So only we ugly girls went to college and became rocket scientists or other types of graduates? It sure as hell wouldn't have happened if my brother had done my homework.
I work in a major dept store chain (not JCP) and I've seen way worse than this. Not that this isn't also bad/stupid/ridiculous. But some of the stuff they're selling for pre-teen and teen boys is beyond horrid.
As a lawyer, and the daughter of a lawyer mother who asked me every day how my homework was going, I find this unbelievably offensive. Not to mention it's a butt-ugly shirt.
Change Pretty to Cute and I can see my 2nd grade grand daughter wearing it while her 12yr old brother laughs his ass off at her.
Both of my daughters' are beautiful, they are both college grads, the older with a Masters in Speech. My two sons needed their help to get out of high school. Although older son has 2 masters degrees, and younger has masters in hospital administration.
Y'all need to lighten up, that is comedy right there. Why are people so overly sensitive these days? Just breathe and relax, it's ok that not everybody has the same ethic/outlook/humor as you.
Good god1 I can't believe they would make a shirt like this! The truth is, girls like to trade blowjobs for homework. Brothers are assholes and like to mess stuff up for you on purpose. Geeks that think they're going to get head do it right *every* time.
I'm insulted by this tee-shirt for obvious reasons, and also because my twin brother got his homework from pretty me.
It's offensive to women regardless of what they look like. As a mom, raising a tween daughter and a Girl Scout Leader, there must be something we can do about this. I plan to find out.
Between that and the new television lineup of Playboy Bunnies and Pan Am stewardesses, I'm convinced the world's is in a time warp reversal. Time to put the Bic lighter to the D cup again.
Those fuckin' dawgs... I never did my sister's homework and she was pretty... in fact, I never did my homework (and I'm not pretty)... so I'm pissed... and would be more so... if I weren't illiterate... and could actually read... Reid!
I'M TOO PRETTY TO DO HOMEWORK SO... ...I'll be supported by a rich man for a while, but when he dumps me for a younger woman, I won't have any education or useful skills!
Oh, sorry. I have a vagina, so my brother wrote this comment for me. I don't understand things like technology, or math, or writing, but like all women, I am adept at manipulating men. Ta ta, must go shopping for shoes now. *kiss kiss*
Hmmm...if I left my brother do my homework, I would be a high school dropout like him and not a college graduate. That said, there is a TON of garbage sayings on shirts for guys and girls out there and as a parent, I just simply don't buy them. I don't let my daughter wear shortie shorts or my son wear droopy drawers and I don't buy clothing with obnoxious or rude sayings on them. I have a teen and pre-teen and they know that their parents have standards so they don't even ask to wear that kind of crap.
If people would stop buying this stuff, stores would stop selling. I think in this age of turning the Jersey Shore cast and Kardashian family into celebrities, we have brought this on ourselves by telling retailers that we like this stuff.
Are you sure this isn't a hipster shirt, meant to be worn ironically? Even so, I can see this having a negative effect on the too-young-for-ironic-fashion set. Rage on.
Perhaps this, garment, was manufactured in a sweatshop in Saudi Arabia? Brothers, uncles and fathers have to do everything for the pretty girls there...
As a father of a young daughter, I'd much rather have her wear that and a pair of jeans instead of getting all dolled up with makeup, a short skirt, and a too-type blouse.
1. It places a premium on beauty. 2. It undervalues intelligence, especially in young girls. 3. Its message is that it is better to be pretty than smart. 4. It insinuates that smart girls are ugly. 5. It undervalues education. 6. It implies that men are smarter than women. 7. It implies that girls can skate by on looks and have no need to apply themselves to less superficial goals.
I could keep going, but I have homework to do for my graduate program (really, I do). I wish women would pay closer attention to the unintentional messages they may be sending their daughters.
I love the men coming in here to say "Oh, calm down, it's just a joke."
It's a shitty sexist joke on a shirt made for girls under 12. GIRLS UNDER 12. What kind of a message is that sending, and how is it funny?
Seriously, how is it "funny" for a parent to buy a shirt for a child that belittles that child's intellectual abilities? I love me some humor, including some edgy humor, and the funniness of a parent buying clothes for a child that imply that that child is stupid is somehow lost on me.
