I'm more interested in how the presidential cats feature one dark cat at the end, clearly used to represent Obama. I don't like it, and I'm trying to figure out why.

I guess if they're truly going to accurately use cats to represent the American presidents, they shouldn't have a white cat for Obama. But the way that one dark cat sticks out... it almost feels like the whole point of the shirt is to point out Obama's racial otherness.

But perhaps the more important question is WHY WOULD ANYONE MAKE A SHIRT USING CATS TO REPRESENT AMERICAN PRESIDENTS?

I think that I've spent far too much time analyzing a shirt featuring 40 cats, but...

Here's some of the text from the website selling the shirt:

"Put this on, and then ask your friends, 'What do you think of my shirt?'
Force onlookers to ask that age-old question, 'Which one of these is not like the other?'...
But why’s that last cat a different breed than the other cats?
Because he’s what? Are you sure?
Oh… okay, of course. Oh wait, wait, now I get it."

Hmmm... so the whole joke is that one of the cats is dark.

I think it gets worse when you look at the other cats, too. There doesn't seem to be any effort to match physical characteristics of the cats with the physical appearances of the presidents... except with the color of the last one.

That I don't like.

It may appear that this is a joke about cats... but it really seems to be a joke about race.

So, in regard to the fact that one is pink and one is blue I agree.

However, one of those shirts is designed to be worn by anybody, and one of those shirts is designed to be worn by women. Even calling the latter a fitted-t would be inaccurate. My brother wears girls pants and girls shirts and boys fitted shirts and unisex shirts and shirts from the little boys department--and his fitted men's shirts are cut vastly differently from his fitted women's shirts. I couldn't wear them. They'd be too broad in the shoulder and far too small towards the waist. Calling the unisex t-shirt simply a men's shirt would be inaccurate too, since it's not cut to the specifications of male as generic. It's cut to the specifications of people as rectangular.

Now, why more stores aren't catering to men's fitted, women's fitted and unisex, I don't know. Oddly, they seem to recognize that women come in at least two shapes, while men only come in one that anybody cares about.

The picture would make more sense in this context if t-shirts began as a very gendered thing, but they've always struck me as rather neutral. The default is just boxy people shaped. The fact that they started making t-shirts specifically shaped for women (and more recently specifically shaped for men) is a much more complex gender representation than "men as default, women as not quite human." That would require it be something that has no reason not to be neutral, such as computers instead of the cut of clothing. There's the default section of websites/stores, and then the "women's" section, which focuses on color and accessories rather than specs, and invariably makes me want to punch the salespeople at Fry's electronics.

Women, though, (generally speaking but not always) have boobs. To me, this post makes me wonder more why clothes are more often designed to accentuate the female body shape, but not the male body shape--from jeans to t-shirts to underwear, men's clothing is functional first, and women's is intended to display specific body parts. I often wear men's pants because they have real pockets--that you can put things in! My brother often wear women's pants because he likes the way they actually display his shape. The real assumption here is not that men are the default but that men don't want to display their bodies and women do.

I have given up trying to wear "unisex" t-shirts. They are always too big in the shoulders and too small in the hips, because I have a pear shape which is fairly common among women. I only wear "women's" shirts, because they fit me better. Just because I can put something on my body doesn't mean it fits me.

There is a difference in shape between many women and many men, and I like that t-shirt makers are recognizing this now. When I was younger I seem to remember there was only the "unisex" t-shirt. I liked it then because I wanted to hide my body shape.

I do think that men can wear the "fitted" t-shirts if they want to, obviously, or if that kind of shirt fits them better. I guess it would be better to change the language to "fitted" vs. "loose" or something like that.

