I want to, ‘cut them slack,’ as I try not to take anything very seriously. However, the images they chose for this shirt- speak louder than anything else.

Thank you SO much for your opinion. And… I agree with you on those, “boys are stupid,” shirts. Sexism surely goes both ways. Excellent point!!

Found you via Brazen Careerist and decided to check out your blog.

I just wanted to weigh in on this issue.

My understanding of the concept of the “wife beater” is that the term started as parody on a simple concept.

Back in the 90s, Lifetime and other “women’s” television stations would constantly air movies that seemed contradictory to their purpose of empowering women. So many of them would be about women being abused by their husbands or boyfriends in one way or another. Eventually the women would turn the tables on the men, be that by law suit or self-defense but it became a joke that all women ever had to face in life according to these shows was the reality of being beaten. While it absolutely IS an issue that women face, it’s nowhere near the realm that lifetime painted it to be. The station’s original movies became a joke.

It also became an in-joke that every time a man would be shown in a physically abusive situation with his woman on these shows, he would be wearing one of these tight white athletic shirts.

The shirts themselves were comfortable for men to wear, but because of their tightness, the point was to show how physically dominant the man was over the woman. It was to make him look intimidating.

So thus, the shirts became known as “wife beaters” in male social circles. It’s not PC by any means, but frankly I think the intention behind it is far less sinister than you’ve labeled them.

They’re capitalizing on an in-joke from a decade ago, not advocating violence against women.

But, on the grounds that someone (such as yourself) or anyone else wouldn’t KNOW the joke behind it, I would never wear a shirt with such a distasteful concept.

Still, I think you should cut these people some slack and not take it as them personally advocating violence against anyone.

It’s no worse than this image being emblazoned on girl’s shirts a few years ago:

http://purpleeagle.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/lgst3241boys-are-stupid-throw-rocks-at-them-boys-are-stupid-poster.jpg

Of course not. Those words conjure up horrible, awful images.
But WifeBeater – that’s something we can all laugh at, right?

Think again.

True, there are some words that we try to diffuse by using them more often. But in this case, that does not apply. Ever.

I put the question to Avon on Twitter – I encourage the rest of you to do the same:

@AvonPRNewsflash are your avon reps cool with violence against women? I’m NOT! http://tinyurl.com/2d9oczk cc: @girlmeetsgeek

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke – requoted by Winston Churchill)

http://bit.ly/2vHNKq

Way to be cool… not.

“Around the world at least one woman in every three has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family.”

“Physical violence is estimated to occur in 4 to 6 million intimate relationships each year in the United States.”

“Nearly one in every three adult women experiences at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood. Approximately four million American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner during a 12-month period.”

“It is estimated that 2 million to 4 million US women are assaulted by a domestic partner every year.”

“Twelve million women (25% of the female population) will be abused in their lifetime.”

“Up to 35% of women and 22% of men presenting to the emergency department have experienced domestic violence.” (Source: http://bit.ly/aIi9h9)

The tees could be made of high quality materials. What affects the brand is the message: That it’s okay to make money off the objectification of women and red ‘handprints.’ I’d love the owner’s perspective. Maybe they have a compelling reason as to why they chose strippers, bloodied handprints and the very name that is associated with spousal violence.

From 2000-2003 I spoke about violence against women in Minnesota and neighboring states. After being raped and seeing violence firsthand, I have never stopped speaking out when I saw complete carelessness in companies and individuals.

Thanks for your input!