Someone needs to let the CEO at JC Pennys know that more women than men are now getting college and graduate degrees so we know damn well how to do our homework. We also have plenty of buying power so it would behoove the store’s buyers not to offend potential spenders.
This revolts me. And the fact that it passed all the filters necessary to make it into the world completely baffles me. It's tossing around idiotic BS like this in everyday life that perpetuates the inferiority myth.
"As a father of a young daughter, I'd much rather have her wear that and a pair of jeans instead of getting all dolled up with makeup, a short skirt, and a too-type blouse."
But aren't both outfits expressing the same sentiment? "I'm a girl so my only value is in my appearance." As a mother of two young daughters, I would be horrified at either.
Thrilled that JCP was pressured into getting rid of those.
Aw, come on people, it’s a t-shirt, not cancer for Christ’s sake. The vitriol against this piece of cloth is ridiculous.
Are my daughter’s pretty, yes, are they smart, yes, three grad degrees between them. They had to be smart because they don’t have a brother, (that was a joke), and they do have me as their mother.
Don’t be too ugly to laugh. I don’t get it. You post pictures of folks that have lost their homes and then get made because of a t-shirt? If you lost everything and were wet and cold you’d put that stupid t-shirt on and you’d feel mighty warm and glad you had it.
It's as bad as PINK splashed across a young girl's behind, and at the average age of eight, she didn't buy it for herself. No. People are stupid. The world is full of stupid people, and I'm sick of them.
My grandmother would be livid if she saw that shirt. She was the only female in her law school class. Guess whose notes the other students wanted?
My middle school daughter said the shirt was stupid. I asked if she had a brother would she let him do her homework.
"No. He would probably write all the wrong answers down."
She elected to take an additional science class this year. Teacher recommendation is required. There are ten girls and three boys in the class. I guarantee the girls, not their brothers, will do the research papers and projects.
The flip side of this that no one seems to get, is that it's bashing males as well. It's saying that men have to do all the work for women, as if that's all they're good for. The shirt would be offensive enough if it only said 'I'm too pretty to do homework,' but it adds the dig at men. I'm for equality, and something that many feminazis forget, is that you do not have to bash or emasculate men to celebrate and promote women.
Reading these responses - Oh dear God, I feel like I'm back in College hearing about why my vagina has kept me from getting 40% less salary for the same job. And why my ability to have multiple orgasms is threatening to men.
Here I am 40...ish and I haven't met a single man offended at multiple orgasms. I've never made 40% less than a man in my life. And if I had a banging ass and pair of awesome breasts, I sure as hell would use them to my advantage because you can bet your Heineken men are using everything within their means to get what they want, golf lessons on the weekends, season tickets to the Yankees they never seem to be able to use. They might not be flaunitng their junk, but if they thought it would get them a raise, they'd do it in a second.
It's a t-shirt that says to me - watch out boys/men, in 20 years I'll be your boss.
It is just a t-shirt with a sexist statement that a lot of people find offensive, but it's not clear to me that being offended justifies censorship. Laughing at it, great. Not buying it, yes mam.
Of course I hate the shirt, but how is it worse than the myriad slogan shirts advertising "slut" and worse?
I don't have any compulsion to defend the store more than any other, but the problem of identity is far wider-reaching than one product at a department store near the bottom of the trickle-down fashion world.
Of course I hate the shirt, but how is it worse than the myriad slogan shirts advertising "slut" and worse?
I haven't seen those marketed to children under 12; if I see a major US retailer marketing those to children under 12, I will be sure to express my disdain for them and to them.
Children in 1st grade don't need to be wearing shirts mocking their intellectual ability on any basis, particularly the basis of gender.
72 comments:
Yikes!
So only we ugly girls went to college and became rocket scientists or other types of graduates? It sure as hell wouldn't have happened if my brother had done my homework.
What the crap? That is...horrible. And infuriating. ~Ali
I work in a major dept store chain (not JCP) and I've seen way worse than this. Not that this isn't also bad/stupid/ridiculous. But some of the stuff they're selling for pre-teen and teen boys is beyond horrid.
I hope the brother puts down all the wrong answers on purpose. I would.
Because everyone knows girls are only here to look pretty. They don't need silly things like brains, am I right?
