More on t-shirts

Three of my favorite feminist women, Jessica at Feministing, Jill at Feministe, and Amanda at Pandagon are all responding to a new batch of particularly offensive t-shirts, designed for teen girls,  from major retailers  with various slogans like "I'm too pretty to do math".  (Check Amanda's blog for more examples.)

Immodestly, I'm going to redirect readers interested in the current t-shirt controversy to this post of mine from July 27, 2004:  Waterparks. And the T-Shirt.  I wrote the post about the "I had an abortion" t-shirts, about which I feel much the same way as the others currently up for debate.  (I suspect some of my feminist allies may seem them as quite different.)  In any event, though I've continued to modify my views on reproductive rights since I wrote the t-shirt post, I continue to stand by my hostile assessment of the phenomenon.  Here's part of what I wrote back then that may still be relevant:

It was about 1997 or 1998 when I began to see the most remarkable slogans showing up on the fitted t-shirts of my female students: "Porn Star". "Juicy." "Real American Bitch." "I Just Slept with your Boyfriend" (I've seen gay men where these too, but I see 'em more often on women; I've seen other verbs besides "slept" as well.) "Too Hot to Handle". "You Know you Wanna Touch." There are probably others (you can mention them in the comments section) but those have lingered in my memory. I associate all this with the banal and infuriating "girl power" movement; largely a creation of advertisers, it sold young women a message of empowerment through shock and sexuality. Adolescents love to upset adults; this adult initially found it difficult to know how to deal with female students whose t-shirts read "You Know you Wanna Touch". (I do a splendid job of affecting blindness in such situations nowadays.)

What I disliked about these shirts was not so much their brazenness as their rank commercialism. Nothing genuinely radical, edgy, or dangerous is sold at Abercrombie and Fitch or Urban Outfitters (two known sources of said shirts; no doubt, there are others.) Newsflash, kiddies: The fact that it horrifies your parents doesn't make it any less a product of the very same corporate America in which your parents are investing. What these places sell is the cleverly marketed opportunity to outrage the older generation while simultaneously offering a superficially feminist message. The message is "Only a bold, strong, brave young woman who doesn't care about conforming to stereotypes would wear a shirt like this. Thus if you wear this shirt, you bear witness to your fiery, indominatable, wild grrl soul." Please. What you bear witness to, darlin', is nothing more than your own socially constructed insecurity, and any sensible person over 25 is abundantly aware of that.

Comments

[Caitriona]

Hugo, I agree about the tshirts. Here in Texas, the more popular ones are those that the MRAs would hate, though - "Cowgirls rule, cowboys obey," etc.

[sophonisba]

Please. What you bear witness to, darlin', is nothing more than your own socially constructed insecurity, and any sensible person over 25 is abundantly aware of that.

Well, if anyone wonders what a reasonably intelligent teenager could get out of wearing a tshirt that says in effect, "Ha ha! I am a stupid slut!" - read the sentence above and look no further. I don't know of any provocation to middle-aged people that's that effortless and that successful.

The message is "Only a bold, strong, brave young woman who doesn't care about conforming to stereotypes would wear a shirt like this. Thus if you wear this shirt, you bear witness to your fiery, indominatable, wild grrl soul."

No. Really, really, no. The message is, "I can piss you off without lifting a finger." And they can.

[Jenny K]

"The message is, "I can piss you off without lifting a finger." And they can."

Quite often yes, but that's hardly the hallmark of being "reasonably intelligent" is it? (Although not always an indication of the opposite either.)

Besides, if that was all the t-shirts were about, then A&F would also be selling stuff like Happy Bunny's "my teacher made me stupid", "have a great day you worthless turd", and "I love boys they're stupid" none of which are likely to endear one to most authority figures.

So, while the girls who wear them may simply be wearing them to rebell against their elders, A&F (unlike Jim Benton) isn't really trying to be funny or subversive. Ok, they may be trying to be funny, but they aren't really succeeding, since most of the t-shirts are funniest on people outside of their target demographic. Like a guy wearing "No Money. No Car. No Chance."

Plus, since it was a group of teen girls who decided to boycott A&F, apparently some teen girls think that when it comes to t-shirts like "I'm too pretty to do math" the joke is often at their expense.

[The Gonzman]

"Cowgirls rule, cowboys obey,"

Well, when I see such shirts, I regard it as the female equivalent of a man wearing one that says, "Hung like a horse." I tend to ask, "Whatcha compensating for, toots?" (As for me, my "empowerment clothing" is my kilt. A link to me in the Feleidh Mor upon request. Sadly, I don't have one of me in the Clan Johnstone wee kilt online that I know of - it's really pretty impressive.)

