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Tufts rowers suspended, then unsuspended over double-entendre T-shirt
By adamg on Fri, 05/04/2012 - 11:23am
Tufts Daily chronicles the men's crew team, which was suspended for T-shirts reading "Check out our cox" after somebody complained that promoted "a culture of rape and sexual aggression," then unsuspended after the university president said the university did not want to infringe on "free expression" and that the real issue was that the team printed up unauthorized T shirts, not about whatever message they were sending with the slogan, and besides, the guys apologized.
The Globe also wrote about the issue, but could not bring itself to write out the word "cox," instead referring only to "a common abbreviation of the coxswain's title."
Here at Phallus Daily Universal Hub, of course, we long ago lost the pearls we once clutched to our chests on such occasions. Plus, in a previous job, we worked with a colleague named Cox, who reported to an editor named Dix.
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Comments
Oh My Precious Nerves!
If they start talking about "cox", the next thing you know they will actually print HEAD of the Charles!
(faints)
Good thing they weren't talking about roosters.
Just imagine the horror.
They don't compete against the Gamecocks, do they?
Then our precious snowflakes might be exposed to the Cocks' cox.
Seen it!
Was down at Univ. of South Carolina last week, watching the crews take to the river! The gamecock's cox was coxing the crew down one of the three rivers (couldn't figure which was which).
Hm...if those shirts promote
Hm...if those shirts promote rape culture, I wonder how many people were raped as a result of this article?
(I completely acknowledge that rape and sexual assaults are really really bad and completely unacceptable, but seriously, how the hell does that promote rape culture? If we are going to become this sensitive to things, then I guess stores that sell condoms probably promote the same as well)
I'm glad the university made the right decision in the end here, yeah if the team isnt allowed to make unauthorized shirts they were at fault there, but there are far more offensive things out there that are seemingly completely acceptable in our society.
There is a difference ...
Between "check out our cox" and "hey b___h, you better lookit our cox".
Seriously. Consent is implied.
Moreover, coxswains are mostly FEMALE. I saw a crew wearing these shirts out on the water last week ... with a female coxswain.
Sports never had public displays of double-entendres before?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOYY6futWBc
Cox Bold
I once worked at a company that wanted to create a new font, named after an employee L Cox (name redacted to protect the innocent).
We definitely looked for all the various permutations of said font. My favorites: Cox Condensed and Cox Extended
Female Font
Cox sans?
Did they ask,..
the actual cox what he/she thought about being checked out?
Oh for the love of... You'd
Oh for the love of...
You'd think as a Cantabrigian I'd be so completely used to the pearl-clutchers who wander the world with a piece of post-recycled poster-board and whatever the fair-trade non-processed equivalent of a Sharpie is just ready to protest something. But instead, it's pushed me the opposite direction...sometimes people just need to be told to get OVER themselves.
I'm fine with the team being disciplined for not getting their shirts authorized if such things are mandated for approved campus clubs and teams. Assuming similar sanctions are being upheld for all clubs and teams. But, unless there's some grander context here we don't understand (like the crew team all wore those shirts while running pantsless through a women's lockerroom or something), then whomever complained about the shirts is one of the people who needs to be told to get OVER themself.
If you can't enjoy a cheesy, risque double-entendre t-shirt while you're in college...it'll all be downhill from there.
I'm glad that the Tufts rower team members were reinstated, but.
hey...come. on! The picture of the guys rowing the regatta boat, with the coxswain sitting in the front of the boat, is a clear indication that this, along with the slogan, was perfectly innocent and legitimate, and didn't promote a culture of rape and sexual aggressisivity. at all!
Why should people get into trouble and/or be forced to change the slogan/picture of a team's T-Shirt just because afew uptight or dirty-minded individuals are so quick to take offense and misinterpret something so innocent? The overreaction to it is absolutely asinine, imo.
Pinochle anyone?
Some card games are downright pornographic. If you have the 9s of trump you have dix in your hand.
"Check out our oars, they are HUGE!"
Now that is attention grabbing.
At Least They Didn't Say...
... We Prefer Coxswain Sculls.
(By the way, who knew Cambridge and Middleborough had so much in common?)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Cambridge?
Tufts is partly in Somerville, partly in Medford.
They row on the Malden River and Mystic River, so I guess they had Mystic Cox when I saw them on the water (do they levitate?).
If the oars are huge, the oarlocks might be too big and block the cox from getting in the boat ... would they be cox blocking oarlocks? (reading this too fast is dangerous).
Brain Fart
For some reason, I was thinking MIT when I wrote that last line.
Duh.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
back when I rowed
oh...25 years ago, it was common to use double-entendres for university crew shirts.
I recall Yale had "eight strong women and a cox" and Stanford Women's crew used all caps and some creative spacing between the apostrophe and the c...
the tradition, I was told, was to have a shirt worth swapping with opponents after the meets.
Shirt races with Radcliffe
Losers lose their shirts and row "tits out" back to the boathouse.
Yep.
At Yale the Mid-Wife program
At Yale the Mid-Wife program had a t-shirt "At Your Cervix"
photo of that one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susansurface/2743723332/
but 'cox' is suitable for Globe editorial page
from today's paper: Tufts crew belongs on the water, not sidelined for bad puns
Good gracious
Has it really been that long since "Coed Naked" sports t-shirts were EVERYWHERE? So long that whomever whined about these crew shirts doesn't remember the BAZILLION double entendres...along with the fact that it was called "COED NAKED (insert sport here)"!?
Was the 90's just one continuously long rape-fest and I somehow missed the news? I mean these shirts were everywhere!
Coed Naked Internet Commenting
"Check out that guy's post"