Ugh. I hope no one buys that for their kid.
REALLY? You know what really makes me mad, some jerk got PAID to "WRITE" that.
As a lawyer, and the daughter of a lawyer mother who asked me every day how my homework was going, I find this unbelievably offensive. Not to mention it's a butt-ugly shirt.
Eww. Just...eww.
Grr. I'm too smart to shop at JC Penney!
Change Pretty to Cute and I can see my 2nd grade grand daughter wearing it while her 12yr old brother laughs his ass off at her.
Both of my daughters' are beautiful, they are both college grads, the older with a Masters in Speech. My two sons needed their help to get out of high school. Although older son has 2 masters degrees, and younger has masters in hospital administration.
Sadly, my sister has paid me 50 bucks to do her homework.
She got a C+. I got 50 bucks.
I think it's actually ironic? Because no one can be pretty in that godawful sweatshirt.
(Captcha says "cheat", btw. Apropos.)
Everybody needs to send J.C. Penney's CEO a 100-word story with the following words:
infantile
sweatshop
shark
shit-fer-brains
lawsuit
Ready. Set. Write.
Just speechless!
The link now says item is unavailable. Could they have taken it down? Hopefully?!
Y'all need to lighten up, that is comedy right there. Why are people so overly sensitive these days? Just breathe and relax, it's ok that not everybody has the same ethic/outlook/humor as you.
Dislike.
What the heck are we teaching these days?
You beat me to it, Valerie! :)
But seriously. Who has time to shop at JC Penney when there's a new Justin Bieber album out?!
Where's the "I'm too good at sports to do homework so I just threaten a geek with a beating to get him to do it for me" shirt?
Good god1 I can't believe they would make a shirt like this! The truth is, girls like to trade blowjobs for homework. Brothers are assholes and like to mess stuff up for you on purpose. Geeks that think they're going to get head do it right *every* time.
This explains why I had to do my homework every night. In the words of Judge Judy, "Beauty fades, but dumb is forever."
I did my brother's homework.
I wonder whether the brother did the shirt as an art class assignment. Wait, they don't have art classes anymore!
I'm just going to go throw up into my Honors Philosophy textbook now.
I think JC Penney just called me ugly.
Somehow, I'm okay with that.
I'm insulted by this tee-shirt for obvious reasons, and also because my twin brother got his homework from pretty me.
It's offensive to women regardless of what they look like. As a mom, raising a tween daughter and a Girl Scout Leader, there must be something we can do about this. I plan to find out.
What's next in the JC Penney youth collection, "I'm too gay to play football"? "I'm too fat to be popular"?
Some of the stuff for babies out there is even worse. I saw a baby boy's romper silk-screened with "Hung like a 5-year-old."
Who buys this garbage?
Between that and the new television lineup of Playboy Bunnies and Pan Am stewardesses, I'm convinced the world's is in a time warp reversal. Time to put the Bic lighter to the D cup again.
This is bad, because we all know how JC Penney sets trends. Oh, wait...
This is the kind of crap that sets EVERYONE back a few decades.
Words have power, even if they are printed on cheap-ass shirts.
Just tried to look at the other one. Seems to be "unavailable"...maybe they've learned something...
Good for you, Janet! Maybe enough readers saw your post and clobbered Penney's. THey've since removed the item from their website.
In a few years they should offer a trade in policy for that shirt for one that says 'i dance naked for creepy old men to pay for my meth habit'
According to the Washington Post, JC Penney has taken the shirts down due to customer complaints:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/jcpenney-promotes-im-too-pretty-to-do-homework-shirt/2011/08/31/gIQAxFD4rJ_blog.html
The shark has spoken and JCP listened, the link now leads to:
We are sorry, but this product is not available at this time.
Nice work, Janet.
Those fuckin' dawgs... I never did my sister's homework and she was pretty... in fact, I never did my homework (and I'm not pretty)... so I'm pissed... and would be more so... if I weren't illiterate... and could actually read... Reid!
Way to attack... decide and conquer!
I'M TOO PRETTY TO DO HOMEWORK SO...
...I'll be supported by a rich man for a while, but when he dumps me for a younger woman, I won't have any education or useful skills!
