With Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day just behind us, you probably recently sat around with friends brainstorming a cool phrase, ordered and bought your t-shirts for the special occasion. But even with the different, enviable green colors and catchy slogans, one Unofficial t-shirt wasn’t so catchy.
Aside from offering the menus and food deals for on-campus and off-campus restaurants, EatCU.com featured a controversial t-shirt for the Unofficial celebration. The t-shirt read, “She said she was 18,” didn’t sit well with some people who later complained to EatCU director Elliott Rosenbaum.
Junior Jessica Christiansen said she thought it was weird for EatCU to create a shirt that had nothing to do with food or unofficial.
“It’s like saying its ok to rape because it’s Unofficial. It’s making a joke out of it,” she said.
She said if they wanted to create a shirt, she would think it would be an advertisement for their business.
As the sexually themed t-shirts raised concerns, they were immediately pulled from the website.
But contrary to the stereotype that rapes mostly happen to under-aged girls, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), only 44% of victims are under 18.
Senior John Wasik said hearing that EatCU made the error makes them sound immature.
“It puts them in a bad light. Even if it’s a joke it almost validates that in some people’s minds,” Wasik said.
When asked what came to mind when he heard the t-shirt phrase, Wasik said, “It means you take advantage of a girl that’s underage.”
Rosenbaum admitted that the student-run organization didn’t give enough thought to the t-shirts before hand as they should have. He said this happened as a lack of education on their behalf.
In an effort to show their remorse and apologize, EatCU.com has not only removed the shirt, but they also sent an email blast to educate students on sexual assault.
According to IllinoisHomepage.net, EatCU.com has offered replacement t-shirts that say “uNOfficial,” as part of the ‘No means No’ campaign. The proceeds from the new shirt will go to Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) in an effort to bring awareness to the issue.
But how many of us have really paid attention to the sexual themes on campus? The questionable t-shirt isn’t the only example of an inappropriate sexual theme. You’ve probably heard of or even attended a sorority or fraternity party with a raunchy exchange theme. Some of these themes would raise the eyebrows of your mom or dad. Themes like ABC (Anything But Clothes) and CEOs & Business H**s allow for suggestive clothes or lack thereof. Many themes call for girls to often dress in promiscuous, degrading clothing.
Senior Nikki Hendry said when her sorority has an exchange, they must get their theme approved by a national representative.
“Fraternities have a lot more freedom because they don’t have any boundaries. They don’t have to get their party themes approved,” Hendry said.
Hendry said sororities have stricter rules in order to go against the stereotype of the wild and loose sorority girl.
As seen with the Unofficial t-shirt incident, many sexual themes aren’t questioned often. Sexual themes are often used by t-shirt companies and other businesses in order to attract college customers.
While sexual themes may not directly result in sexual aggression, it doesn’t hurt to start thinking twice about them.