Student 'girlcott' protests Abercrombie t-shirts

[Ginny]

no body ever looks at rape victims and says "she had it coming -- look at her clothing!" except the defense lawyers and friends of the perp.

One might even argue that we should all be able to walk around naked anywhere, anytime...but the fact is, we do not and we should not. Should someone be able to walk around 1/2 dressed down a dark alley in a crime ridden city @ 2am .....someone might think so, but it is not a good idea strictly b/c the world is the way it is.

There are many things that we should be able to do, but if you have some common sense, you make the right choices.

No one ever has rape coming....of course not!!!! But one cannot argue there are certain situations in which certain people make very bad choices.....for example wearing choice clothing allowing people to draw their own conclusions about their limitations (or lack of) in regards to sexual relations. ....especially when it is in bold print right across their chest for little to no interpretation necessary.

 

[Ginny]

Was just reading about this in the paper, and the messages the shirts send is horrible, especially the "Do I make You look Fat?" shirts. Of course, this is the beauty of freedom of expression. We are free to reveal many things about our priorities.

How about "Do I make You look Skinny?"

 

[Ave Maria]

Personally, I would never give Abercrombie and Fitch a single penny of my money! I remember a few years ago my sister had a catalogue from them for either Christmas or her birthday (can't remember which) and that thing had a ton of inappropriate content in it. I can't think of a more disgusting and immoral clothing company.

 

[Billy Batson]

Personally, I would never give Abercrombie and Fitch a single penny of my money! I remember a few years ago my sister had a catalogue from them for either Christmas or her birthday (can't remember which) and that thing had a ton of inappropriate content in it. I can't think of a more disgusting and immoral clothing company.

that wasn't inappropriate content. if you think that's inappropriate content, there's a whole catalogue of materials that would make your mind implode.

 

[Diane_Windsor]

The bigger joke is on the people that spend 25 dollars on a wrinkled t-shirt that looks like it just came out of the dirty clothes... or $60 jeans that are torn everywhere......all for the sake of having A&F on their body.

Did you see Dr. Phil on Monday? He went over this with a spoiled girl who only wants to wear "name" clothes because her friends are wearing them, and that she won't wear clothes that look "cheap".

With a few words on their T-shirts, Abercrombie & Fitch lets young women send a message: "Who needs a brain when you have these?"

A group of female high school students have a message for A&F: Stop degrading us.

The Allegheny County (Pa.) Girls have started a boycott--or girlcott, as they're calling it--of the retailer. The campaign, conceived three weeks ago during the group's monthly meeting, went national Tuesday morning on NBC's "Today" show.

More power to them and I hope that more girls will be joining this girlcott.

Diane

 

[sanaa]

Who needs a brain when you have these?"

lol . i guess am one of the few ones who found this funny . i dont know if i would ever wear that coz am kind of shy but the amount of stereotyping going on in this thread is really disturbing . just because one would wear this message doesnt mean one is stupid and cannot hold an intellectual conversation ( i am in of the best colleges of my country which is really tough to get into on merit) , it also does not mean one wishes to be looked at as a mere sexual object , it could mean that the person wearing it is in wearing it in jest and to poke fun at the whole idea of women being bimbos . its like a satire.
however i do not like messages such as "i ride bareback" , i think its crass and going too far . but to each their own .
as for " milf" since the term is not used in my country i cannot comment.

 

[MidnightBlue]

Somehow we missed that acronym in my little corner of the world.

Mine, too, and when you used it and nobody explained it I had to look it up in the Wiktionary. Oddly enough, I've been familiar with the complete phrase for over thirty years; I just didn't connect it to the acronym.

I'm sure I don't want any of my kids friends referring to me in such terms.

If my impression of you is at all accurate, I'm pretty sure your kids don't have any friends stupid enough to say it to your face, and maybe not any crude enough to say it all. But it's entirely normal and very common for teenage boys to have crushes on their friends' mothers.

But about the OP: I'm not the least bit offended by topless women or bottomless men, in advertising or elsewhere, and I don't see anything at all degrading about nudity as long as the person freely chooses to be nude. I also think that while feminism is a wonderful thing, even an essential thing, it goes astray and sets girls up for problems later when it views sexuality mostly as a matter of exploitation. And I think people who are very uptight about nudity and sexuality need to relax a little -- or a lot.

One the other hand, the t-shirt mentioned in the story is inappropriate for anybody who isn't a stripper, or at the very least old enough to be a stripper. (Actually, I know a woman who has something similar; she's a stripper.) Anybody of any age who wants to dress more modestly should be encouraged to do so, and I support any teenaged girl who has the good sense to boycott overpriced merchandise and separate herself, be it ever so slightly, from our consumer culture -- even if I don't entirely agree with her reasons.

 

[MidnightBlue]

One might even argue that we should all be able to walk around naked anywhere, anytime...but the fact is, we do not and we should not.

The nudity wouldn't bother me -- on other people, I mean; I haven't been to the gym since 1977 -- but I think I'd be vaguely uncomfortable about buses and park benches.

 

[MidnightBlue]

that wasn't inappropriate content. if you think that's inappropriate content, there's a whole catalogue of materials that would make your mind implode.

