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Author
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Topic: boys are stupid, throw rocks at them, do ya'll remember those shirts?
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aquaguy91
Moderator Posts: 3097
From: tennessee
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted May 29, 2012 02:35 AM
  
They were wildly popular about 8 years ago and you still see them quiet a bit. Anyways I was wanting ya'lls opinions on this, why is it acceptable and seen as cute for women and girls to wear t-shirts promoting violence against little boys?even if its Meant as a joke,i still think its screwed up.Do you think it would be seen as cute if men wore shirts promoting violence against girls? I highly doubt that. IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Knowflake Posts: 607
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted May 29, 2012 04:33 AM
I never liked those and wouldn't get them for any kids of mine. (Btw, I haven't seen any of those for years, and I only saw them briefly when they first came out probably because so many stores pulled them over the controversy they inspired.) I think it's seen as funny because the idea of girls being violent is seen as silly as females are usually much less likely than a males to act out violently (there's a reason girls have to live in fear of male--and not female--violence when walking the streets at night, something even many men will acknowledge, but men not only have a lot less need to fear male violence but have only a slight chance of being attacked by a woman at all, and when the rare woman without a man does predate on men they tend to nonviolent options such as pickpocketing or using drugged drinks rather than threats & brute force). And even when females are shown acting out violently it's generally not taken anymore seriously than superheroes and often silly as a women's anger is simply not given the same serious respect and fear that a man's anger is given, and thus it's not taken seriously and so treated frivolously, as a joke, and even as a means to arouse male audience members. (Little boys get away with this, too, as seen in movies like Home Alone.) You consider it unfair to males, and I think a respectable argument that it is can be made, but I also see it as insulting to female anger and ability to be a force of reckoning in this world, including violently if need be. I see those shirts as mocking the ability of a girl to be able to take care of herself or act aggressively because if this was respected then it wouldn't be treated as a joke (like those shirts do). ETA: IIRC, the shirt was created by a man, btw, who said in an interview that he only came up with it because he thought it would sell (based on previous products that he took a step further). Just interesting trivia, IMO. IP: Logged |
Delilah
Knowflake Posts: 623
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted May 29, 2012 10:18 AM
There are shirts that make a joke of domestic violence when women are the victims. They are quite popular amongst certain men and much worse than a cartoon girl saying throw rocks at boys.I remember the boys are stupid shirts because of the emily shirts. I was maybe 14 or 15 (over 10 years ago) when they came out and thought they were funny. It was a bit of revenge for every girl who had been chased around the playground by some aggressive little boy trying to make her play house or doctor with him. It's juvenile, but was funny back then. No, I never wore one and didn't know anyone who had the guts to. IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Knowflake Posts: 607
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted May 29, 2012 06:02 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Delilah:
There are shirts that make a joke of domestic violence when women are the victims. They are quite popular amongst certain men and much worse than a cartoon girl saying throw rocks at boys.
Wow, I hadn't even heard of these until I did a search for them:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2011/sep/14/topman-sexist-t-shirts And don't forget bumper stickers. I've seen this one repeatedly:
http://www.armyourcar.com/Gu n-Bumper-Stickers/IF-YOU-LOVE-SOMETHING-SET-IT-FREE-IF-IT-DOESNT-COME-BACK-HUNT-IT-DOWN-AND-KILL-IT-BUMPER-STICKER.htm "IF YOU LOVE SOMETHING SET IT FREE. IF IT DOESN'T COME BACK, HUNT IT DOWN AND KILL IT" IP: Logged |
Faith
Knowflake Posts: 1744
From:
Registered: Jul 2011
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posted May 29, 2012 10:03 PM
That's horrible.And let me add this...so is sl*t-wear for young girls and dressing little children in skulls/camo/goth/hellflames/t-shirts that boast of one's ill character. People think it's all a joke. But there's nothing funny about insensitivity and training your children to be low class, promiscuous, and/or psychopathic.  I don't mean to sound too judgmental, but I feel bad for those kids! IP: Logged |
aquaguy91
Moderator Posts: 3097
From: tennessee
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted May 29, 2012 11:04 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Delilah:
There are shirts that make a joke of domestic violence when women are the victims. They are quite popular amongst certain men and much worse than a cartoon girl saying throw rocks at boys.I remember the boys are stupid shirts because of the emily shirts. I was maybe 14 or 15 (over 10 years ago) when they came out and thought they were funny. It was a bit of revenge for every girl who had been chased around the playground by some aggressive little boy trying to make her play house or doctor with him. It's juvenile, but was funny back then. No, I never wore one and didn't know anyone who had the guts to.
