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J.C. Penney's new tees are demeaning to young girls
Retailer pulls one T-shirt over parental backlash but other insulting shirts still available for sale.
Thu, Sep 01 2011 at 10:47 AM
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What were they thinking?
J.C. Penney recently released a new lineup of girls' T-shirts as part of its fall line that is so insulting to young girls it just makes me want to scream!
So far, the biggest controversy has swelled around a white, long-sleeve T-shirt (the shirt pictured on the left) that reads: "I'm too pretty to do my homework so my brother has to do it for me." The product description on the J.C. Penney website was even worse: "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."
Seriously? This T-shirt sends all the wrong messages to girls — that it's important to be pretty, that it's more important to be pretty than to be smart, and than it's not possble to be both pretty AND smart.
Infuriating! This goes against everything that parents are trying to teach their daughters.
J.C. Penney was apparently not anticipating the parental backlash over this shirt that swelled up over the last two days. In an effort to make nice, the retailer removed this shirt on Wednesday and issued this statement:
"J.C. Penney 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."
But I still don't think they quite get it. Case in point, the pink T-shirt (pictured on the right) that is still available for sale on the J.C. Penney website. The shirt reads, "My best subjects: Boys, Shopping, Music, Dancing." Give me a break.
So now back to my original question. What were the folks at J.C. Penney thinking when they rubber-stamped this new line up of tees? They clearly don't think very highly of young girls if they think that these are the T-shirts they would and should be wearing. And that's exactly why my young girls won't be wearing these shirts, or any shirts, from J.C. Penney for the foreseeable future.
What do you think about these new tees? Innocent or infuriating?
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They have the exact same shirt as the white one for boys at Kohl's and no one complains about that. It is the same demeaning message and that shirt has been on sale for years. I am not saying that this shirt isn't bad because I am a female and I see why this is wrong, but may as well protest it all. This is not the first time retailers have done this
I agree completely. People only seem to complain about sexism against females, and they don't seem to notice that there is just as much sexism against males, but it's totally acceptable, and therefore unnoticed.
This is one of those instances in which parents need to
a) realize that it's a joke, and
b) explain to their daughters that it's a joke and they should not model their lives after such statements.
If sex is what JC needs to make a profit, their future is in question.
How does sex come into this?
I find it ridiculous that a company would think this sort of marketing is permissible. I personally wouldn't shop at JC Penny any way but that is just me.