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thumb Robert De Niro in Raging Bull wearing a wifebeater
The origin of the term is from the belief that the shirts are worn predominantly by men who beat their wives; black tank tops were often worn by Ike Turner, a notorious abuser of his wife Tina. In the 1980 movie Raging Bull, the main character, a boxer, is commonly seen wearing wifebeaters around the house, including in one scene where he beats his wife.
Use of the term wifebeater to describe an article of clothing (as opposed to its literal use) is relatively new, perhaps originating as early as the 1970sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Years: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 Events and trends. Some people find the term extremely offensive, as serving to legitimize spousal abuseSpousal abuse is the term applied to physical or sexual abuse perpetuated by one spouse upon another. The term was coined in the late 1970's when such crimes were given wider attention in society. There are separate legalities and punishments applied to s; while others consider it harmless or even humorous. The term has been denouced by the National Organization for WomenNational Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist group founded on June 30, 1966 in Washington, D. by women attending the Third National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women. Among the 28 founders were Betty Friedan, author of T, who say it trivializes domestic violence. "The implication is that wife beating is not viewed as sufficiently serious to lift it above the level of something that's OK to joke about," says Kim Gandy , president of NOW. Like all slang, its meaning is not known to all; so to those unfamiliar with the slang sense, wife beater will only mean a person who beats a wife.
In some locales, such as AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count, the term wife beater is used more specifically to refer only to a tank top that is whiteAlternate meanings: White (disambiguation White is a color (more accurately it contains all the colors of the spectrum and is sometimes described as an achromatic color— black is the absence of color) that has high brightness but zero hue. The impression. This definition probably comes from the fact that most underwear singlets are white, and the stereotype of a wife beater is a man who sits around in his underwear drinking and watching TV.