Haha I have never seen t-shirts that promote violence against women, maybe I just haven't been paying attention. Haha I used to chase girls around the playground, but not to play house or doctor, it was just fun lol.but I also had to sit in time out because of it, but it was worth it.XD
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PixieJane
Knowflake Posts: 607
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted May 30, 2012 12:31 AM
quote:
Originally posted by aquaguy91:
Haha I used to chase girls around the playground, but not to play house or doctor, it was just fun lol.but I also had to sit in time out because of it, but it was worth it.XD
So what did you do when you caught one? And just out of curiosity, what house and sign is your Mercury in (and was it retrograde)? IP: Logged |
Lonake
Moderator Posts: 8223
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted May 30, 2012 01:32 AM
Even tho I never purchased or wore those teeny-bopper shirts with the cutesy sayings, this particular phrase, I just absolutely cringe when I've see it. I think it's meant to be worn by some girl who got screwed over and is maybe trying to laugh it off? I'm not sure of the objective there. I would never buy them for any girl.IP: Logged |
Delilah
Knowflake Posts: 623
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted May 30, 2012 03:49 AM
Pixie, it gets worse than that. I saw a guy with a homemade shirt that had the depiction of a woman with a black eye and the caption said something along the lines that made a joke of women's rights. The ******* enjoyed the stares he got from everyone.Aquaguy, the boys that I ran away from were barbaric. Too many little girls, myself included, went home with scratches and bruises from when they did catch us. House and doctor was not the only thing they wanted to play. Once, when I refused to play prisoner with a boy he kicked me in the face and pushed my friend off of the swing. Luckily another little boy who was nice to me beat the crap out of him. Lol. I might not have worn the shirt when it was popular, but before they came around I did throw rocks and sticks until my brothers taught me how to fight. So, this shirt isn't offensive to me. Faith, there was a mommy doll years ago. I don't know if you remember it, but it was pregnant and could give birth. That one made my skin crawl and was around the time that I demanded my mom to stop buying me dolls. I actually like the goth clothes, but then I'm a little dark. The "got milf", "boobs man", and "my daddy can beat up your daddy" infant shirts cross the line for me. IP: Logged |
RegardesPlatero
Moderator Posts: 3210
From: Storybrooke, Mr. Gold's Shop
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted May 30, 2012 05:50 AM
I personally think that they (as well as the kinds of clothes that Faith described) are trashy, though I could live with cutesy skulls (like pink girly ones). My own fashion taste is 1950s-ish: classic, timeless, beautiful, elegant. I like things that are elegant and never go out of style. I hate anything that looks sloppy or revealing, and I am not a big fan of t-shirts at all except for sleeping/exercising. I particularly don't like revealing clothes on little girls. You only get one childhood. I don't believe that it's good to force yourself to grow up so fast. Take your time and enjoy being a kid: it's over so soon and you can never get that time back. Honestly, I don't believe in overly revealing clothes for adults, either: they just look tacky and desperate, not to mention vulgar. While I'm not someone who gets offended over every little thing, I do find shirts with certain symbols/slogans to be tasteless and ugly, if nothing else. I haven't seen a lot of t-shirts that cross the line into offensive, at least not around here, but there are some that probably fall into that category. In the case of the "boys are stupid shirts", I feel torn. On the one hand, I can see the "girl fighting back" side, but, on the other hand, I think that it's a tasteless way to promote "girl power" (i.e., girls being strong). It would NOT be a good idea for girls to take that seriously and literally do that. So, my verdict is that I don't approve of the t-shirts and wouldn't buy them for a niece or goddaughter. As for dolls, I never liked playing "mom" very much at all. Birth dolls are disgusting, as are the breastfeeding dolls. YUCK YUCK YUCK. I liked having big, sweeping, drama-queen storylines with my dolls. (Hey, Venus in Scorpio here, it started early lol). I didn't have many Kens, though, so a lot of Kens were referred to but never seen, sometimes they had to share Kens, other times the storylines were girl-oriented. Sometimes I'd do dark parodies of things. But yeah, wasn't interested in emulating motherhood. I did like to play school, though. The other big things that I loved were weddings (and divorces), fashion shows, and makeovers. IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Knowflake Posts: 607
