Gen Z influencers rebrand the ‘wife beater’ vest as ‘wife pleaser’ on TikTok in solidarity with domestic violence victims amid the #MeToo movement
Gen Z TikTok users are rebranding the white vest, previously nicknamed the ‘wife beater’, to have a more sensitive name.
Videos on the platform now dub the male item of clothing a ‘wife pleaser’ so as not to trigger victims of domestic violence.
The rebrand comes as the white vest has had a resurgence in male fashion this year, with a growing number of fashion videos appearing on TikTok teaching men how to style up the garment.
It also comes after a debate sparked in the New York Times in 2018 by Moises Velasquez-Manoff in which he argued it was high time the nickname was retired.
He argued that, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, there was something uncomfortable about continuing to use the phrase to describe the shirt.
Gen Z influencers are rebranding the white vest from ‘wife beater’ to ‘wife pleaser’ so as not to trigger victims of domestic violence (stock image)
The origin of the nickname for the white vest is unclear, although many believe it can be traced back to the character of Stanley in Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desire.
The character, who wears the white vest, is a violent man who hits his wife Stella and rape his sister-in-law.
Velasquez-Manoff argued in his piece that we don’t term our pants ‘child molesters’, and in fact don’t have such aggressive names for any other items of clothing in our wardrobes, so he couldn’t understand why ‘wife beater’ had stuck.
He further argued that using a nickname rooted in violence to describe the garment could perpetuate stereotypes that working-class men are more likely to commit violence.
Today, fashion influencers on TikTok have heeded Velasquez-Manoff’s advice and changed their language to dub the vests ‘wife-pleasers’.
On influencer, Albert Muzquiz, on TikTok as @edgyalbert, posts videos of himself wearing tailored suits with ‘wife-pleaser’ vests, paired with moccasin shoes.
The Lad Bible reports that, as far back as 2018 when Velasquez-Manoff wrote his piece, Queer Eye’s hairstylist Jonathan Van Ness dubbed the white vest a ‘wife-lover’.
#Gen #influencers #rebrand #wife #beater #vest #wife #pleaser #TikTok #solidarity #domestic #violence #victims #MeToo #movement
