In honor of Day of the Girl, The New Agenda (TNA) and Girl Talk have teamed up to release a line of “girls empowering t-shirts.”
Though intending to “empower and improve the lives of teenage girls,” TNA began selling these shirts in part to fire back at retailers J.C. Penney and Forever 21 for producing and selling apparel it considered sexist. (MORE: J.C. Penney stops selling ‘Too pretty for homework’ shirt)
On its blog Thursday, TNA expressed disgust at Forever 21’s highly criticized “Allergic to Algebra” and J.C. Penney’s “I’m too pretty to do HOMEWORK, so my brother has to do it for me” tops and offered up a few alternative buys. A clear swipe at the “Algebra” shirt, one of TNA’s shirts reads, “I can have my pi, and eat it too.” Another shirt bears the words, “some girls chase boys, i pass ‘em.”
TNA founder Amy Siskind told The Daily Caller that her organization’s new articles of clothing are meant to remind females that they don’t deserve to be demeaned or objectified by society.
“The media and popular culture are waging a war to define women and girls as sexual objects,” Siskind said. “We think it’s time to tell the truth.”
Upon seeing the “Too pretty” shirt earlier this month, which was swiftly taken off the market, Siskind pointed out to TheDC, “This offensive t-shirt is 60-percent-off. Apparently, parents don’t buy into celebrating limiting the importance of their daughters’ intellectually capabilities. The consumer, thankfully, has spoken!”
Though the “Too pretty” and “Algebra” shirts sparked a media firestorm, they weren’t the first girl-demeaning garments to hit the market. J.C. Penney has another shirt that lists “Boys, shopping, music, dancing” under “my best subjects.” And David & Goliath sells a discounted “I’m too pretty to do math” top along with a shirt that reads, “I’m Here For My Looks, not My Brains.”