viz.

A couple of t-shirt designs have ignited discussion in the interwebosphere of late, and since they represent the extremes of feminism (i.e., radical feminist to decidedly NOT feminist), I thought it would be interesting to put them in conversation with each other, especially under the rubric of what constitutes "free speech" and "visual rhetoric."

First is the "I was raped" t-shirt masterminded by Jennifer Baumgardner, the poster woman for radical third-wave feminism:

Baumgardner was quoted in The New York Times as hoping to "force [rape] into everyday conversation." Many, many people find such a maneuver to be terribly intrusive and not appropriate for everyday wear. To quote one commenter on Jezebel.com, "Worn at a protest, a walk, a rally or your group's booth at the student center, fine. Cheesecake Factory? Not so much."

Essentially, people's reactions mirror the issue Baumgardner is trying to combat: we treat rape as an untouchable subject in this society. Will donning a confessional t-shirt in the public sphere (without the context of a Take Back the Night rally or similar event) help to de-stabilize the taboo? Or will it merely drive people away from the topic even further?

What does it mean, too, that the image is printed on American Apparel brand tees? Many folks have pretty valid reasons to hate American Apparel (the exploitative advertisements, founder Dov Charney's tendency to masturbate openly in the workplace, the revelation that the company is NOT sweatshop-free); does this undermine Baumgardner's project?

*with apologies to Jezebel.com