Taylor gave an apology for his "big mistake" and cried in front of the cameras two days later, this time wearing a plain, navy blue hoodie.
Stating that a shirt is anti-feminist means entering a risky territory. I'm proud to be a feminist but I have to admit I wasn't offended by Taylor's shirt. I didn't feel like those images were threatening. Don't get me wrong as I'm well aware those blond badass girls represent just one of the many femininity types. While looking at them we're obviously more focused on their appearance rather than their inner qualities. But, again, it's just a shirt (designed by a woman, Elly Prizeman) and we seriously should be more concerned about movies posters and advertising campaigns photoshopping real women than about comic-like characters on a piece of clothing.
Some may say a shirt worn by the project scientist of an important space mission can't be just a garment. I certainly agree that such a clothing can be regarded as tasteless in a way, especially if you're wearing it during an official broadcasting like Taylor did. The scientist has tattooes covering most of his body and he decided to wear something definitely not traditional and geeky, in line with what I assume to be his personality. I really don't think he was trying to use his celebrity to convey a political or sexist message or make a statement about how science world considers women. If we blame him for such a thing, then why not doing the same and ban, for example, the people (men AND women) showing pin-up girls tattooes from important positions? Because it would be extremely discriminatory, that's why.
Many said Taylor was forced to apology, and if so, it would be really sad. Just as sad as some of the comments I've read on the Internet in defense of that shirt. The scientist's fashion choice is often supported by people (and I have to admit there are also women among them, bitterly) through an alarming anti-feminist attitude. Just have a look here and here. Ridiculing feminists protest claiming the right of wearing what they want like this issue was less reasonable than defending a scientist draped in hot women gives me the creeps. The misconception of feminism like a gender war is still too deep-rooted and needs to stop. The very core idea of feminism is equal rights and opportunities for both genders and this equality should be perceived even in ordinary things, like deciding freely what to wear. And this goes both ways.
It's 2014, folks. We can land on a comet, but we can't dress the way we want to without causing an uproar. Now that's outrageous.
