My job includes doing a lot of events on college campuses, so I see a lot of t-shirts for classic rock bands. I see a Dark Side of the Moon shirt at nearly every event. I'm a huge lifelong musician and music lover, so I often ask if they've listened to that album. If they have, we have a nice discussion about Pink Floyd. If not, I encourage them to give it a listen, because it is an album that has literally changed people's lives.
One girl told me she hadn't heard it, but her GRANDMOTHER told her it was the greatest album ever made. First of all: Grandmother? That hurt. Secondly, I told her grandma may be right, go listen to that album.
Recently, someone was wearing an Abby Road shirt, so I asked. They turned out to be a huge Beatles fan, and we had a nice conversation about it.
OTOH, one girl had on a Kiss shirt, so I asked her, and she didn't even know that Kiss was a band. She just liked the shirt.
Not everyone asking is looking to start an argument. Often we are just older music fans who are thrilled to see young people embracing the great rock music of the classic era, and want to talk to them about it. Engage those older music lovers, they may be able to tell you about other albums or artists you might like, or tell cool stories about shows they've been to. In my case, I worked for many years on the record biz, and have lots of stories of personal meetings and backstage experiences with truly legendary musicians. Young music lovers enjoy my stories, but if you responded with "name 5 women who trust you," I'd just write you off as a defensive, confrontational jerk, and ignore you. No fun stories for you.
I live in fear of this type of person, especially as someone who listens to metal which tends to be male-dominated. I'm an album person and I'm not always checking the table of contents when I listen. There are bands I've been a fan of for over a decade that I don't have five songs memorized for. I love these bands and I don't think I'm fake for liking them or wearing a shirt.
"name five of their songs" questions person A's (the one wearing the band t-shirt) knowledge of the band.
"name five women who trust you" questions person B's (the one who asked the 1st question) relationships with women in their life.
therefore "name five women who trust you" is much more loaded than "name five of their songs", making it a response that is, perhaps, too rude and unnecessary. although, assuming person B asked person A to name the songs unprompted (this is probably what usually happens), this could be an appropriate counter-question as sometimes a ruder response is necessary when dealing with annoying people.
Suddenly realizing how many women I knew have come out as non-binary "Uhhh, uhhh... Well my wife? Wait, no, um, my friend? No, they're not- uh,"
My sister was wearing a Harry Potter shirt and, in a grocery store, got confronted by some random girl that got super excited about it, and she showed my sister her tattoo of the Deathly Hallows. My sister had no idea what it was cause she never read the books and didn't finish the movies, but she enjoys the shirt cause our mom loves the Harry Potter universe. The girl got all sorts of upset and threw some judgy looks at her. My sister doesn't wear the shirt anymore.
Post just reminded me of that story, not trying to make a point or anything, just want to join in on the discussion.
Inb4 anti-JK Rowling commentary, you'd be preaching to the choir.
I've listened to Vital Remains' Let Us Pray once every couple weeks for the past 15 years and can't name one song off of the album. I can play the guitar parts along to it, half the time I can't even remember the name of the band. This is not vital info to my brain.
I would suggest telling them to go fuck themselves and moving on.
Bold of you to assume I associate with 5 people!
Shower comeback energy
They are the one wearing a band T-shirt, advertising that they are fan. They opened themselves up to a conversation about it, and bringing up the person's relationship experience is 100% irrelevant.
Asking someone to name 5 women who trust them, and then challenging those choices as wrong, when the subject and the people they are naming are totally unknown, isn't winning the argument.
This is why women get accused of being unfair debaters.
The women I know who are into metal are way more into the band than almost any straight men I know.
ITT the guy in the meme gatekeeps women's day-to-day experience with men
First, name 5 men who trust you.
On impulse my subconscious cognitive stack attempted to run this check on myself before I even finished reading it and it was kind of a pleasant surprise to find myself spoiled for choice o_o
(if i had to narrow it down just five: 1. my best friend who i met through a niche fandom in 2012, 2. the friend i've had the longest since we were in middle school in the late '90s, 3. my partner, 4. the person who owns the discord server i consider my home, and 5. someone i used to date but we've kinda been DM penpals for years because of overlapping interests and i looove the fiction she writes online ^^)
glad i'm not the kind of dipshit who would try to gatekeep someone for their interests, although i fear i might run afoul of it by accident because i'll see someone wearing a Dream Theater shirt and be SO excited that they're into a band I used to be crazy about back in the day that I blurt out dumb superlative questions in a hamfisted attempt to socialize x_x;
OH WOW WHATS YOUR FAVORITE SONG gosh i havent listened to them in way too long i used to listen to six degrees of inner turbulence on like a daily basis and they'll mistake my eagerness for aggression ;~;
i fucking hate being amab...
"Name five women who want to talk to you. Oh wait, I'm not one of them."
Gatekeeping: Half a star