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted May 30, 2012 07:33 AM
For whatever it's worth I thought I'd share a little of my childhood. I got shunned from the local girls in my neighborhood because when I was 6 (the summer before I turned 7) for playing with dolls or playing house because I'd sometimes act out my parents alcoholic dysfunction (including in use of profanity and having dolls attack each other) so I was forced to play with the boys, at least when in my neighborhood until I was 10. That was an interesting experience, and in retrospect I'm actually glad for it because I think it helps me understand some things about males that I'd otherwise find very disturbing. We never played house, however, as that was seen as a girl's game (I did talk one boy into playing dress up with me but his parents freaked and he wasn't allowed to talk to me for like a year after). Boys didn't normally attack or torment me. I thought fighting was stupid (my Libra placements made me nice that way and I think made it easier for me to adapt to boys) but if someone hit me then I hit back (my Sag placements made me pretty fiery when I did, too). Thing was, if a boy beat me up, no one cared, because he beat up a girl, and bragging about it was just pathetic. But if I beat him up--and it happened--then he never heard the end of it. So all in all it was too much risk for too little gain. Plus there were a couple of times that parents (one a mom and the other a dad) who came down on their son who hit or attacked me (possibly because one or both feared my volatile parents making an issue of it if they didn't, though if so then they shouldn't have bothered). So I was pretty much left outside the normal fighting which suited me fine (and they knew if they pushed me I'd fight, I suppose more parental bad example like the profanity at the time, though it probably helped me not to be bullied by boys). I suppose my Libra placements helped me to not take advantage of it. Things started to change when I was 10 and I stopped hanging around the boys so much once I had a new (girl) best friend move in about a block away. There were a few times I went topless and I never saw anything sexual about it. I suppose others might've. It is interesting to me to contrast today with Victorian times. In Victorian times sexuality was repressed for the most part, yet at the same time it was no big deal for children (like 10 and under), both boys & girls, to be shown near or completely naked (though I can't recall any old pix of naked boys & girls together so maybe they drew a line there). I remember even seeing one pic taken in like the first decade or so of the 20th century where the parents took a pic of their naked daughter (with full frontal nudity) in a tree and were said to have hung it up in their home with their other photographs and the caption explained that such nudity was seen as emphasizing children's innocence rather than sexualizing them (and there was nothing sexual about her pose, it was very casual save I'm sure she was staying perfectly still as photography was still a very primitive art back then). Nowadays it's about the opposite. I've always wondered how & why that change came about. Most children (tweens and younger) in my observation (and I work with children these ages so I've seen plenty) don't dress in anything provocative, though sometimes they wear clothes they're outgrowing so maybe a bellybutton shows (girls are less likely to as some are scared of being thought of as "***** " by other girls for showing too much skin, showing they've absorbed adult views pretty well). Given how they play and get dirty they tend to wear pretty cheap clothes (dressing nicer for school, etc) and girls tend to wear cutesy shirts featuring unicorns, kittens, puppy dogs, and a few cultural icons or popular Disney shows (Hannah Montana was huge a few years ago, and once girls are tweens they have a tendency to want to dress like the girls on TV they admire, which Disney capitalizes on by having their stars "put out clothing lines" but of course is run by the fashion industry who make big bucks from the endorsements), and some saying things like "Princess in Training." Boys tend to wear more plain clothes that are far more practical, even bordering on utilitarian (but even more cheap & expendable than what girls wear) though sports & superhero themes seem popular enough. For some reason I've noticed boys tend to wear striped shirts a lot more than girls, too, though I have no idea why. IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Knowflake Posts: 607
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted May 30, 2012 07:41 AM
Anyone ever heard When I Was a Boy by Dar Williams? I love that song.I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy; I'm glad he didn't check.
