Outstanding English T-shirt statements in China

I saw one of my students earlier today wearing a tee-shirt that said, in large capital letters 'STOIC'.

How cool is that?

Vey cool, but doesn't count without a picture.

It's no more objectifying than pornography?! One could also say that racist jokes are harmless, but it really comes down to how people are perceived in society and what the consequences of those perceptions are. Imagine for a second if you were judged primarily on your looks and sexual marketability 

I mentioned this before – but this is a sort of boys club even if there are women present – it's one thing to focus on the shirts, and it's another to focus on the racks and make them the real issue, in which case we end up having foreign male teachers out on the street photographing Chinese girls chests and posting the pictures online for other foreigners to judge. Maybe that could be kicked upstairs where it's not so public? You can use my "Boobies or Bust" title without crediting me.

Not to get too heavy about patriarchy and how it has impacted the female population of China, but, er, just consider for a second that there are going to be about 30-40 million more men than women in China by 2020.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=there-are-more-boys-than-girls

Lastly, like I said before, the shirts are a riot, the comments on the girls (including sexual comments about students) are a bit pathetic.

Hmm, so I'm the bad guy because I'm admitting to looking at a sexy girl. And you're PC because you won't talk about their RACK?!

Oh, I'm sorry, I appear to have wandered into a high school boys locker room by mistake  . I understand. Only ill disguised boob humor welcome here... Right, I get it. I'll be on my way then.

I thought you were leaving

I saw one of my students earlier today wearing a tee-shirt that said, in large capital letters 'STOIC'.

How cool is that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STOIC

STOIC (Stack-Oriented Interactive Compiler)

Stack? She's stacked and you think that's cool? Up there with rack. That sounds very sexist to me and I'm offended. You should apologize to that girl immediately

So, again, it's not the shirts, but the comments and contextualization of the girls wearing them, which happen to play into the worse stereotypes not just of Asian girls as sexual playthings and provender for aging expats with some loose change , but also of expats ourselves as middle-aged guys with nothing better to do than perv over young Asian girls.

Yes you are right and I don't think anyone will disagree.
 
- Pictures of "YUCHY shoppers at Walmart is a big hit but no one is up in arms
- I'm willing to bet you and I have had our pics taken (without consent) when we looked like shit and someone posted it as "look at this boozo"
- Cosmo and Playboy is not what I consider porno, yet it basically does the same thing - how you should and shouldn't look
- this is not "if its alright for them to do it so I can do it too" atitude so I do resent that implication
- this is a simple discussion forum and this thread has made a sharp left turn on the middle of the bridge

I don't contribute to every thread, some of them are not for me. I may find it offensive, boring, above my head, whwatever. But I don't tell the other members what they should or shouldn't say. I stay out and move on

Quote from: xwarrior on May 19, 2011, 02:35:48 AM

PC response to this T-shirt:



1. it is white so by definition it is proclaiming that white is the only acceptable colour in society  - it should be printed in colours representing all the oppressed minority peoples of the world…

^^ Witty, but it's not about the shirts in and of themselves, but rather about taking pictures of Chinese women, including students, and then because of the shirts (or even irrespective of them) making suggestive or explicit comments about their bodies and what one would like to do with them.

For example, take the photo of students and one in the middle with a shirt that says, "I'm Tight" on it. Then there's a follow up comment: "hahaha  if thats not an invitation then i dont know what is. Shame that she probably doesnt know what it means." Obviously it's not an invitation…

Since I teach university students it's not hard at all to imagine a picture of one of my students ending up on a forum like this, with say a "Lucky 69" or "I'm Tight" or whatever shirt, and then for the guys on the forum to make predictable responses about how the Chinglish applies to the girl in question. As Mr Benn suggested, one wouldn't want to explain to that student why one put her picture online and what the comments about her meant, probably because she'd be horrified.

On the other hand, just posting the picture without fully objectifying, sexualizing, and demeaning the woman or girl wearing it isn't really such a problem, though there are still issues of taking people's pictures with or without their permission and posting them online in a context with which they are NOT notified, don't give consent to, and more importantly wouldn't consent to.

So, again, it's not the shirts, but the comments and contextualization of the girls wearing them, which happen to play into the worse stereotypes not just of Asian girls as sexual playthings and provender for aging expats with some loose change , but also of expats ourselves as middle-aged guys with nothing better to do than perv over young Asian girls.

I know this post ain't gonna' be popular in a thread dominated by good ole boys, but, F it, it's the truth, and we're allowed to bullshit and disagree in this area of the forum.

