Worried about my 18 year old son buying joke shirts from Afflecks Palace

[ForSparklyFatball]

Hi everyone, I’m after some advice because I’m really not sure if I’m overreacting or not. My son is 18 and has started going into Manchester at weekends with his university mates. They’ve been spending time in Afflecks Palace, which I know is full of alternative stalls, but he came back yesterday with a couple of t-shirts from the shop on the top floor that does the t-shirt printing.
One of them says “Don’t bully me, I’ll cum” and the other was along similar lines with crude sexual humour. He thought they were hilarious and just a bit of edgy fun, but I’m honestly concerned. At 18 he’s an adult, yet these kinds of slogans seem to normalise really objectifying and inappropriate attitudes, especially towards women and sex. I’ve tried speaking to him about it calmly, explaining why it bothers me, but he just laughed it off and said it’s only a joke.
Has anyone else come across these sorts of shirts in Afflecks or had their own son or daughter bring something similar home? Am I making too much of it, or is this worth having a firmer conversation about? Any thoughts on how to approach it without it escalating would be really helpful. Thanks.

you’d have a field day with handmaids tale

Alright you almost had me

thats ok.. you disgust me.

What? That's vile

Like I care. And yes, I understand the joke about frogs, But its still nasty. They DON'T actually mean frogs.

yeah but he’s not 60 he’s a uni student having fun so this means nothing

Yep. Its a horror movie stall. I did some googling to see what was going on, And yeah. Those video nasties from the 1980s. All over the walls, its vile.

I think it would be weirder if it was about frogs.

Or even ,a human being.

Well, quite.

I had a T-shirt that I used to wear to uni and gigs in the mid-80s that had a crudely painted image of a naked Jesus on the cross with a prominent erection with the words “Jesus suck” written above it. Nobody batted an eyelid. Kids grow out of it. I am now a hardworking and respectable member of the community!

Oh I had one of these too! How “edgy” we were

Unfortunately you can't stop an adult from going to this place. Its awful as a Mum, what our kids are exposed to. It's so sad.

I think he'll get fed up with the T shirts and/ or his mates will laugh at him.

They're all into it.

Twits. But there you have it, herd mentalilty. Pathetic but it will pass.

I'm starting to wonder if it is as advert for it

Thank you for understanding. I cried last night about this. Xxx

just sitting enjoying watching the OP enjoy replying to themselves while in my disgusting in-human corner.

Hey.. at least we don't destroy our childrens clothing, trauma dump on them, or make them homeless over a shirt over here.

you are being so absurdly over the top

100% this.

I cannot believe anyone can be this worked up about a t-shirt

I don’t get “don’t bully me, I’ll cum”. Is it a dom/sub reference, like if you’re cruel to me I’ll enjoy it?

Are they actually "into it" or do they have conversations about provocative art and media?
What do they actually think about it?
Have you had level headed conversations about the origins and impact of these types of things or are you just outraged by it and throw a fit?

bingo :) its along the lines of Uwu type culture

I tried to understand it. But I just can't. And I won't.

@ForSparklyFatballyou do realise you’re kicking off about a t shirt don’t you? And one that actually says ‘man I love frogs’ 😂

It’s dark humour. If you don’t like it and feel
offended then that is your right but that doesn’t mean you get to dictate what other people wear or the clothes they choose to sell in their shops.