The DICK shirt

I've been thinking for the last little while about what it is that people are trying to communicate with their clothing. Or maybe, better put, is what they're are hoping their clothing communicates about them to other people. I mean, we all get up in the morning and put something on our bodies, so why do we choose what we choose and not other things. Why is one person's trash, another's treasure? An extension of this is why do we feel the need to choose items from within a particular "genre" of clothing? We can so quickly identify or make assumptions about a person's hobbies, interests, musical tastes and political views based on their clothing. Or at least we think we can.

I think this has to do with where identity and clothing overlap. We have certain parts of our identity or things we hold dear and so we translate that to the world through our clothing. Its like greeting strangers without having to have a conversation. It can be a way of communicating similarity and belonging, but also a way of not belonging or dissimilarity.

Well, here's one fella I do NOT want to have a conversation with (or maybe I do...). The guy wearing the DICK shirt. This Shirt.

"I have the DICK, so I make the RULES".

In between the two charming lines is the outline of a large man, in white (irony in the colour choice here? is that irony, I don't even know) pointing a finger aggressively outwards toward a woman. As in, I have the dick, so I make the rules you stupid bitch. I can assure you, this shirt is real (see more here) and it is not being worn out of irony by a hipster.

Now, if I wore that shirt (like this one), it would say entirely different things about me and to the world. After I commented on the charming nature of his shirt, dickshirt guy's girlfriend (yes, people like this can actually get others to spend time with them and presumably engage in sexual acts with them), told me proudly that she bought him the shirt with a smile. Though she admitted it may have been a mistake because "he takes it too seriously. It goes to his head".

Hmmm....it MAY have been a mistake. Gee, I don't know, I'm not sure buying that guy that shirt would be on the top of my list of mistakes. Seriously, whatthefuck?!

I have the dick, so I make the rules. Maybe what offends me so much is that in our society most of the time, this is sadly the case. I mean this guy does not represent the ruling class who are manipulating the patriarchal puppet strings of our society, but he sure is an archetype of aggressive masculinity that makes me want to wear a shirt that says, "I have a VAGINA and your white male privilege is pissing me off!!!!".

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't sell that shirt at Spencer's in the mall! Everyone would be up in arms about its inappropriateness. Cries of "why won't someone think of the children" would ring out as radical [lesbian] feminists must have put those there to corrupt our youth and put ideas in their heads. After all, women can vote now right? Isn't feminism obsolete? I mean, really, women go to University, work out of the home, run for political office, that's enough right? Heck, sometimes we even let them run corporations. Oprah is the world's most powerful woman aside from QEII and even that is arguable, doesn't that mean they should shut up and be happy with what they have?! grrrr....

I tell you what idea I'd like to put in the heads of our youth. Ideas where they question guys like dickshirt guy, where they question why they have to hate their bodies unless they fit the impossible and ever changing ideal. Why they have to look like the it girl or guy and why whatever they do or spend, it will never be enough. I would tell them to never, ever let someone like dickshirt guy make them feel like they weren't strong, powerful and filled with the stuff it takes to dismantle the system. A system and society where so called men like dickshirt guy can walk around PROUD of themselves. I'd also tell them to vote, because dickshirt guy is probably too lazy or too busy being a dick to do so.

* Exhale*, I feel better now.