I agree with the point here, but like many other commenters pointed out, in this case I think that honestly there is just a bit of a practical matter here -- the percentage of men who will fit into a woman's-sized/cut teeshirt is probably much lower than the percentage of women who would fit into a men's-sized teeshirt. Granted this brings up the issue of why would they market a smaller/stretchier/fitted shirt towards women, blahdyblah, couldn't the women's teeshirt also be for a skinny boy and why didn't they just call it 'slim fit' and 'boxy fit', etc etc, why should women's fashion showcase their bodies at all and why is that 'feminine', or whatever -- but at the end of the day I think that there being gender differences in fashion often are a much more 'practical' than pointlessly gendered toys, for example, due to the fact that there may actually be genuine practical reasons behind the 'gendering' of clothing.

Personally, I'd be kind of offended if there wasn't a "women's" tshirt here -- I recall being a teenager and being really angry that most 'band' tshirts only came in 'men's' sizes and as a petite girl I didn't really want to be wearing oversized sacks and felt left out. So at a market level 'on average' is considerably more effective to break things down into a men's size and a women's size, and have the men's size be "unisex," since the "tshirt standard" IS the boxy 'regular' fit which also happens to be the one that, on average, most men would prefer. Obviously some men are built more like women, or some women are larger -- but when you come down to pret-a-porter sales, these things inevitably need to be standardized + sized. They could have labelled it "classic boxy fit which is the industry tshirt standard, with wider shoulders, for the average-sized male-identified human or the larger framed female-identified-human who prefers less revealing fashion, or which could easily be altered to fit a more petite body type, or which will fit a more petite or female body type in a smaller size" and "smaller, ribbed, stretchy fit for those who have average-female or more petite body types, have male body types but prefer slim-fitting clothes or are of smaller stature, or simply who prefer their shirts to be more form-fitting, shorter, with a rounder neck. we encourage all genders and body shapes and sizes to order either of these teeshirts according to their natural preferences and how they choose to express themselves through fashion." But I mean, really? Occasionally I think that Contexts gets a bit carried away and takes things only within the context of the social reading they want to make, and neglects the wider motivations or necessities behind things.

It's interesting to see how this "unisex" thing plays out in different societies. I live in Argentina, and from what I can tell, around here it's isn't so OK if a woman wears a "men's/unisex" shirt. There's a strong expectation for women to wear fitted clothing, with few exceptions.

I'm in the t-shirt business and I sell about 30,000 t-shirts a year. The problem is calling it a "men's" shirt instead of a "unisex" or "omnisex."

The choices--if we're being fair and forward--should be

omnisex
women's

Women will know which of the two styles they prefer, and they'll go about 60/40 omnisex/women's. Men will also (presumably) know which of the two styles they prefer (omnisex) and will choose it almost exclusively.

Remind me again what exactly the problem is here?

Wouldn't it be worse if it was just "women's" and "men's"?

I know that I'm not properly curved to wear the women's shirt and I'd be very surprised if most men could (and not have it be uncomfortable/unflattering).

Is there something wrong with there being a basic unisex option that is also what is most common for men?

This post also fits in very well with the commonly-held belief that girls can dress like boys/play with boys toys because society is soooo equal, but heaven forbid if a boy wants to wear a cute little fitted tee (or play with dolls, or what have you). It might be even more limiting for males.

And on a personal note, I have always worn men's/unisex t-shirts, thanks to the broad shoulders I inherited from my dad. As a teenager I was always embarrassed and longed for the babydoll tees my friends wore, but I am glad to say I've moved on since then!

To the commenters saying that men's t-shirts really do function as unisex tees - no, they do not. The difference in fitting is obvious. A men's shirt that fits around my tits hangs free and easy around my waist; sometimes a shirt that's baggy elsewhere gets uncomfortably tight around my hips. I can get it on my body, but I'm not really a fan of the shapeless and billowy aesthetic.

Men's t-shirts were made to fit a male body shape - that makes them men's shirts*, not shirts for everybody. If the criterion for a 't-shirt for everyone' is just the ability to get it on your body, then everyone should be satisfied with an XXXXXXL.

