that reason, the shirt is not just "sexy ladies on a shirt" any more than a burning cross in a Georgia yard is just "a pretty bonfire."

I do hope this gives you insight into another perspective (one that, I suspect, many of the disgusted commenters share.).

Best wishes.