I was dropping my six year old girls (twins) at school this morning when I came across the father of one of the boys in their year mingling with other parents in the playground. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what was on his t-shirt: a picture of George Bush with the slogan BAD BUSH next to a picture of a woman pulling her knickers down with the slogan GOOD BUSH (see attached link: http://www.phatpimpclothing.com/hi/phatpimp/getgoodbushbadbush.html )
Quite apart from how seeing that t-shirt made ME feel (and I’m sure the many other mothers and teachers who saw him), how incredibly WRONG to wear it to a PRIMARY SCHOOL!! Will parents this evening have to handle some tricky questions from their kids around the dinner table? How on earth does he explain its meaning to his son and will this boy start referring to my girls in this way? Oh, and guess what? This guy is a member of the New Zealand Police Force!
I told him I didn’t think much of his t-shirt, but he said it was “a good one”. Not sure I did the right thing picking a fight with a parent at my kids’ school (!) but for me feminism is something that is practiced every day in a variety of different contexts. You know, everyday feminism…
Tania
Wow – does he have no shame. That is incredible! I’ve become really concerned lately that it’s seemingly cool or retro to use women’s bodies to advertise or market your message. And moreover, to use sexualised images of women to market slogans and products to children. The Burger King ad with various different bikini babes on burger wrapping and trays is a case in point. What you do you tell kids, boys and girls, that’s about? What message does it send to them? And why wasn’t there more of an outrage about this advertising..
By the way, Tania, you are so tolerant. I would have wanted to differently affront that male parent with something like “if I had a chest like yours I wouldn’tbe showing it off!”
Jacqui
My family belong to a church where women are reverenced and honored. My Father, brothers and uncles, always treated me and other women with respect and obscenties aimed toward women were unspoken of. I did not grow up in isolation however, and therefore learnt from a young age that my family were not the norm. Unfortunately the majority of men I have met have had similar attitudes toward women as the “Bush” t-shirt wearer. However what i find more disturbing is that the majority of women I have met view that behavior as funny and “oh well, that’s just men for ya”.
I am a leader of a Youth group of Young Women between the ages of 12 and 18 and our collective goal as youth leaders are to empower these girls by showing them who they are and how they deserve to be treated. It sounds like an easy task, I mean who doesn’t want to be told that they are valuable without having to exploit their bodies and minds?? The sad reality however is that we face a difficult battle, because the mediums that predominantly influence these girl’s lives are the media, popular culture and fashion. Which at large tell them, they’re not skinny enough, they’re not sexy enough, they’re not rich enough, and a successful woman is one who gets paid alot of money to dance suggestively, (leaving nothing to the imagination) on a dance clip.
Because of the values which were instilled within me from a young age – that I have worth, and value – I was prvided with a foundation that has acted as a sheild against being objectified. I just hope that collectively as female leaders and spokeswomen we can promote these same values within others.
NIce – I’ll think about that for next time! Actually I caused a bit a scene as it was though…I like your idea of getting my own t-shirt printed, does anyone out there have some ideas?
Here is sexism-as-retro-cool at its best:a NZ car rental firm has signage on some its cars of a 1950s style pin-up babe with a speech bubble saying “Im ezy – hire me!”. Check out their website: http://www.ezy.co.nz.
Tania
I remember a discussion on another feminist blog about this t-shirt – one commenter suggested that perhaps one good thing about the slogan was that it put women’s pubic hair in positive light, which is something quite rare in this era of the brazilian-waxed porn-gina. Personally, I think that argument misses the point somewhat, but it’s another perspective to add to the mix, I guess.
That is a the sorry state of supposedly ‘cool’ T shirt designs these days. and it is getting worse and worse. interestingly enough, girls/women these days are ALSO wearing these shirts. I have seen slogan T’s at Supre (its a clothing outlet) with ‘HELP! IM HORNY’ and ‘GOT MILK?’ right over the chest.
amazing..
Joanne
And ‘Future Porn Star’ for little girls’ t-shirts…Famous New Zealand fashion designer WORLD thought they were so ‘edgy’ and ‘pushing the boundaries’ with that one. Fortunately many NZers – especially parents – were horrified and there was some negative publicity. Not that most of us can afford their clothes anyway, but let’s boycott WORLD!
Tania