Topman has withdrawn the t-shirt pictured above (and another that suggested that women are dogs).
The shirt is intended to be humorous. It would appear that Topman is attempting to point out how apologies offered by batterers to their victims are often disingenuous. By adumbrating the standard set of meaningless apologies on a handy checklist to be worn on a shirt, Topman seems to be saying
“Ha ha guys! We’ve all been there, right?. You get carried away and, next thing you know, you are pummeling your girlfriend. Then, of course, your girlfriend wants you to be all sorry and everything. Recognize any of these excuses fellas? lol!”
Whatever the interpretation, it seems clear that the shirt is trivializing (even condoning) domestic violence.
Now comes Topman’s (Facebook) apology:
“We have received some negative feedback regarding two of our printed T-shirts. Whilst we would like to stress that these T-shirts were meant to be light-hearted and carried no serious meaning, we have made the decision to remove these from store and online as soon as possible. We would like to apologise to those who may have been offended by these designs.”
It seems that the public relations team behind that apology is engaging in the same sort of worthless apologizing depicted on the shirt itself.
In response, we have designed a t-shirt.
Related Situationist posts:
- Sarah Haskins on “Ladyfriend” Stereotypes
- Selling Products With Sexism
- Hey Dove! Talk to YOUR parent!,
- Being Smart About “Dumb Blonde” Jokes
- The Situation of Sexism
- Holder on the Situation of Violence
- The Unconscious Situation of Date Rape
- Alcohol, Hotdogs, Sexism, and Racism
- Sexism: The Worst Part Is Not Knowing
- The Situation of Body Image,
- Subtly Sexist Language – Abstract
- Barbie Commercials Across the Decades and the Implications on Female Identity and Objectification
- Sexism: The Worst Part Is Not Knowing
- Susan Fiske on “Inclusive Leadership, Stereotyping and the Brain”
- Sexual Harassment at Wal-Mart?
- The Situation of Sexual Harassment
- Susan Fiske’s New Book
- Susan Fiske Discusses her Work on Different Types of Prejudices
- “The Situation of Objectification,” and
- “You Shouldn’t Stereotype Stereotypes.”
The Situationist 