T-shirts for women

I really enjoy reading everything Greta Christina has to say on her blog. Sometimes I forget to check it, which is an oversight on my part, but every time I go and read through a new entry I feel edified by the experience. The same, sadly, cannot be said of the comment section. Which is not to disparage the comments– they are usually dominated by insightful additions or reflections on the original post by readers. It’s just that the more seemingly obvious the point Greta Christina makes, the more inevitable it is that someone will show up in the comments who missed that point entirely, and wants to use the opportunity to lecture her on how wrong-headed she is.

Exhibit A: Fashion Friday: Atheist T-Shirts in Women’s Styles.

Obvious, Seemingly Non-Controversial Thesis: When skeptical/atheist organizations have a conference, it sure would be nice if they offered t-shirts which come in women’s sizes in addition to men’s. This acknowledgement that the word “unisex” really is a misnomer when it comes to t-shirts (because the typical female is shaped differently from the typical male in important ways) would go a long way toward making women feel more included, and make it much easier for these women to fulfill the intended purpose of labeled t-shirts (wearing them, and thereby spreading the message of whatever that label represents) because the shirts will look better on them, not having been made to fit men.

Trollish disagreement: You are just trying to find ways to create discord and emphasize exclusiveness rather than inclusiveness. “Standard” t-shirts really are unisex– they aren’t for men, and they don’t look any better on men. If you don’t think they look good on you, then you should just not buy one and shut up about it. Or maybe we should get rid of t-shirts altogether. It doesn’t matter because nobody wears those things anyway, and it’s been this way for a very long time so you’re just demanding something extra and special. In asking for this thing that suits you more, you have stopped fighting for equality across the board and are just pursuing your own interests.

Yes, seriously.

*facepalm*

I’m not going to go over the (obvious, shouldn’t have to be said) response to this, because it has been made by Greta Christina and others on her blog post already and you can just go read them. I’m just saying that this kind of thing is really tiring. Tiring to read, tiring to rebut, tiring to contemplate that people can say write such things presumably with a straight face.

So if or when the urge arises to dismiss the very real and necessary work involved in combating this nonsense, think again. Certain people function as bullshit lightning rods. Greta Christina’s one of them.