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other's lives out on the pirate's deck. And I remember that night
When I'm leaving a late night with some friends
And I hear somebody tell me it's not safe,
someone should help me
I need to find a nice man to walk me home. When I was a boy, I scared the pants off of my mom,
Climbed what I could climb upon
And I don't know how I survived,
I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew. And you can walk me home, but I was a boy, too. I was a kid that you would like, just a small boy on her bike
Riding topless, yeah, I never cared who saw.
My neighbor come outside to say, "Get your shirt,"
I said "No way, it's the last time I'm not breaking any law." And now I'm in this clothing store, and the signs say less is more
More that's tight means more to see, more for them, not more for me
That can't help me climb a tree in ten seconds flat When I was a boy, See that picture? That was me
Grass-stained shirt and dusty knees
And I know things have gotta change,
They got pills to sell, they've got implants to put in,
they've got implants to remove But I am not forgetting...that I was a boy too And like the woods where I would creep, it's a secret I can keep
Except when I'm tired, 'cept when I'm being caught off guard
And I've had a lonesome awful day, the conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies out in the backyard. And so I tell the man I'm with about the other life I lived
And I say, "Now you're top gun, I have lost and you have won"
And he says, "Oh no, no, can't you see,
When I was a girl, my mom and I we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked.
And I could always cry, now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too.
And you were just like me, and I was just like you" IP: Logged |
aquaguy91
Moderator Posts: 3097
From: tennessee
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted June 01, 2012 09:08 AM
quote:
Originally posted by PixieJane:
So what did you do when you caught one?
And just out of curiosity, what house and sign is your Mercury in (and was it retrograde)?
Haha there really was no objective or motive,i was just hyper like most boys are. It was just fun. And in the eleventh house conjunct neptune and uranus, and nope not retrograde.
IP: Logged |
amowls**
Knowflake Posts: 1692
From:
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted June 07, 2012 09:48 AM
Yeah, they're terrible. There's also shirts that say "Cool story babe, now make me a sandwich" I saw that one 2 weeks ago. Then there are the shirts that say "math is hard" and are only made for girls. I don't see you freaking out about those but you have to bring up a shirt that was made 8 years ago.IP: Logged |
aquaguy91
Moderator Posts: 3097
From: tennessee
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted June 08, 2012 02:25 AM
@amowls, I actually have that first shirt XDIP: Logged |
T
Knowflake Posts: 6656
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 08, 2012 02:36 AM
I've never heard of any of the t shirts you are all talking about, but this one was in the news not too long ago:from J.C. Penney "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me." I believe they pulled it quickly after the uproar it caused. When I was in high school guys wore the Johnson's, or the "See Dick...' t's. IP: Logged |
amowls**
Knowflake Posts: 1692
From:
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted June 09, 2012 08:49 AM
quote:
Originally posted by aquaguy91:
@amowls, I actually have that first shirt XD
Wellp. If you're so offended by women wearing shorts that says "boys are stupid throw rocks at them" why on earth would you have a sexist shirt? That's so hypocritical. IP: Logged |
PixieJane
Knowflake Posts: 607
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted June 09, 2012 09:31 PM
I've finally come to the conclusion (have suspected it for awhile now) that at least half of what he posts is more for the lulz. I'm going to try to remember that in the future. IP: Logged |
aquaguy91
Moderator Posts: 3097
From: tennessee
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted June 11, 2012 03:32 AM
quote:
Originally posted by PixieJane:
I've finally come to the conclusion (have suspected it for awhile now) that at least half of what he posts is more for the lulz. I'm going to try to remember that in the future.
