These Things Go Through Your Head, When There's A Man On Your Back

I'm not even going to make believe I have one iota of an idea of what it's like to be a rape victim.

*knocks on wood*

But I saw on MSN.com the other day about a t-shirt being sold on scarleteen.com that simply says, "I Was Raped."

Would I have the balls to wear this shirt if I were that victim? With what little I know about myself I can tell you that most likely I'd be holed up in some insane asylum instead, without much say in what I get to wear.

The maker of the the shirt believes that wearing the shirt will open a dialogue, remove some of the stigma and lift the veil of silence off the subject. Others feel some victims may not be ready for the ramifications of "outing" themselves in such a fashion (no pun intended).

My concern: do we really want something so serious on a t-shirt, on sale next to the "I'm With Stupid" and "Don't Feed The Models" shirts? And if so, what's next? "I Had An Abortion" tees? Or maybe "I Was Shot In A Gang War" shirt- yeah, that'd be cool. Or even better: "I Was In A Head-On Collision With A Semi, And All I Got Was This Lousy Paraplegia. Oh, And This T-Shirt, Too."

I get what the maker of the shirt is trying to do. I'm just not feeling how she's trying to do it.

*smooches...just not getting the point of the shirt*
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Am I way off base on this one??

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Title courtesy of Tori Amos, "Me and a Gun"

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Wednesday's "One Thing Different"-- I came home and cleaned my kitchen INSTEAD OF watching Season One of Charles in Charge online while laying on the couch... plus, still holding strong on the Perez boycott and not eating after midnight!