Well in the case of a t-shirt that has Chinglish that is of a sexual nature (both obvious and interpretive) what other style of comment would you like? a comment bout the quality of the material used to make the shirt?
Also you are making the assumption that the users of this forum are middle aged men while I myself enjoy this thread and have commented and I'm certainly not middle aged.
Also there is the assumption that 100% of the of the subjects in the photos have no idea what their shirts mean because their English is so bad because they are Chinese and in that instance we end up pigeon holing people into another stereo type. 
And there is the stereo type that young asian girls (students especially) are innocent and that they need our protection from such nasty objectional comments about them. This simply leads to the young women being infantilized and does nothing for sexual liberalization or growth. Maybe this has something to do with the way in which older people see students or their reaction to them based upon their demeanour whilst in the presence of an older teacher.
My students often wear shirts that have funny double meanings or slight sexual innuendo attached to them and in a lot of cases they DO know what it means and either like the statement or think it's a funny joke.
I mean if we are objecting to people taking random photos of others and posting them online without their permission then we should all just hide in a cave or ban any photography that is taken in places where people gather as to not offend anyone. I'm sure there are photos of me in class and around the campus (and probably the city) on microblogs and other such places as I often catch my students taking photos of me. And I'm also sure that there are some insinuating comments on there about me or some about me being handsome and tall or other combinations that could be thought of a inappropriate if I really wanted to find them.
Do I care?? No, would most of the subjects in the photos care if it was explained to them the nature of the shirt they are wearing? probably not.
 

I understand the arguments that everyone is having....... but they are kind off pointless. This is a friendly place and people here get along, we laugh and we talk and we/ do stupid stuff. I agree that sometimes a PM to someone to say maybe turn it down a bit is acceptable but this is turning into the type of flamewar this site tries to avoid.
 


Can we not agree to disagree and let the thread get back to awesome photos? 

I understand the arguments that everyone is having....... but they are kind off pointless. This is a friendly place and people here get along, we laugh and we talk and we/ do stupid stuff. I agree that sometimes a PM to someone to say maybe turn it down a bit is acceptable but this is turning into the type of flamewar this site tries to avoid.
 th_bi


Can we not agree to disagree and let the thread get back to awesome photos?  th_ab

There are people on both sides of this issue, and if we could agree to have a civilized and intelligent discussion, this could actually be beneficial as well as reflect well on the quality of discourse on this forum. A few people have tried to silence socially conscious commentary on the thread, but it's probably more useful to explore the relevant issues with an open mind. There's no flame war going on that I can see, and I know a lot of people who are able to have friendly discussions about meaningful topics.

It would be preferable if everyone sat back and had a nice cool beer before proceeding.

Just a thought: Slapping the word "Juicy" across one's chest (whether one is male or female) is likely to inspire some very politically incorrect thoughts.  Think I'll get that printed on one of my t-shirts and go visit Granny Mae.

Quote

I understand the arguments that everyone is having....... but they are kind off pointless. This is a friendly place and people here get along, we laugh and we talk and we/ do stupid stuff. I agree that sometimes a PM to someone to say maybe turn it down a bit is acceptable but this is turning into the type of flamewar this site tries to avoid.
 th_bi


Can we not agree to disagree and let the thread get back to awesome photos?  th_ab

There are people on both sides of this issue, and if we could agree to have a civilized and intelligent discussion, this could actually be beneficial as well as reflect well on the quality of discourse on this forum. A few people have tried to silence socially conscious commentary on the thread, but it's probably more useful to explore the relevant issues with an open mind. There's no flame war going on that I can see, and I know a lot of people who are able to have friendly discussions about meaningful topics.

At this point it depends for me on how xwarrior feels about the way this thread is going. I too think that it is raising some interesting opinions and issues, but I could see how  xwarrior might feel that this is an attack on him persoanlly. I don't 'know him' well enough  from his posts, so I'm a bit reluctant to say anything else at this point.

Just a thought: Slapping the word "Juicy" across one's chest (whether one is male or female) is likely to inspire some very politically incorrect thoughts.  Think I'll get that printed on one of my t-shirts and go visit Granny Mae.

Step aside son, this is how you do it:

I'll go visit Granny Mae. I'll get the word "Juicy" printed on a t-shirt and give it to her. Take a pic, blow it to poster size and hang it in my room

That's okay with you Granny Mae? Maybe we can post the pics here 

At this point it depends for me on how xwarrior feels about the way this thread is going.

I have always told my students that if you do not do something or say something because it might upset someone, then they have power and control over you.

If anyone who appears in any of my photos objects to one of my photos, or to any of the comments I may make in relation to them, then I am prepared to sit down and talk it through with them.

If anyone has some personal theories on life they want to discuss then I am sure there are other areas of the Saloon where they can explore them.

The day I start to worry about about what I do or say here is when Granny Mae tells me I have been a bad boy.  

    

The day I start to worry about about what I do or say here is when Granny Mae tells me I have been a bad boy.  

I thought Granny Mae telling you that you've been a bad boy was a good thing?

Great! 

So can we get more photos then hahah?