C'mon, Hugo, throw us MRA's a bone, brother. Mention the David & Goliath crap. I'm sure even we all can agree that anyone who wears a shirt to build themselves up by tearing someone else down has serious issues where their money would be best spent on meds and therapy instead of wardrobe.

At least I hope so.

[The Gonzman]

Well, I did it again.

[Caitriona]

Gonz, the girls I usually see wearing those tshirts seem to think they're more humorous than anything else. Even the cowboys they're hanging out with think they're humorous, especially considering the narrow possibility that a cowboy will be obeying anyone. But we still don't let our daughter have them.

I'll have to see if I can dig up some photos of Chewy in his McLeod of Lewis with the Prince Charlie.

OK, I'm not in such a mood now. mmmmm.... the smell of freshly cut soap! Makes a person feel refreshed! Our exchange student made her first batch of soap 3 weeks ago. It's been curing since then. We just cut it tonight. Goats milk soap with honey... smells great.

[bmmg39]

Cait: "Hugo, I agree about the tshirts. Here in Texas, the more popular ones are those that the MRAs would hate, though - 'Cowgirls rule, cowboys obey,' etc."

Glad you've mentioned that.

Jenny K: "Besides, if that was all the t-shirts were about, then A&F would also be selling stuff like Happy Bunny's 'my teacher made me stupid', 'have a great day you worthless turd', and 'I love boys they're stupid' none of which are likely to endear one to most authority figures."

I am going to kill that little bunny.
I am going to kill that little bunny.
I am going to kill that little bunny.

Cait: "Gonz, the girls I usually see wearing those tshirts seem to think they're more humorous than anything else. Even the cowboys they're hanging out with think they're humorous, especially considering the narrow possibility that a cowboy will be obeying anyone. But we still don't let our daughter have them."

Thank you. And maybe some of the girls who wear them ARE only teasing, but I don't think we'd care what a boy's motivations were if he were wearing a shirt that suggested that girls be submissive, or that they're stupid or expendable. We'd just tell him to knock it off. And people who wear "boys are stupid" (et al) should think about what that message would sound like going the other way.

boy genteel

[The Gonzman]

Well, my Grandpappy had a test of reversing the races, etc, to see if a statement was offensive. So, with that in mind, I made a David and Goliath Parody a while back:

http://www.geocities.com/ibcpete/dandgparody1.gif

Hmm ... does that seem ... humorous?

And 3 weeks to cure soap? Jeez, I cut and wax paper the lye soap I make in maybe 3 days. Is that some other recipe?

[Snowe]

Those t-shirts make me foam at the mouth. They are degrading to men and women; the shirts paint men as idiots led by their penises, and women as bitchy, manipulative sex symbols. If those awful things are still around when I have children, and my child tries to wear something like that...that child will be grounded for a month. I also hate the ones they sell at Spencer's. I saw one that had a pic of a bird, a dog, and then a bird; underneath it said "swallow bitch swallow". I felt physically ill and walked out of the store; I haven't been back in since. The coercive undertones of the shirt were apalling, but, luckily, I've never seen anyone wearing one.

[Uzzah]

I'm reminded of the Glenn Sacks campaign to bring attention to the "Boy are stupid, throw rocks at them" tee shirts.

http://www.glennsacks.com/why_i_launched.htm

See? Glenn Sacks does have some things in common with feminists...:>)

[Jenny K]

Ok, let's try (~hand waving~) italics off!

Did that work?

"I am going to kill that little bunny."

The one thing I do have to say for Happy Bunny is that the subversiveness isn't so much in the message, but in the fact that it's a cute little bunny saying it. It's more about the idea that kids, who are supposed to be all cute and adorable, and girls especially, who are supposed to be all nice and sweet, aren't, and that even the ones that are don't really feel that way all the time, and yet don't always have the opportunity or communication skills to express their frustrations appropriately.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of "boys are stupid" shirt, stickers, etc. Although I do feel the need to add that while there is enough mutual boys/girls are stupid in grade school now that the implications of "_ are stupid" is pretty interchangable, the "boys are stupid, throw rocks at them" would read differently if it said girls because of the differing levels of agression each gender is usually assumed to have. That doesn't make the shirt any less stupid, though.

[Antigone]

Hey, be nice to the Happy bunny. I really like the "My teacher made me stupid" a concise summation of how I feel the public school system sucked a good deal of my creativity and drive out of my very being.

But yeah, I think this may be where MRA and feminists can agree: those shirts suck. I especially hate those "boys are stupid" shirts... I don't think guys get a copout on their intelligence levels, men and women have equal capacity for intelligence (or idiocy). Besides, weren't we supposed to leave this "boys vs. girl" mentality back in grade school?

