The article “A T-Shirt Travesty” by Danielle M is about how some products, such as shirts, show girls as having no desire or ability to pursue education. Some shows have intelligent female characters that are respected, but apparently the fashion industry is still in the process of catching on. The author claims this is not a big problem for boys.

I enjoyed this article. Danielle made good points, and I can connect to being annoyed by shirts that say things like “I’m too pretty to do my homework.” However, I do not think this problem is limited to girls. I have heard many sexist comments about boys being stupid as well. Shirts for boys that portray them as valuing things such as video games more than education are also quite common.

Sexism is part of the problem, but I think there is more to these products that downplay education. Products like the previously mentioned shirt mostly target children and especially teenagers. Adults may groan at the behavior of teenagers, but a stubborn attitude and lack of respect towards learning is expected of this age group. Clothes, TV shows, popular songs- many of them portray teens in this way. Males and females alike are expected by society to act obnoxiously in their teenage years. And it’s not only the fault of the companies, because products that showed people of this age group as the intelligent and mature people that they have the potential to be simply would not sell. I think the only way we can solve this problem is to do our best to accept who we are and use our best qualities to create something beautiful, whether or not it seems acceptable to others.