That's exactly what I was thinking, but if you hadn't said anything I would have kept it to myself.

 

[wanderingone]

.

But it's entirely normal and very common for teenage boys to have crushes on their friends' mothers.

Definately... I've NO doubt teenage boys (and their fathers) have those thoughts about a variety of women (just as girls have those thoughts about men...) I can't imagine being flattered enough by such nonsense to play slave for a day in some grubby adolescent's kitchen.

My son's friends (as well as my son) are probably far more crude privately than I care to know about, but put things are fairly polite terms around the house. I'm rather fond of them but to consider anything they'd like to do other than raid my refrigerator is just rather gross.

What I want my son and daughters to know is there is a level of respect that is not shown when you crudely refer to people in sexual terms. My husband (or ex husband soon to be husband again...) and I had a wide assortment of crude little jokes shared only by us.. the kind of things are rude to say to people outside but in an intimate relationship when you know where you stand with each other are just plain funny. It's similar I think to the jokes that are okay in our house about interracial issues... we wouldn't say them "outside" because it sends the wrong message but with each other the jokes fly freely.

I don't imagine the t-shirts at A & F to cause the downfall of the free world.. and I suspect those who would wear them are the type to be flattered by the idea of someone thinking of them purely in sexual terms. I don't care about their near naked models, skin doesn't bother me, I don't REALLY care about the t-shirts other than I wouldn't allow my kids to buy them ...well the one I have who is still a kid.. the 19 and almost 21 year old are free to buy what they want and fortunately I haven't been too disappointed by their choices, my son's love affair with designer "urban" fashion is a bit alarming but it's his paycheck....

 

[feral]

Girlcott...
Rock on, girls. So the word 'boycott' comes from someone's name, what does it matter, it's cute and memorable in the fashion they are using it, and since when have Americans bothered to learn the basis of many common words? I'm proud that a group of high school girls -- the ones who usually allow themselves to be led like sheep by advertisers -- have decided to stand up for themselves and consider what messages clothiers like A&F are pushing at them. Too bad adult women like Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson and other prominent adult females tend to support the explotation of women and model acceptance of and complete submission to the politics of the mighty brand names. It takes guts for a girl who has likely received conflicting messages about her sexuality her whole life to stand up and refuse to allow someone else to define her as an object who is only valuable because of her breasts.

MILF...
Gross. I already get asked out by silly little boys ten years younger than me; it would make me sick if I had children and their friends viewed me as a sexual prospect. Is it a compliment to be thought 'worthy' of providing sexual service now? Poor little MILFs in training...they must not know any better. How sad.

 

[Billy Batson]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05308/600954.stm

the shirts are pulled.

and now, we can take bets on how high a price they fetch on e-bay!

 

[1GODALONE]

It seems sadly as though most girls in this day dont respect themselves enough. I am not at all surprised big business has decided to cash in on this lack of self respect. But that is just what I see on the outside. G.B.

 

[Jacob4Jesus]

"Girlcott," sounds like something I would hear at an Ani Difranco concert. Then again, Ani Difranco is my favorite artist, so I guess I can't say anything about that. Personally I think it sounds silly, but they probably changed the word to get attention and it seems like they succeeded.

 

[k]

Kids have been using milf since I was in school and I'm sure before then too. I would be honored to be called a milf.

The problem w/ the term is it totally reduces women to nothing more than a breathing sex-object.

 

[k]

I can't imagine a woman being so flattered by such idiocy that they'd want to clean your kitchens or cook for you...

It actually shows how much of Feminism has backfired.

 

[k]

Ok, I will address them then. I think it is good to stand up for what you believe it. Even if I disagree with someone, the fact that they will stand against the mainstream for something they feel strongly about earns my respect at the very least. I don't happen to disagree with them here, I think they are doing a good thing.

Do I think it will make a difference, not really. Sadly, not many will take it seriously. They will say "it is just clothes"...that is, until someone gets raped or harassed, and then they can say "did you see what she was wearing??? she brought it on herself." It still won't change anything though.

How am I making a difference in these situations with my own teenage daughter??? Since, at the moment, all her clothes and spending money comes from me, she won't be wearing a shirt like that. When she gets a job in a few months when she turns 16, she will not be using her money to buy a shirt like that if I can help it, and if she does...she will not wear it out of the house. As I work at her high school, she will not have the opportunity to change there either....mwahahaha *insert evil laugh here*. For us, however, it is pretty much a moot point. She would rather die than step foot in A&F anyway. She shops at PacSun pretty much exclusively, with the exception of a few sweatshirts she has stolen from my husband.

Forgive me for not seeing it, but I don't see where they were addressed.

emphasis mine

Someone posted a link already to show their girlcotting mission proved successful!!!

 

[wanderingone]

It actually shows how much of Feminism has backfired.

That's not feminism.

 

[wanderingone]

The problem w/ the term is it totally reduces women to nothing more than a breathing sex-object.

Apparently there are women who still need validation of their sexuality, feminity and value through whatever degrading means they can get it.

 

[k]

That's not feminism.

Oh, I know it's not Feminism, but it shows how much of Feminism has backfired because some women confuse sexuality with uplifting a subjugated group.