--

*I don't mean to disappear trans folks or other people whose body shapes aren't necessarily considered 'typical' for their sex. I doubt the t-shirt companies see beyond gender / sex binaries, so they'd only be taking cis / 'typical' people into consideration anyway.

Also, the women's fitted t-shirts rarely go into plus sizes. Usually a size 16 is the biggest XXL. Fat women are deemed un-feminine or sexless, depending on your interpretation. Perhaps both, since women = sex.

I see both sides of the argument here but why aren't we talking about the color?

...I figured there were two cuts provided because some women are fine with the boxy unisex shirts, and some (like me) prefer something more close-fitted.

“Fat women are deemed un-feminine or sexless, depending on your interpretation. Perhaps both, since women = sex.”

This is true, and we can observe in our daily lives that there is a certain link between women's weight and social class. Certain expensive or “hip” clothes simply don’t get made for women who occupy more than the fashionable limit of cubic units.

As for most men not wearing women’s t-shirts (or women’s clothes in general), I hope that we don’t have a problem with fundamental anatomic female features that are directly related to reproductive/sexual functions (breasts, hips, buttocks). Should we make attractive women hide their beautiful features? Isn’t it logical that the female of a species would like to find a male? And if we want to level the playing field, shouldn’t women objectify us, instead of censoring and vilifying our desire to admire female beauty?

The women's shirt won't fit a man and the fact that the men's/unisex shirt will fit a woman (very poorly) is coincidental. Save the Marxism on this one.

Whatever Rhys. I'm one of those women who get a better fit from the unisex t's than the fitted t's. And capped sleeves? Blech.

It's like you're assuming that all women (and all men) have the same shape. Clearly you haven't read the rest of the comments.

It's simple. The fitted T is the one I'd wear with jeans, shorts, etc. The men's/unisex T is the one I'd wear with baggy sweats when washing the car.

Who cares what you call them - as long as you stop calling them an example of some kind of "false binary", whatever that is.

Love your site, but seriously - you don't have enough actual problems in life if you find this worth getting upset over.

I think this post missed the mark a bit, because most women would be able to fit into the "men's/unisex" shirt without it being restrictive or uncomfortable, but most men would not be able to fit into the "women's" shirt. Simple as that.

Personally though, I wish we could just return to the days of having our clothes tailored to us - at non-exorbitant prices - so that we could all have clothes that fit because they were made for us individually.

Several people posted along the lines that men are all the same shape. As has been said, that's simply not true. There are probably as many variations to mens' shape as there are to womens'. Currently in the US, almost all men's clothes is designed to fit the shape of the largest man in each area of the body for any given size. For example, until the tapered or fitted shirt came back, all men's shirts were designed for a man whose belly was larger than his chest which is the opposite of the athletic V shaped man.

The reason many people think all men have the same shape is because men's fashion has been shapeless for the past two decades, concealing all details of the male body. Here's a long but very interesting read on men's fashion got to this point: http://www.ipce.info/library_2/files/esser_baggy.htm

I doubt men want to wear a slim-fitting shirt with extra fabric in the chest for breasts.

Just saying.

Here is an example of the same phenomenon in a website from India. It is a compilation between two really popular companies - Tantra (who make the Tees) and NDTV (a television company in India).

For Tantra's own Tees, they have demarcated Men, Women and Kids as categories.

http://www.tantrauniverse.com/

However, for "Tantra-NDTV-ECO Tees + More" the demarcations change to Unisex, Women, and Kids.

http://www.tantrauniverse.com/ndtv/

If I am not wrong, in India, the idea of using "unisex" as a category signifies progressiveness and modernity. Of course, gender sensitivity is not a part of that.

Okay, I get the argument. But, really?
Women can wear men's/unisex shirts because they're just shapeless. Men would have difficulty wearing women's shirts, because the current style is tight-fitting and tailored to a woman's curves, which men TEND not to have.

