Actor Marlon Brando plays Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' The role may have cemented the white tank top’s association with male sexuality and violence.

Even if they wish it wasn’t the case, when most people hear the phrase “wife beater,” the first thing they’ll think of is the so-called white tank top.

For decades now, the sleeveless, almost-too-thin-to-be-appropriate fashion choice has evoked coolness, a bygone era of machismo, sweaty sexuality, working-class ethos at best and uneducated, violent brute at worst. That so many ideas and emotions can be contained by what fashion insiders call a “classic A-shirt” likely contributes to its staying power. But from a language standpoint, the term “wife beater” reinforces everything from run-of-the mill misog

See Full Page