Originally a comment by Jafafa Hots on Bullied by identity politics.
He could have been upset that he screwed up, and distracted from what should have been an unalloyed celebration.
This. Whether he thinks the furor over the shirt was silly or not, whether he is a misogynist or not… the one thing you can be almost positive of is that he is very passionate about this project.
People working on space missions dream of days like the ones that have just passed. They work for years for a mission that might fail in an instant or in sudden silence and leave nothing whatsoever to show for the effort and money spent.
These people are about as passionate about their work as it gets. Mission days, landing days, etc. literally are the highlight of their professional career and in some cases their entire lives… and they know that is true for everyone else there.
Even if he doesn’t get the problem with the shirt, he’s almost certain to have gotten the message that he did something that detracted from that dream, from the joy and celebration and wonder… it was possibly watching an event day like this that inspired him to go into the field in the first place, it certainly was for many others.
So even if he thinks the shirt is otherwise fine, there’s an extreme likelihood that what you saw there was genuine remorse at having tarnished a special day for his team and his colleagues. It’s very UNLIKELY that what you saw was a man reacting to having been somehow bullied or browbeaten.
“So even if he thinks the shirt is otherwise fine, there’s an extreme likelihood that what you saw there was genuine remorse at having tarnished a special day for his team and his colleagues.”
He did not tarnish the day, the media did. Please be clear about that.
Kevin Farrell @ 1: No, he, Matt Taylor, definitely did the tarnishing with his clothing choice. The problem is, the tarnishing is done by, the person doing the problematic thing. Not the people noticing.
What is problematic about how someone dresses? Honestly, I really want to know what is so terrible about this shirt?
It’s garish by my tastes, but last I checked poor fashion sense was not something that ever harmed another person.
We’re not your mommy or your tutors. This has been explained ad nauseam. If you still don’t know why the shirt is problematic, you have not done your homework. This has nothing to do with fashion and I doubt you even believe it is. If you are sincerely ignorant I suggest you Google “Feminist 101, objectification”, “chilly climate”, “sexual harassment in the workplace / STEM” or “women as the sex class”. Then do not weigh in again until you have done your reading.
Riiiight.
I bet you think talking about harassment at conventions is making women avoid conventions rather than the harassment itself too.
Tell me, is pointing out racism the real racism?
I bet it is. >.<
What’s terrible about that shirt is that it tells me, a woman, that the person wearing it considers women to be merely decorative. They are things to be looked at, not people. They are objects solely for the sexual desire of that man, and men like him. He may not see it that way, but that’s what the shirt says. “Lookit these sexy, hot, half-naked babes. I like sexy, hot, half-naked babes to the degree that I will wear this shirt in public.”
As a woman, if I saw a man wearing that while I was out somewhere, I would avoid him like the plague because his shirt says that he’ll treat me any damn way he wants, because women are only for his enjoyment.
Kevin Farrel, would you be okay if it was a white colored shirt with a decoration of a tree and a person hanging from it that were colored in black? After all, the shirt isn’t *actively* harming anyone, so surely there should be no furor over the depiction of a lynching, right? And no african-americans should get upset, or read anything into the shirt. Just because that shirt is showing something incredibly racist and that person is comfortable wearing it in public, that doesn’t mean it’s a sign of the systemic racism that still exists today… because super speshul magic reasons.
I’ve read plenty on those topics. Please provide a specific argument as to what harm his shirt has caused.
Please provide some notion of a causal relationship between clothing and gender disparities in STEM fields.
To be fair, from what I’ve read the conduct of the media has been a far better example of creating a chilly climate than anything else that’s happened in connection with this. The focus has been that how you look and dress is of greater import than what you actually do….which is the very definition of style over substance.
Nice attempt, but I dont seem to recall seeing any women being killed, raped, beaten or tortured on that shirt…if I missed them please feel free to point them out?
Nothing=/= plenty
Either you’ve done your homework OR you need clarification to understand the problem. It can’t be both, you lying p.o.s.
JAQ off elsewhere, you imperious, dishonest, sexism denialist.
OK Kevin, then the shirt is full of these:
TW RACISM:
http://ionetheurbandaily.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/sunday-go-to-meetin-racist-cartoon-censored-11.jpg
It’s racist as fuck and the shirt was sexist as fuck and you are a petty little sexist shit looking for attention. You got it. Now make like a tree and go fuck yourself.
Kevin, the majority of criticism of that shirt as something that contributes to a hostile environment has been done by women scientists in that environment. If you don’t accept “this shirt makes me, as a female scientist, feel unwelcome here” as evidence of “this shirt makes women feel uncomfortable in science”, what on earth kind of evidence would you accept?
That’s bullshit, and even you should be able to figure out why.
Nice attempt, but that’s a claim that’s been made by exactly nobody.
You’re outta your league here, fella. Toddle along.
Dawkins, is that you?
It amazes me that these people have lost touch with reality to the point that they are honestly trying to argue that a shirt covered in leather-lingere-clad women isn’t unprofessional. It boggles the mind.
Kevin is an MRA doing the JAQ-off routine. We’ve seen his like many times before. “I’m familiar with feminism but…”
I’ve been dealing with ignorant stupidity from Kevin Farrell clones on facebook all weekend. The same script over and over, conflating the issues of clothing choice.
1. A woman is objectified/harassed/abused/raped. Causal agent: not her clothes.
In this case, her choice of clothes is irrelevant.
2. A person attends a NAACP conference in Klan garb, offending many other attendees. Causal agent: the clothes.
In this case, the person’s choices are entirely relevant.
Fucking nuance, how does it work?
Kevin@3 “What is problematic about how someone dresses? Honestly, I really want to know what is so terrible about this shirt?”
I have an article of clothing a bit like that shirt. It’s an apron representing an exquisitely muscled naked male body with possibly a very small, bulging, fig leaf enhancing, rather than disguising, the appropriate area. And it was gifted to me by a male of my acquaintance. If you really can’t understand why I shouldn’t appear on television to explain my professional contributions to the entire planet while wearing it, well, I’ll grant you, you won’t understand what’s wrong with Matt Taylor’s shirt.
Matt Taylor put on that shirt for the camera interview.
He had never worn it at work before.
If true, this kind of falls in line with what I was thinking.
Celebratory atmosphere, wants to do something “colorful” to mark the occasion, doesn’t think it through, privilege (that all of us men are raised steeped in) shows itself in a not horrible but definitely notable way that is properly remarked upon, feels ashamed that he embarrassed himself and his team, apologizes, and the world keeps spinning.
Incidentally I just started watching BBC’s The Sky at Night Rosetta special and in the first moments, boy, is it FULL of that shirt.