A question for you Dear Internets.. How would you feel if your Teenage Daughter came home wearing a T-shirt saying Miss Wasted, Miss Floozy or Miss Gold Digger??? Or if your Teenage son came home wearing a T-shirt with Mr Arsehole, Mr Agro or Mr Pimp emblazened on the front???
Honestly how would you feel about it?
Megan at Imaginif [child protection became a serious business] has written an interesting article about this.. Go on over and have a look..If you have the time please read the comments as well. I found the comments as interesting as the article.
Cheers Kim..
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12 comments:
Thanks Kim. LOVE the title too by the way.
I am keen to hear other parents answers here. There is no way I would ever allow my teenagers to wear such derogatory self statements. I have worked hard to keep my kids self esteem up, not dragged down.
I wonder what would happen if all the Jay Jays staff had to wear a Miss/Mr Drunk TShirt as their work uniform? I certainly would not want to be served by them and I probably would never shop there again.
Megan from Imaginif
I completely agree with you Megan; for all the reasons you articulate, there is no way I would permit my 15 year old son to wear such a T-Shirt. It makes me very angry that such items of clothing are designed for kids in the first place (and don't get me started on the inappropriate gear being targetted at pre-teen girls).
Great post Kim and excellent webpage & article Megan; I'll be popping by regularly. Let's maintain the rage girls !
Well thanks for the link, I'll pop on over and take a peek [forewarned is forarmed and all that]
Cheers
I don't find it that big a deal. I don't find them all that offensive (except for the mr pimp shirt -- the racial overtones there are ugly.).
I bought a "I (heart) hot moms" t shirt for my 17 year old son...some people would find that offensive I am sure. It doesn't mean he wants to sleep with older women, it's a joke.
These shirts are a joke too. The kid wearing the Ms. Drunk t shirt is not proclaiming she is a drunk, she just finds the shirt funny.
Teens always wear stuff that offends adults. It's part of being a teenager.
My kids behavior and self esteem is not influenced by a t shirt. They have been taught from a very early age how to think and decide for themselves. None of the kids that my kids hang around with would assume that a Miss Floozy t shirt meant that the girl wearing it was asking for sex. Most of the kids in their schools would assume it was worn humorously, not as an advertisement.
And those who see it as an ad, well, that's just their excuse. They have not been taught to respect other people, and if she doesn't have the Miss Floozy shirt on, then there will be some other reason to think she wants sex, even though everyone else knows it's not true.
I posted a comment of Veronica's page. I on't think it's what the tshirt is, but the age of the person wearing it.
10, 12, 14...too young for that kind of thing.
16-17 is the legal age for intercourse and 18 is the legal age for alcohol and smoking.
I think anywhere above 15 is ok because by then they will have an understanding of what these t-shirts mean.
A 12 year old will most likely not understand what 'floosy' or 'pimp' actually means.
If the child does not understand what it means, yet the parents are still letting them parade around in it, it is the parents fault really.
Maybe jay jays should think of having a store/area for older and younger people, like target and other stores. They even say on the tag 'ladies' or 'girls'. They could sell them where they are surrounded by clothes targeted for older people. At the moment, any age person can but any item of clothing from there.
i wouldnt be impressed..
i know that much..
I think it has been hyped up to no end. Hardly any teens would have even knows about the tops if it wasn't for the controversy.
Now even more teens are going to want to wear them for the 'shock factor' that they give.
The clothes don't make the person. As a parent you have to pick your battles.
Is what they are wearing TRULY that big a deal? Or are there better things you could spend your time getting annoyed about.
Storm in a tea cup, ooops I meant t-shirt indeed.
To Julie - How is "pimp" racial? There are pimps in all nationalities.......
To Tanya - I'm sure many 12 year old girls know what floosy and pimp mean, the words are "out there" and if they've heard them, probably in school, then I'd bet they've also had them explained. Hopefully by their parents, who can teach them that words are not nice descriptions, amongst other moral teachings to keep their children "safe while still being aware" as children need to be to not get taken advantage of.
Sorry for hijacking your replies Kim.
I wear mostly children's clothing due to my size. Whilst I'm horrified at the styles intended for 10 year old girls (the size I usually wear) I'm also massively grateful this kind of stuff is manufactured as the whole size 0 debate is a total myth, and it's impossible to source properly fitting, trendy petite women's clothing. I'm not a parent but surely its about something more important than a slogan on a shirt? BG
I went to the site and read the comments. I even left one:
I stumbled on this from another blog. I live in the United States and so I had never even heard of Jay Jay’s and so won’t be involved in the boycott. It is really interesting to read about, though. I’m not writing about the debate, per se. I was just struck by how poorly-written some comments were. And all of the comments like that were of the opinion that there’s nothing wrong with the shirts. It’s hard to take someone seriously when they express themselves with dismal grammar or vulgar language and it actually damages their viewpoint.
River -- it's not the word, but the image...it's a black man with a huge afro. None of the other characters shown are black. Personally, I find linking pimp to the black male character does have racial overtones.
If it were the word pimp with a blue or yellow or green or white character, then I would not find it any more objectionable than any of the other shirts.
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