Keep Calm and Hit Her”. At first glance the T-shirt design seemed to be yet another example of the way violent misogyny has become a joke for some - a literal punchline. No wonder that earlier this month the internet was up in arms at the discovery of such a T-shirt, not from a street trader or a Soho sex shop, but on Amazon.co.uk. And “Keep Calm and Hit Her” wasn't the only example. There was also “Keep Calm and Rape A Lot”.
When we see such T-shirts for sale through the website of one of the UK's largest retailers, we naturally imagine that somebody designed the shirt and some buyer at Amazon said, “We'll take it.” The fact that similar jokes are a staple of the stand-up comedy circuit makes it all the easier to believe that.
But “rape a lot” is not only outrageous, it's an odd phrase.