It has come to my attention that the creative wordplay on some Monon T-shirts has rubbed members of the administration and student body the wrong way. Accusations of homophobia and sexism have been thrown around as if harmful acts are spawning from seven words on printed on a T-shirt. The reaction to the T-shirts bothers me more than the shirts themselves. Heck, I had put an order in for one.
The oversensitivity is ridiculous. Since when has the male penis become the symbol of homophobia and sexism? Isn't the penis a crucial component of the heterosexual act of creating life? Every single person on this campus came from a penis and semen, but now as adults we can't make jokes about the two things? For thousands of years, the phallic symbol has been associated with fertility and power, but now it must be associated with homosexual hate and anti-feminism? Did you ask your health teachers to stop be homophobes when they taught you about the male penis? And we're the ones who are supposed to "grow up?"
I understand that you might not want to wear the shirt or promote it in any way, and no one's forcing anyone to do that. But is it worth your time to stifle the creativity and knack for capitalism that students have shown in creating these T-shirts? At worst, isn't the shirt creating the type of discourse that belongs on a college campus? That's what freedom of speech it about isn't it? Each year trademark laws are blatantly broken in creating T-shirts for organizations on campus, but this shirt's production is the one that should be halted? It doesn't even say "DePauw University" on it.
The shirt's figurative use of sexual imagery that conveniently aligns with two quarterbacks in DePauw's history simply shows the power the football team hopes to exert on its opponent. On the field, they're going to give it their best shot, and it's a chance to leave their legacy.
It's funny. Laugh. And make sure you loosen up your tie a little bit.