Controversy at the University of Michigan over Soulja Boy Themed T-Shirts

A controversy has arisen on the University of Michigan campus over the sale of t-shirt’s bearing a portion of the chorus from Soulja Boy’s smash single “Crank Dat.” According to the school’s newspaper, the Michigan Daily, the university's Sexual Assault Prevention Awareness Center and a campus feminist group called the F-word, have called the shirts demeaning to women. The shirts, which were created by residents of the school’s South Quad in December, feature a Superman style ‘S’ with the words South Quad on the front, and the phrase “Superman that hoe..” on the back. While Soulja Boy has denied it, rumors have circulated for some time implying that the phrase is slang for an involuntary sexual act that involves a man ejaculating on a woman’s back. Sales of the shirts were actually halted a week after they went on sale because of the public outcry, but the South Quad Hall Council held a meeting this week to address students’ concerns. Amanda Grigg, a student and member of the F-word group who attended the forum was not happy with the direction that the discussion took. “The fact that the forum was about hip hop was scapegoating and almost racist,” she told the Daily. “The forum blamed hip hop for the fact that people feel unsafe, when the problem was that the Hall Council members allowed these shirts to go through.” But another female student at the school didn’t understand why the shirts were causing so much controversy. "I don't know what the brouhaha is about," sophomore Bonita Goh explained. “I've heard that the song is degrading, but I would assume there were women on the committee who voted to approve the T-shirts. Maybe this is a reflection that a select group of women are offended.”