Student 'girlcott' protests Abercrombie t-shirts

Newsday ^ | November 2, 2005 | BY JIMMY GREENFIELD

[.cnI redruM]

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.

"We're telling [girls] to think about the fact that they're being degraded," Emma Blackman-Mathis, the 16-year-old co-chair of the group, told RedEye on Tuesday. "We're all going to come together in this one effort to fight this message that we're getting from pop culture."

[Balding_Eagle]

It's not smart to reveal so much about yourself in a public form.

[Reaganesque]

While I agree that papertyger shouldn't have assumed the sexual orientation of the protesters, fact of the matter is, the girl mentioned as the co-chair of The Allegheny County (Pa.) Girls, Emma Blackman-Mathis, is a gay rights activist. I did a quick Google search on her and she is:

"..a Schenley High School freshman who came out as a lesbian in eighth grade, says she can't be made straight anymore than someone who's straight can be made gay. She says she didn't decide to be a lesbian. She simply is a lesbian.

"It's a decision to be true to yourself and not lie about who you love," says Emma, 14, who, like Brandon, sits on the board of the Pittsburgh chapter of GLSEN -- an education organization aimed at creating safe schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

"Teen Forum: Panelists differ in opinions on same-sex marriage" Wednesday, March 31, 2004, By L.A. Johnson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Here's a picture of Ms. Blackman-Mathis (she's the girl on the left):

My point in all this is that Ms. Blackman-Mathis and her little group are more about bringing down traditional sexuality/morality than anything else. Abercrombie & Fitch (scumbags that they are) merely gave them an excuse to lash out at what they consider to be "traditional female stereotypes." I am sure that Ms. Blackman-Mathis would be absolutely horrified to discover that most traditional, mainstream Christians would agree with her on this issue.

[af_vet_rr]

The publicity will just sell more shirts.

It gets worse - from Drudge - apparently some bonehead in their state senate wants to get the state government involved in order to stop them. Typical nanny state politics - I couldn't read the article - this stuff irritates me, but probably another "we can't have anybody offended" politically correct liberal.

All he or she is doing, besides wasting taxpayer resources, is drawing attention to the shirts.

Based on the A&F stores that I've seen in the malls, the shoppers are probably buying this stuff with mommy and daddy's money anyways...

[TheFrog]

A&F is going to love the boycott all the way to the bank.

[papertyger]

I don't need to...

Ah, the refrain of she who denies the obvious...

yup, your daughter and her friends don't like rap music, so my assumption kids like rap music is invalid.

What were you answering in your life when you answered me?

[papertyger]

You need to up your dosage. Getting "male louts who believe ... that 'girls' are nothing but a collection of body parts and they'd just really rather prefer that all the body parts be highlighted for their delectation -- so they'll know whose daughter they can grab." out of what I wrote is truly a feat of monumental neurosis.

Get help.

[papertyger]

If they were simply nice christian girls, #1 and #2 above would both be false.

If they were simply nice Christian girls, the wouldn't have gotten the coverage.

[papertyger]

I'm surprised you don't call them lesbians.

I'm surprised you don't feel the need to apologize.

[papertyger]

so the only value of a girl even when protesting is her bust size or appearance?

You are living proof there's little difference between most pro-life women, and most pro-choice women beside their view of abortion.

You just want to attack me because I noted something you don't like and you don't scruple to slander with conclusions that bear no resemblence to what I wrote.

Change your tag line hypocrite.

[papertyger]

They don't get it...never have, never will.

Don't kid yourself. You're much less complicated than you think, and nowhere near as virtuous.

[SouthernFreebird]

Dude, your attention crave is getting annoying.

[papertyger]

While I agree that papertyger shouldn't have assumed the sexual orientation of the protesters...

Would you care to re-read what *I* wrote, rather than listening to the tune the harpy section has been playing?

[papertyger]

Dude, your attention crave is getting annoying.

And your crusading vanity isn't?

[Hatteras]

"I notice this girl is appropriately standing in front of latrines..."

Hey now, you're talking 'bout the woman I love!

[You Dirty Rats]

Very nice. I'm sure Moomy buys them these things.

And Daddy buys them the plastic work to fill up the shirts (high school graduation presents around here).

[papertyger]

Whoops, my mistake. I meant to say:

"Don't kid yourself. You're much less complicated than you think, *because* you're nowhere near as virtuous."

[SouthernFreebird]

[Shalom Israel]

If they were simply nice Christian girls, the wouldn't have gotten the coverage.

Probably not. But on your original point, I think some folks on this thread owe you an apology...

Note the "girl" on the left...

[papertyger]

Gee, you go to pretty dramatic lengths to avoid admitting error.

Why is that?

[papertyger]

Thank you.