Ick, I hate capitalism.

[evil_fizz]

The thing that irritates me the most about these t-shirts are the people who say "What are you upset about? Can't you take a joke?" To which I would like to respond, sure, I'll laugh at things that are genuinely funny, not things that are trite plays on insulting stereotypes in the name of faux empowerment/irony.

Now, if your t-shirt says "sic hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes" ("if you can read this, you're over educated" in Latin), then I'll giggle.

[mythago]

But yeah, I think this may be where MRA and feminists can agree: those shirts suck.

Word. I wouldn't let my kids wear them. I point them out to my daughters and ask "How do you think your little brother would feel if he saw you wearing that?", and they get it.

[evil_fizz]

and responding to consumer pressure, A&F is pulling their shirts. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05308/600954.stm

[Jonathan Versen("HZ")]

I guess I should go back to reading you more often. (I get overwhelmed by all the stuff that's out there, etc.)

Being coarse proves you exist? Obviously it doesn't.This reminds me of when I left a message(when I was still blogging under a pseudonym) at "Jesus's General", criticizing his humor and suggesting he wasn't funny, that going on and on about how cultural conservatives were CLEARLY gay was a tiresome shtick, that although it probably is occasionally true, hammering away at it ad nauseum suggested a certain whistling past the graveyard aspect, that making fun of someone for(perhaps)being slightly more messed up than yourself, wasn't humor but neurosis. To his credit,
"JG" left my comments up, but some of his commenters naturally challenged my character, etc.

Your commenters, however, do seem to get it. The only nagging thought for me is that your definition of a "sensible person over 25" suggests, in practice, that there are far too few of them out there. It would be nice to be wrong about that.

[Amanda Marcotte]

One thing that I find infuriating but historically interesting is tracing how this girl power attitude crap was essentially co-opting from a genuine feminist movement in riot grrl. Riot grrls woul directly confront the attempts to submit female sexuality to patriarchal control by creating handmade T-shirts that said things like "cunt" and "slut" and "I like f*cking". (Which is also the title of a Bikini Kill song that's actually not all that good.) Even though their message was raw and DIY enough that it seems hard to misinterpret, they got misinterpreted. "Girl power" was a direct ripoff of that, but as typical with co-option, drained of all meaning. And this is a step further.

[bmmg39]

Jenny K: "That said, I'm not a huge fan of 'boys are stupid' shirt, stickers, etc. Although I do feel the need to add that while there is enough mutual boys/girls are stupid in grade school now that the implications of '_ are stupid' is pretty interchangable, the 'boys are stupid, throw rocks at them' would read differently if it said 'girls' because of the differing levels of agression each gender is usually assumed to have. That doesn't make the shirt any less stupid, though."

I'm glad we agree on the vacuous, harmful nature of those T-shirts. I'd like to comment, though, on the "differing levels of aggression" point. I think that girls are being encouraged, more and more, to be aggressive, physically and otherwise. (Not just assertive, which would be fine, but aggressive.) The David & Goliath shirts are just the tip of the iceberg.

If you lived around here, I could give you the tour of products you can buy in this area that tear down boys (and grown men, too, which children also see). Those who frequent this blog have read my rants on the television shows that depict violence against men/boys (or "accidental" pain to men/boys) as a barrel of laughs.

I read on another board today of a woman who watched an episode of AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS (and all people involved with that show are going to burn in hell if there is one). There was a (likely staged) video in which a seven-year-old boy fell off of a balance beam and hurt himself in an embarrassing place. The audience loved it, and the video camera even panned to the boy's mother, who was on the ground, laughing. Then, she showed him how to stand on the beam properly, when, yup, she fell, too (yeah, right), and hurt herself in the same place. The woman writing online noticed that NO ONE in the audience was laughing this time.

Me? I wouldn't laugh at EITHER ONE. The question is: if others are horrified by the mother getting hurt, why were they roaring in the aisles the first time?

The, er, "gentleman" who came up with the "Boys Are Stupid" shirts denies that they're in any way sexist. Then, when asked if he had plans to come out with "Girls Are Stupid" shirts, he immediately said no, because such shirts would be sexist. Go figure.

Many parents still teach their son never to hit a girl, but teach their girl to hurt any boy who bothers them (verbally -- I don't mean true self-defense). There's a vast difference between sticking up for yourself and crossing the line toward assault.

Antigone: "Besides, weren't we supposed to leave this 'boys vs. girl' mentality back in grade school?"

