Fashion Faux Pas

Hi, I'm Sue. When I'm in the airport and glance at the magazine rack, I have no interest in their offereings - People, Glamour, InStyle... So I just download the latest issue of Wired to my iPad. And I am an Anomaly.

I've never claimed to be fashionable. I'm like the opposite of fashionable. "Dressing up," for me, involves wearing jeans instead of sweatpants. Okay, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but not much. At any rate, a couple years ago, I started noticing young girls - probably under 13 - wearing shirts that said "FLIRT" or "SLUT" or "TEASE" in glitter, usually paired with some "fashion" sweatpants that said "JUICY" across the butt. Since then, a lot has been said about the over-sexualization of pre-teen girls. Personally, I thought was the low point of "fashion." Hey, girls! Make sure all the boys know you're easy! That's how to get through life! Just... ew.

But then, earlier today on Twitter (thanks to @BadAstronomer via @MightyMur), I realized that we (that's a societal "we") are not just promoting the sexualization of girls, but also discouraging their intellect. Check out this "back to school" offering from JC Penney:

This t-shirt is being marketed to 7-16 year-old girls, with a product description that reads:

Who has time for homework when there’s a new Justin Bieber album out? She’ll love this tee that’s just as cute and sassy as she is.

(And it has 14 likes on Facebook. FAIL!)

So, what can we take from the text on this shirt? For starters...
I'm pretty, so I don't have to be smart.
Smart girls are ugly.
Boys are smarter than girls.

Because I'm pretty, people should do things for me.

I don't have to worry about personal responsibility.

I'll just get a man to do things for me.

There have already been numerous articles about this (here's one from Skepchick) and there's a Change.org petition. I went to the JC Penney website, looking for this shirt, and it looks like it is no longer for sale (good job, geeks!), but you should be able to view a cached copy here. (If that link stops working, let me know - I took a screenshot.)

The worst part, in my opinion, is how long this type of thing has been going on. Remember those talking Barbies from back in the day? "Teen Talk Barbie." One of the phrases that Barbie said was "Math Class is TOUGH!" and then proceeded to ask "Do you have a crush on anyone?" There was a huge outcry and the doll was recalled because the idea that "math is hard for girls" should not be fed to girls of any age. And that was 1992. Almost 20 years later, we're dealing with these same stereotypes on a t-shirt.

It's okay to be a good student, and do your homework, and be responsible. Being smart doesn't make you not-pretty. And bring conventionally "pretty" isn't the be-all and end-all. And don't ever even imply to a young girl or any woman that she doesn't have to worry about school, homework, professionalism, responsibility, intelligence because she can "get by on her looks." It's disgusting.

Sue

Staff Writer for Anomaly

Co-Host of Anomaly Supplemental

(B.A. Pure & Applied Mathematics)

Subscribe to Anomaly on iTunes

Here's a video of that "Teen Talk Barbie":

UPDATE:

JC Penney is discontinuing the sale of this shirt and pulling it from stores. They have issued the following statement:

jcpenney is committed to being America's destination for great style and great value for the whole family. We agree that the “Too pretty” t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale. Our merchandise is intended to appeal to a broad customer base, not to offend them. We would like to apologize to our customers and are taking action to ensure that we continue to uphold the integrity of our merchandise that they have come to expect.

Sadly, this does not change the fact that the same incorrect notions that we dealt with in 1992 are being served up to a new generation in 2011.