Publications
Partners
It started really mildly, with a controversial statement or two, but in the past few years it's shocking just how many companies have produced gear that insults women's intelligence and/or sexuality. Just in the last few months these shirts have surfaced:
· In the US, Forever21 released an "Allergic to Algebra" T-shirt for women.
· This was swiftly followed by JC Penney's girls' shirt which read "I'm Too Pretty to Do Homework So My Brother Has to Do It For Me."
· Online retailer David & Goliath released a shirt that was emblazoned with "Who needs math when you're already a 10!"
· They also had one shirt which said "I'm too pretty to do math."
Essentially, all these companies figure that women are dumb enough to buy T-shirts that highlight how stupid we are.
But that's not all folks...
So-called light-hearted "tongue-in-cheek" statements are also on men's shirts, and they also compare women to dogs, joke about domestic violence and denigrate women.
· In the US, Topman released a shirt with the text "Nice new girlfriend: What breed is she?"
· In Britain, Jamrags has one that says "Calm down dear. Let's not turn this rape into murder!"
· Locally, Sportscene has a "How to get laid" t-shirt,
· They also stock another shirt that says "I put the STD in STUD. All I need us U"
· Meanwhile, Markham's opted to go with "You Looked Better From Behind!"
What shocks me, though, is that even after all the years that women have been fighting to be viewed as equal to men, it's possible that people can sell (or even think of selling) such offensive products.
Thankfully, we're in an era now when customers can, in some ways, make themselves heard as FeministsSA did when it asked its followers to boycott all Foschini stores until they had been removed.
Welcome to the 21st Century. We don't take bullshit.
· In the US, Forever21 released an "Allergic to Algebra" T-shirt for women.
· This was swiftly followed by JC Penney's girls' shirt which read "I'm Too Pretty to Do Homework So My Brother Has to Do It For Me."
· Online retailer David & Goliath released a shirt that was emblazoned with "Who needs math when you're already a 10!"
· They also had one shirt which said "I'm too pretty to do math."
Essentially, all these companies figure that women are dumb enough to buy T-shirts that highlight how stupid we are.
But that's not all folks...
So-called light-hearted "tongue-in-cheek" statements are also on men's shirts, and they also compare women to dogs, joke about domestic violence and denigrate women.
· In the US, Topman released a shirt with the text "Nice new girlfriend: What breed is she?"
· In Britain, Jamrags has one that says "Calm down dear. Let's not turn this rape into murder!"
· Locally, Sportscene has a "How to get laid" t-shirt,
· They also stock another shirt that says "I put the STD in STUD. All I need us U"
· Meanwhile, Markham's opted to go with "You Looked Better From Behind!"
What shocks me, though, is that even after all the years that women have been fighting to be viewed as equal to men, it's possible that people can sell (or even think of selling) such offensive products.
Thankfully, we're in an era now when customers can, in some ways, make themselves heard as FeministsSA did when it asked its followers to boycott all Foschini stores until they had been removed.
Welcome to the 21st Century. We don't take bullshit.
