Another controversial T-shirt hits the racks
The latest ridiculous T-shirt to hit the market comes courtesy of Forever 21.
Spotted by Reddit user grillmeacheese who snapped a pic of it, the shirt for girls has been making waves throughout the Internet over its controversial printed message “Allergic to Algebra.”
This comes just a few weeks after JC Penney came under fire for its “I’m too pretty to do my homework so my brother has to do it” shirt, which the company pulled from its site after customers complained.
One can’t help but wonder: are statement pieces like these perpetuating the decline of women’s interest in the math and science fields, or are they a symptom of it and being produced because girls are showing less interest in academics?
In Ontario, students from both genders are falling behind in math scores, according to the latest batch of the province’s EQAO tests, designed to measure students' math and literacy levels.
If the public reacts with outrage every time one of these novelty tees makes it way to market, why are retailers still churning them out? Who is buying this stuff, and why aren’t fashion retailers taking girls' education more seriously?
[See also: JC Penney's epic T-shirt fail]
If you try to view the offending algebra shirt on Forever 21’s website, the product link goes to a dead page. However, we were able to find an image of the product on the site via a search for the term “algebra”, but it's since been removed. It does not appear the shirt is for sale in Canada, according to Forever 21’s Canadian website.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the company has yet to respond to media inquires about the garment.
Attached to the shirt grillmeacheese snapped the photo of was a post-it note that read: “Smart girls are cool, don’t buy this top”.
We can only hope that young girls and their parents take that message to heart, and not the one printed on the T-shirt.
(Image via screen grab from Forever 21.com)
More from Shine on Yahoo! Canada
Cartoon inspirations on the runway
How to wear menswear-inspired flats
5 ways to clean up your closet
