Homework 2/8/13

Homework 2/8/13

Exercise 12.1à”The Wife-Beater”

1.)    Thesis- Everyone wears the stylish tank-style underwear shirt, however, it is their name that is the issue as they are known as “wife-beaters”

2.)    3 problems associated with defining the term wife-beater

-          Odd name for an undershirt

-          Ugly stereotypes behind the name are both obvious and toxic

-          It appears to be cool to say the name without fear of (or without caring about) hurting anyone

3.)    She includes dictionary definitions of wife-beater to show that the name is fueled by stereotype is now an academically established fact.  Her definition is different than these dictionary definitions because she sees the tank style shirts as a piece of clothing that can make both men and women look sexier and as such should have a name connotation of flattery not violence

4.)    She introduces a possible objection to her argument when she says wearers under 25 do not seem disturbed by the name and ignore the overtones of the term wife-beater. She refutes this, however, by providing the statistics that more than 4 million women are victims of severe assaults by boyfriends and husbands each year and that the average age of a batterer is 31.  This, especially the last statistic argues that the name should be changed and that the connotation behind it is not so easy to ignore.

5.)    I think this image would strengthen her argument. She states that “manly” should not equal “violence” which is what many women associate with the shirt.  I think by showing a strong man wearing the shirt can either imply one of two things depending on how the shirt is defined. If defined as a wife-beater it is easy to see this man as potentially being abusive especially because he looks tough and isn’t smiling, which is the exact negative connotation Smith is talking about. However, if the name was different or if it was simply called a tank top, then the man just looks strong and manly with no negative connotation to it.