Why Clothing Matters – lessons from the #shirtgate controversy

In 2014, Dr. Matt Taylor, a physicist and scientist from the European Space Agency who was part of the Rosetta Mission caused an outrage also known on social medias as #shirtgate or #shirtflap. He appeared on “BBC Breakfast” and a European Space Agency live stream to give an update on the mission while wearing a bowling shirt with a print of half-naked women in compromising positions.

This led to outrage on social media, putting Matt Taylor into an awkward position as he became the central figure in a debate around sexism, women in science and appropriate attire in professional scenes. Reactions like this could be found all over social media:

In response to the outrage, Dr. Taylor issued a public apology, in which he was visibly emotional and wore a plain zip-up hoodie as a sign of remorse. At the same time, Elly Prizeman – a friend of Dr. Taylor – also issued a statement saying that she was the creator of the shirt in question, and that it had been a birthday present. She felt it was a nice gesture of Dr. Taylor to wear the shirt in a public setting.

Even though many people took to the defense of Dr. Taylor, claiming that it was an innocent mistake, also taking in account the perspective of Elly Prizeman. This unintentionality is exactly what makes this debate so heated and complicated. Although there might not have been any harmful intent on Dr. Taylor’s part, it is important to remember that people’s attire does contain a certain iconography, which could contain a hurtful message.

In the context of the sciences, in which women already take an incredibly marginalized position, the shirt of Dr Taylor takes on an additional layer of meaning. The stereotypical depictions of women on the shirt can be seen as yet another example of the underrepresentation and stereotypical view of women in the dominant male culture of the sciences.

Whether or not Dr. Taylor’s intentions when wearing the shirt were innocent or not is only a small part of a much larger discussion. At the heart of this debate lies the representation of women in society, and how even simple depictions of women on banal items can prove to have malicious effects. These depictions can have rather negative connotations and can distract from the important message – in this case a scientific landmark.

All of this debate and outrage can be avoided in the future rather simply, if we all keep in mind that the clothing we wear matters.

This post is co-authored by Stan van Bommel, Mariosé Bergsteijn & Laura van Eden