Gym fashion tends to be über-masculine/tasteless (rough fonts or large logos from bulk manufacturers), high tech fabrics and “futuristic” cuts (think Spiderman’s Green Goblin) or retro (1980 PE teacher via American Apparel). There are of course other other trends but these are the main ones. There is a new Swedish brand out there called Manular, with the tagline “We Empower Men.” The designer Daniel A Hugosson says that the Manular brand was inspired by gay and gym culture. True: parts of the gay and gym world aremisogynistic, but was there a need to translate that into garments? And do we really need to empower men by degrading both cis and trans women? And hoes?

For copyright reasons I am not allowed use pictures from their webpage, so let me quote the first print. “Relationship Killers: Insecurity Trust Issues Facebook Jealosy Lack Of Communication Assumptions HOES“.

“Hoes.” Hoes? In a bald font. Really? According to Urban Dictionary a hoe is a skank, a woman that is too loose in the booty, a woman or man that fucks anything with two legs or a promiscuous person.  Related words are “prostitute”, “hooker”, “tramp” and “bitch” among others. Yeah, I would love to wear a slut shaming, sex workerfobic and misogynistic tank top.

The second print: “COVER ME IN CHOCOLATE AND THROW ME TO THE LESBIANS”

This one makes no sense. “Cover me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians”. Because lesbians loves men in chocolate and would eat you? Because lesbians hate men in chocolate and would kill you? Because lesbians acts like lions? Because lesbians are aggressive? Sounds like an internal joke between the designer and his gay friends that no-one except themselves understand. If it does not make sense, at least it should be funny.

The third print features the well known Putin as a transgender person.

putin-gay-t-shirtI have had issues with this transgender Putin for some time now and I am not the only one. This piece from The Trans Advocate sets the record straight. “Some feel the image uses trans expression to shame and mock Puttin [sic! ], thereby degrading the trans experience.” In short, we have some trans misogyny thrown in as well.

The forth print in block jock font: “ZUMBA? PLEASE I DO SQUATS”

We get it, Zumba is for sissies and squats are for men. Manular empowers men by reinforcing hierarchies where traditional masculine workout are valued higher than non-masculine workout.

So, empowering men by slapping other people in the face. Using generic fonts. Shoot me.