Seriously JCPenney? What is This, the 50s?

JCPenney is REALLY selling this shirt? The one that says: “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me?”

The sales pitch on the company's retail web site says, “Who has time for homework when there’s a new Justin Bieber album out? She’ll love this tee that’s just as cute and sassy as she is.”

This abomination is designed for girls sizes 7-16. Way to aim high and enlightened JC Penney. Way to encourage girls to be, what's the word, sassy, that's right sassy . . . and stupid.

What the HELL were they thinking? This isn't a back-to-school item, it's a back to the Stone Ages one.

UPDATE 1: JCPenney has pulled the shirt off of their web site but I have yet to read a sincere apology from the retailer.

UPDATE 2: The whole T-shirt debacle just reenforced the the heartbreaking points made in the new documentary, Miss Representation -- about how the sexualization, degredation and marginalization of women in the media affects girls and women and has an impact on everything from self-esteem to the proportion of female politicians making public policy decisions.

I waxed melancholy about all this mess in my Mommy Tracked column, "Stop Selling Sexism to Our Daughters" and in another post on my pop culture and politics blog, Notes from the Asylum.


Newest Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection) from Miss Representation on Vimeo.

Image credit: JCPenney via MediaBistro.