Oh, sorry. I have a vagina, so my brother wrote this comment for me. I don't understand things like technology, or math, or writing, but like all women, I am adept at manipulating men. Ta ta, must go shopping for shoes now. *kiss kiss*
Hmmm...if I left my brother do my homework, I would be a high school dropout like him and not a college graduate. That said, there is a TON of garbage sayings on shirts for guys and girls out there and as a parent, I just simply don't buy them. I don't let my daughter wear shortie shorts or my son wear droopy drawers and I don't buy clothing with obnoxious or rude sayings on them. I have a teen and pre-teen and they know that their parents have standards so they don't even ask to wear that kind of crap.
If people would stop buying this stuff, stores would stop selling. I think in this age of turning the Jersey Shore cast and Kardashian family into celebrities, we have brought this on ourselves by telling retailers that we like this stuff.
"Beauty fades, but dumb is forever."
I've known quite a few women like that... lots, in fact.
When they turn a corner, and it happens quickly, then the "I'm being *picked* on" BS starts.
Let them fall flat on their faces, and the sooner the better. The ones with a few brains will pick themselves up and reconsider.
What alarms me about this shirt is that someone's parent would buy it for them. What message is that sending to your kid?
Tell us what you really feel, Janet...
As the dad of a 12-year-old girl, I have to agree -- silly as it may seem, it sends an awful message to young girls.
OMG,that's SO offensive.
JCP should have their Federal t-shirt licence revoked.
I'm so TOTALLY freaked I can hardly think.
Are you sure this isn't a hipster shirt, meant to be worn ironically? Even so, I can see this having a negative effect on the too-young-for-ironic-fashion set. Rage on.
This is sexism imprinting.
but
if it said, "I'm too pretty to do HOUSEWORK so my brother has to do it for me." I think I'd buy that one.
I've got two daughters, and they are now both officially too fucking smart AND pretty to shop at JC Penny.
EVER.
Perhaps this, garment, was manufactured in a sweatshop in Saudi Arabia? Brothers, uncles and fathers have to do everything for the pretty girls there...
As a father of a young daughter, I'd much rather have her wear that and a pair of jeans instead of getting all dolled up with makeup, a short skirt, and a too-type blouse.
Calm down, people.
JC Penny pulled the shirt. Heres a link to The Frisky website which has a copy of the response from JC Penny.
http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-kill-me-now-please-jc-penneys-im-too-pretty-to-do-homework-t-shirt-for-/
Wow, thanks for sharing this! Even though it's now been pulled, it's good to know.
What are people thinking?
My problems with this shirt:
1. It places a premium on beauty.
2. It undervalues intelligence, especially in young girls.
3. Its message is that it is better to be pretty than smart.
4. It insinuates that smart girls are ugly.
5. It undervalues education.
6. It implies that men are smarter than women.
7. It implies that girls can skate by on looks and have no need to apply themselves to less superficial goals.
I could keep going, but I have homework to do for my graduate program (really, I do). I wish women would pay closer attention to the unintentional messages they may be sending their daughters.
I love the men coming in here to say "Oh, calm down, it's just a joke."
It's a shitty sexist joke on a shirt made for girls under 12. GIRLS UNDER 12. What kind of a message is that sending, and how is it funny?
Seriously, how is it "funny" for a parent to buy a shirt for a child that belittles that child's intellectual abilities? I love me some humor, including some edgy humor, and the funniness of a parent buying clothes for a child that imply that that child is stupid is somehow lost on me.
Someone needs to let the CEO at JC Pennys know that more women than men are now getting college and graduate degrees so we know damn well how to do our homework. We also have plenty of buying power so it would behoove the store’s buyers not to offend potential spenders.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2032330/Victory-womens-rights-JC-Penney-forced-pull-Im-pretty-homework-top.html
This revolts me. And the fact that it passed all the filters necessary to make it into the world completely baffles me. It's tossing around idiotic BS like this in everyday life that perpetuates the inferiority myth.
The sweatshirt is gone, and JC Penney has apologized.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=96576
Not the first time, JC Penney has actively mined stupidity for their business model.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html
This is the kind of idiocy adults feed to chidren (designers, manufacturers, and retailers)...and then wonder what's become of kids today.
