Who Needs Brains?

A group of female high school students in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania have started a girlcott of Abercrombie & Fitch because of a series of t-shirts featuring phrases, in addition to the one pictured, such as “Blondes are adored; brunettes are ignored,” “Available for parties,” “Freshman 15” (with the “signatures” of 15 men), “I had a nightmare I was a brunette,” “Do I make you look fat?” “When the going gets tough, the tough go blonde,” “Give me something to scream about,” and “I'd look great on you.” While I’d love to think that any woman who donned the pictured shirt would do so ironically, I imagine that’s not strictly the case. Abercrombie & Fitch has reported an October sales increase of 41%, and I’m going to guess that isn’t exclusively due to an uptick in a keen appreciation of irony. (In fact, there may be a lack of irony all around; in promoting their girlcott on The Today Show, the Allegheny County girls gifted A&F with a not insignifcant amount of free advertising—Chicago-based media company Starcom USA notes that a 30-second commercial on The Today Show costs approximately $58,000.) The shirts are stupid, and I would likewise consider anyone who wore them with a modicum of sincerity rather a dullard, but, in these cases, a big kerfuffle usually just means higher sales for the vendor of the stupid item. (Just ask Bill O’Reilly how his lawsuit against Al Franken went. Better yet, ask Al Franken about his subsequent book sales.) When I see crap like this, I just don’t buy it—and don’t shop at the store anymore. Done and done.

(Unless it’s already in the media, and then I’ll bitch about it. Obviously.)

Perhaps the dumbest response comes courtesy of irrepressible idiot, Illinois state senator, and gubernatorial candidate Steve Rauschenberger, who has a plan to introduce a resolution in the state senate to call on A&F to stop selling the shirts. Gee, I thought the GOP believed in the free market? And by the way, if you care about women so much, how about protecting their rights to reproductive freedom instead of "protecting" them from fucking t-shirts?!

Anyway, I’m with Liz on this one:

How about we try to figure out why it is that women think so little of their brains that they would wear these shirts which clearly make them look like serious bimbos and also insult women who happen to be smart, have good personalities or less well endowed and of a darker complexion.
Good idea. Someone might also point out to these women, many of whom will quite unfortunately be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lives, that they might not always have their boobs, but they will always need their brains.

The Heretik has more.

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