After riling up the media with its back-to-school spirited shirt that reads, “I’m too pretty to do HOMEWORK, so my brother has to do it for me,” J.C. Penney has taken the item off the market and issued a statement of regret.
“We agree that the ‘Too pretty’ t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale,” the company wrote of the shirt, which was geared towards girls age 7 to 16. “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.”
The shirt, which has been the subject of a petition signed by more than 1,600 people, was available online alongside the sales pitch, “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.” Before the plug was pulled, the shirt decreased in price from $16.99 to $9.99.
Amy Siskind, president of The New Agenda, attributes the discount to the erroneous implication that young females should blow off academics to remain aesthetically pleasing.
“This offensive t-shirt is 60% off,” Siskind told The Daily Caller. “Apparently, parents don’t buy into celebrating limiting the importance of their daughters’ intellectually capabilities. The consumer, thankfully, has spoken!”
Outspoken feminist Jessica Valenti confirmed her support to halt shirt sales via Twitter on Wednesday. That same day, Feministing.com voiced opposition to the product and reiterated that it sends the wrong message to children.
Though a J.C. Penney corporate rep explained to Village Voice that the company was “not happy with the shirt” and “looking into … how it happened” to show up on the Internet, the attire vendor offers other articles of clothing with similar messages.
As noted by Jezebel, J.C. Penney has another shirt that lists “Boys, shopping, music, dancing” under “my best subjects.” That shirt, also for girls in the 7 to 16 age group, can be purchased for $4.99.
J.C. Penney is far from the only apparel business that produces shirts with the dumb girl theme. For $10.00, you can get an “I’m too pretty to do math” top from David & Goliath. For eight more dollars, you can take home a shirt for ages 7 to 16 that reads, “I’m Here For My Looks, not My Brains.” If you’d like to find clothes that embrace the dimwitted female stereotype, you won’t have to spend much time digging around the interwebs.
