Every time the "freshman fifteen" T-shirt issue has popped up over the past few years, the person who leaped to defend it in a letter to the editor has been male.

Perhaps this fact speaks louder than their indignant protests.

This time, I find it particularly loathsome that Colin Murphy attempts to hide the issue behind the World Trade Center attacks, demeaning both issues with one blow.

Certainly, offensive T-shirts are less important; yet dismissing them because of larger problems does not excuse them.

How generous of Mr. Murphy not to be offended by T-shirts that mock drunken behavior, as he points out.

Regarding this illogical and irrelevant example, may I explain to him that choice makes inebriation funny — to some, anyway — and weight gain not. Mr. Murphy, how many women do you know who go out to parties on weekends to get fat for fun?