As soon as I saw the front page of the Collegian yesterday, I knew exactly what article Melissa wanted us to comment on. We had talked about the negative message on t-shirts and the role that it plays in establishing certain behaviors, specifically fan behavior at games. Well, the t-shirts described in the Collegian article were not about football or sports, but rather about another popular activity here at Penn State: drinking. Shirts were being pre-ordered and sold to celebrate "State Patty's Day," a drinking holiday made up by students to make up for the fact that Saint Patrick's Day occurred during spring break. Times have changed: spring break dates have changed and Saint Patrick's Day occurs when students are on campus and the creator of the event has denounced it! Probably the most disturbing part of the article was that the t-shirts were not even made by a student at Penn State. This "holiday" has gotten so big that we attract the attention of students from numerous other school to come and drink with and even make t-shrits for Penn State students for the day.
Some arguments in the article were that the t-shirts were a "financial opportunity" and that students are responsible for their own actions. And while both are true, the fact that you are wearing a shirt that says "Kiss me...I'm wasted" leads to the impression that you support excessive drinking, even if you do not drink yourself. The clothes we wear sends a message about what we value. The clothes a school or student sells sends a message about what they value. If we stop selling shirts that promote drinking or this ridiculous holiday, we send the message that this behavior is not okay. The same is true for sports-related t-shirts. The messages we wear on our clothes show what behaviors we value. If we changed the t-shirts that were being created and sold for State Patty's Day and for sports-related events, we may see some "positive behavioral changes" (whatever that means [see last post]).
Some arguments in the article were that the t-shirts were a "financial opportunity" and that students are responsible for their own actions. And while both are true, the fact that you are wearing a shirt that says "Kiss me...I'm wasted" leads to the impression that you support excessive drinking, even if you do not drink yourself. The clothes we wear sends a message about what we value. The clothes a school or student sells sends a message about what they value. If we stop selling shirts that promote drinking or this ridiculous holiday, we send the message that this behavior is not okay. The same is true for sports-related t-shirts. The messages we wear on our clothes show what behaviors we value. If we changed the t-shirts that were being created and sold for State Patty's Day and for sports-related events, we may see some "positive behavioral changes" (whatever that means [see last post]).
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