Double Standard?

While I agree that "Homework is not in my vocabulary" sends the wrong message to children (that one should be proud of a bad attitude and that homework is not important), it does not suggest there is something inherent about the male gender that makes them incapable of doing homework. It is simply saying that homework is not something the boy is willing to discuss. On the other hand, the shirt saying "I'm too pretty to do homework" is suggesting that girls who are pretty are not capable of doing the work (think "pretty dumb blonde") or that as long as a girl is pretty enough, she doesn't need to be educated.

Frankly, I dislike all of the "attitude" shirts for children (and for adults for that matter). People wonder why their kids are so mouthy and disrepectful, yet they let them wear shirts boasting about such bad attitudes.

I know the point you are trying to make, but in this example - his is just a bad attitude shirt. Just like "sister for sale" or "I dont do Mondays"
The other is a message shirt. - message = pretty girls dont have to work hard or worse - pretty girls SHOULDNT work hard. That's way more sexist than the double standard issue. If there is a double standard, in this case, I'll take it.

The implications are a little different "im too pretty to to do homework" can imply that pretty girls are stupid or better than plain ones who have to learn to get by. Its a pretty tacky shirt, but the boy shirt is tacky too, however its implications just arent there.

My daughter has a shirt that says "write on!" and it looks like notebook paper around the words. You can still be funny and not offensive, :)

ETA...i also disagree that men get away with more than women. Have you ever seen the reaction of a man crying? or a man who stays at home while the wife works? Or a man nanny? Or a man in pink?.......Women and men share just as many double standards, they are just different kinds.

Sigh, I think at some point in time, we have all lost our sense of humor. This is tragic actually, since human nature (male OR female) is freaking hilarious.

:(

Feminism and overly PC culture.

*Disclaimer* - As you can see from my screen name, if it weren't for the feminist movement, I would NOT be where I am today [so, not slamming feminism completely]... BUT today's feminism has [in my opinion] gone too far.

I guess the perception is that it's cool for boys to hate homework but it's not OK to teach our little girls to rely on their good looks to get them through anything in life.
As a mother of a boy, I am sick of the way boys and girls are treated differently.

I apologize in advance for not directly answering your question. I do want to say, however, that I despise those stupid bad attitude shirts. I can't fathom why anyone lets their kids wear them. I will say that I recently purchased a t-shirt for my son that says "smooth like butta" which he finds hilarious, and so do I, but it's a far cry from bad attitude, at least imho.

I see your point! Really if it applies to one it should apply to the other...I am still dumbstruck about the T-shirt that read....I'm the next Trophy Wife.

Yep feminism has pushed it a little to the extreme!

I told my husband I was too pretty to do the dishes and he looked at me sideways. It is a double standard. I have a boy and a girl - and I totally agree with Jo, with the exception of the first line. I think we should be upset because if we weren't, it would just continue into worse stuff (remember the bikinis from A&F??). Of course, I try to vote with my wallet to make my voice be heard.

I don't like clothing that has anything on it to read.
The only tee shirt my son has that says anything is one that Grandma got for him.
Reading the symbols it say
"Math - nothing to be squared of" (nothing to be scared of).
He likes the shirt but he's not comfortable wearing it anywhere but at home.

I don't know, but I don't think I'd buy either one. I was always careful what was on my children's shirts, because they sent a message not only to the public but to the children themselves.

"I'm too handsome to do homework"...??

Nah. They're all just some (childless) designer's idea of cleverness.

Two words...the feminist movement. Girls being stereotyped as being obsessed with their looks and nothing academic. You know..

Hi, L.:
With all the change we went through in the 60's,
there is still a culture of male dominance.
Males can get by with most anything except
when they break the law.
Look at how many unwed mothers, crises pregnancies,
and abortions we have in our country. Tell me this
isn't male dominance!

I have been very concerned about this issue from the
time I was a little girl. I am still concerned about it.

Buy shirts for your girl and boy that have no
written messages on it and you will be demonstating
equality in your treatment of
your children.
Hope this helps.
D.

I don't like these "attitude" shirts either, but there is a difference. Pretty is a physical trait ascribed to women. So it is offensive that the anti-homework message is predicated on the genetic characteristics of the female sex. The boys shirt is just anti-homework. Also, "vocabulary" is a "bigger" word than homework, so it is kind of ironic as well. But I would give both a pass.

I don't like any of those shirts, myself. What bothered me about the uproar with the girl shirt was that I've seen that same and similar shirts for years and no one has said a thing until NOW? Don't get it. Don't know why some things are ok like seeing full clothing lines at Walmart, Target, Kmart, and just about every other store with girls clothes dressing like bimbos. I don't understand why the entire parent community isn't in an uproar. It's bad enough to see teenage girls dressing like hussies (and worse yet parents thinking it's ok and showing their "free spirit") but to have our tweens dressing that way and all the way down to little girls clothes! Sickens me. And letting little boys dressing like gangstas is ridiculous. Why dress our children like adults??? Let them be children. Let them keep as much innocence as they can for as long as they can!

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

Actually the media coverage I saw (Anderson Cooper) showed many shirt and discussed both genders.