School Administrators Finally Ban Football Team’s Ridiculously Offensive Pro-Rape Shirt
The football team at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas is under fire after creating spirit t-shirts containing the phrases, “We take what we want,” printed on a pirate flag with “Shhhhhhh just let it happen” written underneath. Hold on, lemme take a minute to have a hard eye roll and mutter “Are you f*cking kidding me” under my breath, because REALLY?!
Ugh.
The football team, who conceived the shirt at a summer pool party, was called out by the school newspaper, The Warrior Post, which published an editorial titled ‘Out of Bounds,’ addressing the shirts’ very rape-y message. Because that’s what it is: rape-y. “Can this saying be easily misunderstood?,” they wrote. “Yes. Though it certainly was not the goal of the shirt, its slogan connotes rape culture. This is not what we want to display as a slogan for our Varsity football program.”
It should be noted that the school’s mascot is The Warrior, and the t-shirts show a shirtless, muscular Native American man in a headdress. So, you know – cultural appropriation is something else the Varsity football teamed should be called out for, too. But one thing at a time, I guess.
The team’s coach, Bob Wager, and booster club president, Kevin White, both claimed ignorance in regards to the offensive words, which I totally believe is true. They genuinely had no idea the slogans perpetuate rape culture because, as men, they don’t generally experience it. ”I’ve seen the shirts several times since July,” said Wager, “and not once did it cross my mind that it was inappropriate.”
