I have a fetish. Unfortunately, it doesn’t involve feet or latex. It does involve weird T-shirts. I tried to tell myself it’s just a phase I’m going through, like my “rebellion against parents” period in junior high school, where I actually owned a pair of orange sneakers (my feet shined while doing the walk of shame), or my “ghetto urban gangster” stage in high school, which incorporated several hats and way-too-baggy jeans.
However, it seems this is it for me. No matter how hard I try, I can’t help but feel compelled to wear T-shirts with weird symbols and phrases.
For example, I have three hug-themed shirts. That’s three more than I should have. It has even gotten to the point where I have given up brand names entirely. The constant search for unique underground labels has become a staple in my life, and I’m pretty happy with it.
There’s no doubt you have some strange fetishes of your own. Whether it’s my friend David’s love for short, petite Asian girls with pointy nipples or our Opinion editor’s bizarre attraction to punctuation, it’s something you can call your own. Sure, you may be reluctant to share them with your girlfriend/boyfriend, parents or that shifty-eyed deer that’s been hanging around the dumpsters, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Of course, our society is based on the principle that what you do in the privacy of your own home is your business, but sometimes it’s liberating to confess your most secretive obsessions to someone you trust. Unless your fetish includes human feces, then you can keep that shit to yourself (pun intended).
Oftentimes, we put on a fa√É.√ßade deemed acceptable by society. We deny ourselves the very desires that make us who we are because we’re afraid it will change how others will perceive us. We have all become somewhat … fake. How often have you renounced some of your favorite interests because you were too ashamed of what people may think? Public opinion has grown so powerful that it has the ability to tell you what you can and cannot like. The NFL: You’re the man. Japanese anime movies: You’ll die a virgin. Professional wrestling: Where’s your mullet? These are the types of opinions that have been solidified over the years.
The minute you start denying your interests, no matter how strange and bizarre, is the minute you start denying yourself. It’s hard to admit liking something that does not comply with the rules laid out by society, but pretending you don’t only makes you disingenuous. Being honest with yourself is hard enough, but being honest about yourself to someone else is even more difficult.
In order to grow as a community, we must all embrace who we really are. This advice may seem a little strange coming from an “opinion columnist,” who may or may not have contributed to the current dishonesty of our society, but I would gladly trade in my desk (if I had one) for a society that welcomes the strange, the weird and the unique. Now, I have to throw on one of my weird T-shirts and try to get out of my student loans. The question on my shirt isn’t such a bad idea: “Can I pay you with hugs?”