"As a father of a young daughter, I'd much rather have her wear that and a pair of jeans instead of getting all dolled up with makeup, a short skirt, and a too-type blouse."
But aren't both outfits expressing the same sentiment? "I'm a girl so my only value is in my appearance." As a mother of two young daughters, I would be horrified at either.
Thrilled that JCP was pressured into getting rid of those.
Aw, come on people, it’s a t-shirt, not cancer for Christ’s sake. The vitriol against this piece of cloth is ridiculous.
Are my daughter’s pretty, yes, are they smart, yes, three grad degrees between them. They had to be smart because they don’t have a brother, (that was a joke), and they do have me as their mother.
Don’t be too ugly to laugh.
I don’t get it. You post pictures of folks that have lost their homes and then get made because of a t-shirt? If you lost everything and were wet and cold you’d put that stupid t-shirt on and you’d feel mighty warm and glad you had it.
It's as bad as PINK splashed across a young girl's behind, and at the average age of eight, she didn't buy it for herself. No. People are stupid. The world is full of stupid people, and I'm sick of them.
My grandmother would be livid if she saw that shirt. She was the only female in her law school class. Guess whose notes the other students wanted?
My middle school daughter said the shirt was stupid. I asked if she had a brother would she let him do her homework.
"No. He would probably write all the wrong answers down."
She elected to take an additional science class this year. Teacher recommendation is required. There are ten girls and three boys in the class. I guarantee the girls, not their brothers, will do the research papers and projects.
Infuriates me as a woman and terrifies me as a mother. UGH.
Please tell me you went up to complain about the shirt. Pretty, pretty please!?
The flip side of this that no one seems to get, is that it's bashing males as well. It's saying that men have to do all the work for women, as if that's all they're good for. The shirt would be offensive enough if it only said 'I'm too pretty to do homework,' but it adds the dig at men. I'm for equality, and something that many feminazis forget, is that you do not have to bash or emasculate men to celebrate and promote women.
Reading these responses - Oh dear God, I feel like I'm back in College hearing about why my vagina has kept me from getting 40% less salary for the same job. And why my ability to have multiple orgasms is threatening to men.
Here I am 40...ish and I haven't met a single man offended at multiple orgasms. I've never made 40% less than a man in my life. And if I had a banging ass and pair of awesome breasts, I sure as hell would use them to my advantage because you can bet your Heineken men are using everything within their means to get what they want, golf lessons on the weekends, season tickets to the Yankees they never seem to be able to use. They might not be flaunitng their junk, but if they thought it would get them a raise, they'd do it in a second.
It's a t-shirt that says to me - watch out boys/men, in 20 years I'll be your boss.
Go ahead and bash me, I can take it.
Wow! Boycott JCPenney. Unbelievable that these kind of messages are still considered cool.
Just read that Penney's has pulled the t-shirt. Here's the Yahoo! News story.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/epic-t-shirt-fail-quot-im-too-pretty-to-do-my-homework-so-my-brother-has-to-do-it-for-me-quot-2537106/
Nice work, Janet!
I love that you said "Fuck you" on this blog possibly more than them pulling the shirt :) But I'm certainly glad it's gone.
It is just a t-shirt with a sexist statement that a lot of people find offensive, but it's not clear to me that being offended justifies censorship. Laughing at it, great. Not buying it, yes mam.
But active censorship, no.
Darlene Underdahl said...
"Beauty fades, but dumb is forever."
Now THAT would make a good shirt.
Bonnie Ferrante
Of course I hate the shirt, but how is it worse than the myriad slogan shirts advertising "slut" and worse?
I don't have any compulsion to defend the store more than any other, but the problem of identity is far wider-reaching than one product at a department store near the bottom of the trickle-down fashion world.
It should come with a free shirt for the mom who buys it for her daughter:
http://www.stolliclothing.co.uk/productinfo.php?pid=1427
Of course I hate the shirt, but how is it worse than the myriad slogan shirts advertising "slut" and worse?
I haven't seen those marketed to children under 12; if I see a major US retailer marketing those to children under 12, I will be sure to express my disdain for them and to them.
Children in 1st grade don't need to be wearing shirts mocking their intellectual ability on any basis, particularly the basis of gender.
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