Matt Taylor Reduced To Tears Over "shirtstorm"

[Kromovaracun]

Dr. Matt Taylor, the scientist and spokesman for the recent Rosetta mission, has been attacked for wearing a tacky shirt on the grounds that it is sexist and offensive. The attacks on him were launched by Chris Plante over at that most esteemed of publications, The Verge.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/11/15/in-defense-of-rosetta-mission-scientist-dr-matt-taylor-and-his-controversial-shirt-4949004/

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/14/rosetta-comet-dr-matt-taylor-apology-sexist-shirt

It later transpired that the shirt had been designed and made for him by a female friend as a birthday gift. Said friend works as a fetish model.

Should he have apologised?

[ToraToraTora]

notthing to apologise for, complete over reaction.

[andy-hughes]

My view is that if you offend someone, however innocently and unintentionally, it is good manners to apologise.

Good manners are free, and it shows a level of understanding and empathy with others.

I am sure that this scientist does not necessarily have the same grasp of social niceties that he has on his scientific work, and I am equally sure that he wore the shirt in all innocence.

He appears upset and embarassed by the furore, so yes, i think he should have apologised, and having done so, he should be allowwed to move on and forget about it.

People make mistakes - that's why they put rubbers on the end of pencils.

[Old_Geezer]

I saw the shirt. I think some folk can not recognise sexism if it hit them in the face so assume everything is. Looked more sexy than sexism to me. It was his decision whether to apologise or not. Maybe he has to work with folk who keep on & on about it as if it was something wrong, or maybe the management became all stern and humourless, they often do.

[ToraToraTora]

gawd knows what these numpties would have made of the Hawking-Thorne bet involving a playboy subscription!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorne%E2%80%93Hawking%E2%80%93Preskill_bet

[gingejbee]

No...no apology needed. The World is full of people just waiting to be offended.

[anotheoldgit]

Already debated

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1379361.html

[ToraToraTora]

yes Andy but was anyone actually offended or is this the usual case of someone deciding that someone else would be offended and thus taking offence of their behalf?

[ToraToraTora]

Tell you what if a manufacturer gets them in the shops quick they'll sell millions, where can I get one?

[Kromovaracun]

AOG

Ahh, I knew I'd seen a question on it somewhere but couldn't find it.

Andy

I think the problem I have is that I'm not willing to treat all offense as valid. It's all very well to apologise if you have made a genuine mistake - but to guilt-tripped into doing it when you haven't done anything wrong? No, I don't think so.

I was recently pounced on by a group of friends for using the word "hysterical", for instance, because it was said to be a word that dehumanises women. I refused to apologise because I think the word means a lot more than its etymology.

[ToraToraTora]

really kromo? you have odd "friends", sounds like a bunch of peace "wimmin" from Greenham!

[Ellipsis]

> My view is that if you offend someone, however innocently and unintentionally, it is good manners to apologise.

That's only true if, with the benefit of hindsight, you can see how they could reasonably have taken offence.

In this instance that's not true. If he felt the need to explain himself at all, what Matt Taylor could have said was "It was a special day so I wore my favourite shirt, one a good friend made for me." And that should have been an end to it - no apology necessary, nor even any further explanation (e.g. the friend was a woman, it was a birthday gift, she is a fetish model, etc.)

What the shirt depicts is women wearing clothes that they have chosen to wear. Most feminists would argue for women's rights to do that. So why would they have an issue with a man wearing a shirt depicting women doing exactly that, made for him not in some sweatshop but by a friend?

As for an apology ... maybe "I'm sorry you're such a sanctimonious fool."

[Baldric]

//Said friend works as a fetish model.//

I think I'd probably like one of those!

[Sqad]

He wasn't just an "ordinary scientist" he was in a team that had just landed a space craft on a meteor some 300 million miles away into space and was going to be on TV.

So slipping on your "holiday", casual, tacky, sexy inappropriate shirt was a mistake for which he was bound to get some stick.....and he did.

He should apologise and that should be the end of it.

[Kromovaracun]

According to this article, wearing plain gray t-shirts is also sexist:

http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/11/zuckerberg-explains-gray-t-shirts-sounds-sexist.html

[Kromovaracun]

"So slipping on your "holiday", casual, tacky, sexy inappropriate shirt was a mistake for which he was bound to get some stick.."

What if he was wearing it to honour the love and support given to him by his friend? What if he wanted to be recorded wearing the shirt he was wearing while carrying out the exercise? What if he had been busy/preoccupied with landing on a comet and just didn't think of it?

People are too prudish about this kind of thing. It wasn't a mistake.

[Sqad]

Kromo....clearly we see it differently.

[sandyRoe]

Rubbers on the ends of other things help prevent mistakes, too.

[jno]

he upstaged the event as much as if he'd walked on camera naked. The idea of celebrating a big day by wearing a shirt made by a fetish model is curious, but it certainly made him the centre of attention, rather than a ten-year mission of space exploration.

[Mamyalynne]

I have always harboured a wish that folk who protest about such trivia would get together en bloc and pool their brain cells in order to protest and hopefully change something significant to society.



Personally I love a crazy looking scientist and would love a few yards of that fabric, well done to him.

[Mamyalynne]

'He upstaged the event'? seriously,you think so?