I think that's kind of the idea of the shirt: they're emulating things little girls might say. But boys say some of the same things about girls, and the guy would never create misogynistic shirts for boys to wear. (Not that I'd support that, either, just for the record.)

When I was in a band, I fashioned a few T-shirts to wear that would go well with gigs. One says, simply, BOY POWER! It's half a joke and half a serious message. That's what being an MRA means to me: I'm sticking up for my gender without being insulting to the other one.

fizz: "The thing that irritates me the most about these t-shirts are the people who say 'What are you upset about? Can't you take a joke?' To which I would like to respond, sure, I'll laugh at things that are genuinely funny, not things that are trite plays on insulting stereotypes in the name of faux empowerment/irony."

That's what I say: "Why, yes, I DO have a sense of humor. I like making people laugh and I've been told I'm good at it. And my sense of humor enables me to distinguish what's funny from what's not funny. If I DIDN'T have a sense of humor, I might have laughed at that, because I wouldn't know any better."

There's so much humor out there, even self-effacing humor, without making girls out to be sex toys or boys like morons and punching bags. I saw a girl wearing one that said, "Note to self: pink insulation is not cotton candy." See? Anybody could wear that.

mythago: "I point them out to my daughters and ask 'How do you think your little brother would feel if he saw you wearing that?', and they get it."

Good for you, although here I point to one of the keychains that would be part of the aforementioned tour: "Sure, guys have feelings too, but who cares?"

boy genteel
Stop Abuse For EVERYONE
www.safe4all.org

[Caitriona]

And 3 weeks to cure soap? Jeez, I cut and wax paper the lye soap I make in maybe 3 days. Is that some other recipe?

We could have cut it sooner, but it still takes a minimum of 3 weeks for the curing process so that you can use the soap without it being too harsh on the skin. I've seen some recipes that require as many as 5 weeks, just to be on the safe side. I've never seen a recipe that requires fewer than 3 weeks.

[The Gonzman]

Ah, that's what you mean. I thought it was still too soft to cut when I read it.

[Breadfish]

I see a lot of those shirts here on my university campus, usually on the sorority types. I wonder what kind of impression these girls think they're making on their professors. Do you really think your 50-something philosophy prof is going to be inclined to take you even remotely sincere when you've got "Shake your Buddah" written across your bust?

And then they get upset when people accuse them of not taking their education seriously or of being stupid. Some of them even cry sexism. Well, if you have that sort of crap plastered across your chest, of course people are going to assume you have the intellectual capacity of a chimpanzee!

[Creeping Jenny]

Breadfish, even if a shirt is dumb, and will cause people to be nasty to the person wearing it, that doesn't mean people are justified in being nasty to the person wearing it. It's incredibly inappropriate for a professor to assume that just because his/her student is wearing a tight top with a slogan across it, the student is dumb and intellectually unmotivated. It's not like tight tops make your brains mysteriously vaporize.

And I don't see anything wrong with "Shake your Buddah". There's nothing inherently patriarchy-reinforcing about bootie-shaking, or Bhuddism: that shirt would make perfect sense in a nonsexist world.

[Breadfish]

It's not just the shirt, CJ, it's the shirt plus the short skirt plus the makeup applied with a spackling knife plus the gum-chewing and ipod and the being-permanently-glued-to-a-cellphone.

Frankly, I'm not that impressed with them either...

[Andrea]

I remember once a friend gave a little homily for a youth activity saying, "modesty is about improved relationships." Maybe this is the thread that ties together Breadfish and Creeping Jenny's positions. Yes, it's our shared responsibility to see past exterior characteristics, including tasteless T-shirts. But this is a work in progress for the most idealistic of us, and many more don't share this goal. So to optimize, say, a teacher-student relationship, wearing a crude T-shirt and skanky shorts is probably a tactical error. In a perfect world, professors would disregard this offensive appearance and seek to plumb the depths of every student's intellect. But in this world, for now, the student must choose carefully what impression she (or he) cares to give, and accept that reactions will vary accordingly.

p.s. - "Shake your Buddha" may not be demeaning in terms of gender, but it's still puerile and demeaning.

[Creeping Jenny]

I've got nothing against prudently dressing to one's own advantage, and nothing really in favor of those vapid T-shirts. But I still think that if a teacher fails to take a student's work seriously because the student has no dress sense, the teacher has failed to do his/her job properly. It's not just that the teacher is non-ideal, it's that the teacher has actively screwed up, and the student has a legitimate grievance.

Also, what's wrong with "Shake your Buddha"? Non trying to be a jerk here, I actually don't know. Is it supposed to be worn by WASP kids to make fun of Buddhism? I assumed that the intended wearer would be a Buddhist who was proud of his/her culture/religion.