issue 8// vol 45 Image via WikiHow article ‘How to Apologize to Your Guy Friend’ What gets your goat: The nice friend » Just give me a piece of your mind already! CJ Sommerfeld Columnist Fredy has that nice friend, that one who would not give you a piece of their mind if their life depended on it. Now, you may even be thinking, “Heck! I’m that nice friend!”—too nice to vocalize your opinion when the content is taboo or may upset someone. All you want to do is keep the peace, but really this pacifistic mentality is doing harm. While I think that avoiding awkward scenarios may be an inherent tendency in people, I also think that it is vital to consider how to comfortably navigate uncomfortable situations. Avoiding confrontation and conforming to what you think your friends want to hear when they ask you for advice may be easiest in that moment. However, you likely did nothing more than reiterate what they have already heard before or just gave them the answer they were hoping for. This means that you gave them no new perspective or advice from your angle— which is probably why they came to you in the first place! You want to know what is great about a friend who always tells you the cold, hard truth instead of just what you want to hear? You know that you can always trust what they say. That means inall situations these are the friends who are going to tell you the truth. If they hate your new denim—they will tell you! If they think that you were acting like a jerk—they will tell you! If they’re able to inform you that they think that your baking tastes like modeling clay, you'll know they are the friend who is not afraid of hurting your feelings because you already have heard hard truths from them before. The same is to be said about nonverbal communication. While many times your nonverbal communication will be in line with what you say out loud, this isn’t always the case. You want to be able to trust those smiles and nods of approval from your friends to be genuine, just as you want to trust their verbal words to be. In Western culture, I think society has bred us to avoid saying anything that could potentially offend someone. However, I think that this social norm of sugar-coating is more harmful than possibly offending someone because you do not like their denim, demeanor, or that their baking tastes like modeling clay! opinions // no. 15 Rants 1n your pants » I would like to personally fight whoever created ‘women’s T-shirts’ Janis McMath Senior Columnist recently made the mistake of ordering a women’s T-shirt instead of a men’s. It was a disaster. | haven’t worn a women’s T-shirt since middle school because they always have an extremely uncomfortable “semi- fitted” shape to them which is made to sexualize women’s mammary glands (and sometimes even hips—I’m talking to you, tops that flare out at the bottom.) Regular men’s tops have a vague sizing that is made for all types of torsos, whereas “women’s T-shirts” have very specific sizing that is semi-fitted to both the breasts and the stomach separately. Women’s semi-fitted shirts limit the range of people that can fit in them comfortably because they restrict Parents, stop documenting your child's life on social media » Don’t violate your kid’s privacy ‘for the 'gram’ Jessica Berget Opinions Editor eople making posts of their everyday life is so normalized, there is often little thought put into whether the things people post are appropriate. In my experience, when scrolling through any social media platform, you won't be hard-pressed to find posts that make you think, “Did you really have to share this moment of your life with the whole world?” Couples sharing intimate, kissy moments together, elderly or sick relatives in the hospital—while all obviously weirdly private things to post on the internet—do not perplex me as much as the trend of parents sharing photos of their children online. This phenomenon is called “sharenting,’ but although it’s got a cute name, it’s not safe and it’s unfair to the kids who can't say or do anything about it. It’s a troubling statistic that 81 percent of children under the age of two have some sort of digital profile or photos posted online, as reported in a 2010 survey by AVG. Taking into account the fact that this data was collected eight years ago, I think it’s safe to assume that that number could be much higher now. Even more concerning is that ina National Health Poll on Children’s Health by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, 56 percent of parents have posted something embarrassing about their children, 51 percent gave information regarding their whereabouts, and 27 percent have shared inappropriate photos. Considering the permanence of sharing pictures of children online and how you never know who can view them, I wish some parents would put in more thought into what they post on the Internet. Putting the safety risks aside, it also must be extremely embarrassing for people when they grow up to find out their entire lives have been documented for everyone how large a person’s breasts can be in each of the sizes (a small one will only compensate up toa C cup, for example). This leads to anyone with a larger bust than their stomach to have to settle looking like either a) a sex worker in a top that is too small, or b) a baby ina large T-shirt dress. There’s no reason that women’s shirts should make more space for the bust—some large men have breasts too, but I don’t see any “semi-fitted” XXL men’s tops anywhere. The real difference between men’s and women’s shirts is more like regular versus sexy, and who wants a sexy version of a T-shirt? I’m wearing one because | want to lay in my own filth comfortably, not because I’m looking to be sexy. Give me the liberty of regular formless men’s shirts or give me death! Image via VoxPop to see. It may be fun for the parents—I can understand the excitement of having a baby and wanting to show it off. However, your kid doesn’t have any personal say in the things you're posting and, if they understood, probably wouldn’t want you sharing this information. Some parents assume that it’s just friends and family who can see these photos, but once you post something on the internet, it’s there forever. There are also a lot of creeps out there who could be looking at these photos, so be vigilant about what you're posting on social media—or at least update your profile security.