The thing I find *more* annoying is that when you want to buy a metal-or-something-else-dudelike t-shirt, there is the male option with vikings wailing on guitars and being awesome, and then there's the female option, which has the band name in a cheesy, romantic script with flowers all around it (and for the more forward-thinking bands, a note on the back that the wearer is a "metal slut" or "death whore"). This female loves wearing shirts with vikings shredding, and would be more than happy to pay for them if they were available. But in order to do this, she has to buy the guy version and have it altered to fit her proportions. This is obnoxious.

The male/unisex t-shirt is something I don't have a problem with, because I can fit into a male shirt but a female shirt would look absurd on a man who does not have as defined a waist as I do. Then again, if the option is either "male/unisex" vs. the female option of "youth," that gets my women's panties in a terrific knot.

I don't have a problem with it. I went through jr high and high school at a time before t shirts were made in fitted women's cuts and hated having to wear t shirts that looked like huge bags on me.

I don't think I can fit into some women's t shirts. HAHA, and I think that goes for most gents.

I think you are looking way to into it.. but if a man wanted to wear a woman's t shirt, or the other way around, It's not a big deal. Regardless of what the t-shirt gender is labeled for.

Great post, honest,informative and insightful!Just bookmarked your blog and subscribed to your rss feed.I'm definitely coming back for more.Do you accept groupies? :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/

Also, the fabric & color are always different on a women's shirt...I don't want pink, I don't want some nylon blend that will shrink even MORE when I wash it. I love the black cotton of the men's shirt, I just wish there was a more flattering fit than a big tent.

can men wear ladys shirts

Men can not fit into women's t-shirts.  The only people who can fit into women's t-shirts are women.  That's why we have women's t-shirts.  It's not an attempt to single out females, it certainly doesn't need any time spent analysing the subject.

There is nothing wrong with a man wearing a woman's top. Sized to fit, a woman's is a better fit than a man's.

As a woman have you ever tried on a pair of mens trousers and just found there is too much material in the crotch ! It is disgusting - mens clothing should not allow space for their package as we women do not posses such a package ! Much in the same way womens clothing should not be made to accomodate curves created by our baby bearing hips and milk producing breasts - we should be made to suffer in shapeless outfits to satisfy all !!

This is a dumb argument. There are plenty of valid complaints about gender based inequality but this is not one of them. Most women have breasts unless they are nonoperative/preoperative transgendered individuals or have had a mastectomy. That is the reason women's shirts are shaped the way that they are; they are meant to highlight those features. Men's shirts are just a tube with arm tubes and aren't flattering. Make complaints about legitimate issues so the Idiots who dismiss feminism as whining have less ammunition and real equality.

I agree with a lot of the points you made in this article. I appreciate the work you have put into this and hope you continue writing on this subject.

Thanks for the information about call centers. It is always great to read about this ever changing industry.

I like how this article is written. Your points are sound, original, fresh and interesting. This information has been made so clear there's no way to misunderstand it. Thank you.

If people that write articles cared more about writing great material like you, more readers would read their content. It's refreshing to find such original content in an otherwise copy-cat world. Thank you so much.

Dear sir ,
We are manufacturer and exporter of all kinds of sports goods and sports wears such as,
-soccer Balls and sportswear
-American Footballs and sportswear
-Basketball and sports wear
-Rugby balls and sportswear
-Volleyballs sportswear
-Cricket goods and sportswear
Please see our website at www.zransports.com and let us know if you are interested in any of our items.
We will give our best prices.
Best Regards,
Ahmed Rohab
Chief Executive
Zran sports
Chowuni sulehrian, Near Iqbal Park,
Sialkot-pakistan
URL:http//www.zransports.com
Email: info@zransports.com
Whatsapp: 0092-332-8687433

All of you why are you making such a big deal it's a shirt a shirt

Looks like you have it backwards with the t-shirts. Both women and men can be human (unisex) but only women can be women (women).