Melinda Tankard Reist » Blog Archive » Women blindfolded and gagged: the latest in men’s fashion from Roger David.

When I was at the height of my teen awesome/angst (the ’90′s), there was this trend in fashion called ‘heroin chic‘. Advertisers, fashion designers, and wanna be glamor elite everywhere decided that looking like you were coming off a 3 week bender and being skin and bones thin was going to be the new uber attractive. This look (despite being just gross) finally faded from pop culture only after quite a few heroin overdose of celebrity figures.

Who ever thought this was a good idea needs to be slapped around by Skeletor for a few hours. Deciding that it’s desirable to look like a drug ravished, intervention needing, skeleton is still having effects in our culture.

This morning, Nic passed on this article via the twitter. Apparently, one “designer” thinks it’s awesome to put images and slogans invoking (and possibly promoting) rape and sexual assault on his shirts.

Really? You really think this is a good idea?

You know what else would be awesome on a tee shirt? How about some good ol’ boys lynching a negro? Or how about a sniper shooting people as they fill up there gas tank? Or how about John Wane Gacy sitting down to his dinner of a human leg?

Ya, someone would have to be pretty sick to think that any of these ideas were worth promoting in fashion/pop culture, even in an ‘ironic’ sense.

Truth is, evil in the world needs to be called out, called the evil that it is. It needs to be confronted, not laughed into comfort.

Spreading sexual crime images in the name of fashion is as evil as any excuse people make up for rape (it’s her fault, she wanted it, i’m just a guy that got carried away…). It’s all pure bullshit.

And, in the same way heroin chic has influinced a generation and the next, if we don’t get vocal, visual, and loud about this, the idea that sexual assult, rape, and sexual crimes of all sorts are funny is going to influince future generations.

Fuck that noise.

Related:

• An open letter to Roger David @My Bottles Up

Stuff that *may* or *may not* relate:

• The stupid overwhelming need to do it right
• What would your sign say?
• Oprah, the world is now watching all the time.