Thank you  IP: Logged |
amowls**
Knowflake Posts: 1692
From:
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted June 12, 2012 09:08 AM
Idk, he's got a serious case of the MRA victimization complex.IP: Logged |
aquaguy91
Moderator Posts: 3097
From: tennessee
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted June 12, 2012 03:11 PM
quote:
Originally posted by amowls**:
Idk, he's got a serious case of the MRA victimization complex.
Oh do i now?  how do i have a victim complex if all I'm doing is giving another perspective? The mainstream media is always telling us how hard women have it. so because I'm a guy and pointing out that there's discrimination against us too, I have a victim complex. I believe there's a whole lot of self projection going on among feminists. IP: Logged |
amowls**
Knowflake Posts: 1692
From:
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted June 13, 2012 10:06 AM
In general MRAs are completely clueless. They don't understand power structures, they don't understand intersectionality, they can't grasp the fact that gender isn't binary and they're the ones who pit themselves against feminists in the first place (like blaming FEMINISM for male discrimination instead of, oh I don't know, patriarchal gender roles). But yes, you have a serious victimization complex if you see that shirts that say "boys are stupid throw rocks at them" are wrong (and rightfully so, I would never wear something like that) but then READILY ADMIT (showing you're not even ASHAMED) that you have a shirt that jokes about the centuries long oppression of women. Cognitive dissonance? IP: Logged |
Delilah
Knowflake Posts: 623
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted June 13, 2012 01:41 PM
quote:
Originally posted by aquaguy91:
Oh do i now? how do i have a victim complex if all I'm doing is giving another perspective? The mainstream media is always telling us how hard women have it. so because I'm a guy and pointing out that there's discrimination against us too, I have a victim complex. I believe there's a whole lot of self projection going on among feminists.
Really? I'm a feminist and I don't do that. I don't know too many women and feminists (men can be feminists as well) who do this either. In a lot of your posts you complain about how women seem to go for the wrong guys or are "catty" towards other women. You either need to broaden your taste in women or just deal with the fact that you have chosen to attract these kinds of women into your life. Because you've taken issue with a t-shirt that had a very short rise in popularity, yet you don't have a problem with those that are insensitive towards women makes it obvious that your goal is to get a rise out of people, primarily the women here so that you can say that we have problems. Your issues with women are all over the place, whether they are false or not. If your complaints are real, then it's not solely the fault of the opposite sex, but yours. It's an easy change to make, but maybe you like to paint yourself as the martyr- vitimized hero- so that you'll have something controversial to talk about. Anyway, this schtick has gotten old. IP: Logged |
Joy11
Knowflake Posts: 68
From: Kansas, United States
Registered: Jun 2012
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posted June 16, 2012 01:46 AM
I never saw this Tshirt, and I wouldn't buy anything that promoted sexism of either gender.
I have two boys, and I'm trying to protect them from over-genderization, but it's an uphill battle in this conservative part of the world I live in. For example, my 4-year-old saw a sparkly, ruffly, butterfly-decorated shirt at Walmart a few months ago and begged to get it, because he liked the way it looked. I couldn't afford the shirt anyway, but I was torn. I don't want him to feel like he has to repress his self expression just to fit into a "I'm a boy, therefore I look like this" box, that is completely arbitrary and culturally-defined. But I don't want him to be emotionally traumatized by appearing in public in a girl's shirt and being criticized for it. I ended up going to Goodwill and buying him something similar that he could wear as pajamas, just at home.I really liked this article I read recently that describes the battle boys and men face in our culture: http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-single-biggest-obstacle-facing-boys-and-men-today/ ------------------
I can help you figure out your dreams, and guide you in how to use them to transform your life.
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Follow me on Facebook!
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PixieJane
Knowflake Posts: 607
From: CA
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted June 16, 2012 06:17 PM
^^For the record I tried clicking that link and my Avast went crazy and knocked it down as malicious.
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