It's what's inside that counts..

[AnnVeronica]

Your Pants!

Every dog has it's day...get ya coat you've pulled!

Doggy Style...the bitches love me

All slogans on t-shirts displayed in the window of a shop I walked past this afternoon. I've just Googled the company, here is their full range.

In the past this would have rankled, but I wouldn't have taken it further. Since being a longtime lurker and occasional poster on this board I want to email them to complain.

I felt so angry!

Well only one of the ones you've quoted is directly misogynistic - I guess the other two could apply to either gender? There are some really foul t shirts though

People buy them.So who's to blame? I would say it lies with both the manufacturer and the consumer.

Not surprised you felt angry AnnVeronica. We shouldn't have to walk past this kind of shit.

Email them. Every bit of activism is activism, and emails remind people that not everyone thinks this stuff is OK.

I can remember sitting in a restaurant with partner when a couple walked by on their way to another table. His t-shirt said,
"I have the dick so I make the rules"
and hers said,
"It's all about me".

(In the interest of full disclosure, partner's t-shirt:
"Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument".
Mine:
"May the forest be with you".)

'people buy them'.... yes, but if a company made t-shirts with racist slogans we wouldn't think that was much of an excuse for selling them.
a shop chooses what it stocks.

It chooses what it stocks based on what it knows people want to buy. Luckily having racist slogan is illegal but you can bet your life there would be a number of people happy to wear one if they were allowed to.
I hate these slogans too, but the onus can't simply be put on the manufacturer.

Oh, common, thought police anyone?

Debate, teach your children and eventually make these type of views unacceptable, banning t-shirts because one doesn't like what is written is not possible in a free society.

Nazi symbols are not banned everywhere, yet I do not see people parading up and down the streets because it is not acceptable and will be met with a very unwelcome reaction. Do you remember Prince Harry row? Do you think he will dare venture out in that outfit again?

StewieGriffinsMom I am honestly not sure what is your point. I think he really did not appreciate the level to which it was and is unacceptable. I am sure he knew it to be wrong and done it to provoke. He did provoke and he got a reaction. Served him right.

oh FFS this makes me despair. Get over yourselves. Would you find it acceptable for teh menz to try to get feminist t-shirt slogans banned because they find them offensive?

T shirts like this are useful though as they identify the wearer as an asshole

Seriously if you're offended by a t shirt slogan you should complain and/or boycott the companies that make them. One of the worst cases is the online 'design your own' shop Cafe Press which has shirts featuring swastikas and Nazi propaganda posters (and not in a comical or ironic way).

I believe in free speech, but I also believe in challenging sexism.

Is there a difference between objecting to the word 'bitches' in conversation and objecting to someone wearing it? The latter is more confrontational, IMO.

I'm not sure that the examples I gave in my OP are comparable to feminist slogans. T-shirts with feminist slogans are intended to educate, raise awareness and challenge views, aren't they? Bitches and Dogs just makes me feel that, as a woman, I'm unworthy of respect.

AnnVeronica "Bitches and Dogs just makes me feel that, as a woman, I'm unworthy of respect."

To me the t-shirt says the wearer is a total and utter tosser and I am quiet within my rights to openly laugh at them or say something that he (?) may find offensive.

I am not going as far as spitting, but i would if it was a t-shirt with Nazi swastika.

Off topic StewieGriffinsMom I agree with you to a very very large extend but, c'mon, have you never done anything in your youth that makes you cringe now? You are elevating a very privileged and spoilt teenager way too high. He was utterly stupid, his judgement was very very poor, what is more, the judgement of older people around him was so poor that they've allowed him to go around parading his swastika shirt. He got a massive kick up his arse and I hope he learnt his lesson and a lot wiser now.

There are plenty of morons around who behave disrespectfully (i am also thinking people peeing on memorial wreaths). They need to be put firmly in place, but it doesn't mean they cannot learn from their mistakes and are evil for the rest of their days.

The point is that laws and legal measures have to apply to everyone. Either things can be banned because some random or other stamps their feet and insist such things are OFFENTHIVE - ie any random can insist on the banning of (for instance) Gay Pride t-shirts, or ones with pictures of Stalin/Che Guevara because they killed people, or pagan/wiccan slogans and artwork because they are 'offensive to Christians'... the list is endless - or you can get a fucking grip and accept that other people don;t share your opinions and have a different sense of humour, and that wearing a t-shirt with a vulgar or juvenile slogan on it is not the end of the world. You can decide that a person wearing a t-shirt with a slogan is a knob, or you can choose to boycott a company that sells such items (if you ^must< like, if you don';t have a life...) but remember that other people are going to disagree with you and what you wear sometimes, as well.

Where was banning discussed? You find something offensive, you make sure the company knows. You make them aware that what they are doing is offensive, you maybe make them see the world slightly differently, they maybe act differently another time, you maybe open their eyes. Or they maybe ignore you.

There's not reason you can't make your voice heard just like they are making their voice heard. Very different from calling for banning which I didn't see people talking about.

AliceWorld I am sorry, it was my fault for mentioning it first. I assumed that it what you want to do (you wanted to ask the company not to produce the t-shirts, despite them producing them , i expect as they can sell them).