Will you please shut up and get a life, already? / Critics targeting anti-boy T-shirts must have something better to do than take political correctness to new depths of inanity

Single22 Boy - bashing t-shirt dersigns by David & Goliath Single22 Boy - bashing t-shirt dersigns by David & Goliath Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Will you please shut up and get a life, already? / Critics targeting anti-boy T-shirts must have something better to do than take political correctness to new depths of inanity 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Those uppity young girls are at it again.

"Boy-bashing all the rage," one headline says. "Some say girl power movement may have gone too far," another reads. And: " 'Boys are smelly' T- shirts cause stink."

Yes, it's true. The latest trend in fashion apparel for teenage girls is a direct jab at their male counterparts: T-shirts that carry slogans like "Boys are stupid -- throw rocks at them," "Boys are goobers -- drop anvils on their heads" and "Boys lie -- make them cry."

The shirts are either, depending on the degree your knee is jerking when you read this, another brick in the wall of civilization crumbling down -- or just Monty Python-esque, ironic dark humor. But judging by all the recent angry chest-beating and predictions of widespread crushed self-esteem among adolescent boys, you'd think a male version of Hooters had just opened up.

Oh, sorry -- bad analogy. Hooters is just good, clean, inoffensive fun. Unless you're a woman. But I digress.

Pundits ranging from child psychologists to radio disc jockeys have had a field day, bemoaning how these T-shirts can give boys a diminished sense of self-worth and girls an unfair psychological advantage. Los Angeles radio disc jockey (and self-proclaimed "men's advocate") Glenn Sacks was so incensed that he mounted a campaign to get the clothing line -- the aptly-named David & Goliath, based in Florida -- yanked from department store shelves.

Caving in so far have been Bon-Macy's, Tilly's, Claire's and Universal Studios stores -- the latter presumably in an attempt to safeguard that company's immaculate record when it comes to depiction of males as bright, contributing citizens (see: "American Pie," "Animal House," etc.)

Sacks, who has an 11-year-old son, is quoted as saying: "When boys go to school, it's very rough for them. They already don't fit in. Then they see a shirt that says, 'Boys are stupid,' and it rubs salt in the wound."

Sacks has also made the point repeatedly that many marketers, while wary of offending women and minorities, "have developed a moral blind spot toward disparaging males."

My, my, how I could have used a man like Sacks when I was growing up -- being called all kinds of names (especially, "stupid girl") for daring to want to play sports with the boys, being told to go play with my dolls, literally being shoved around. But that was how it was for all females then, and now that women are in control of government and corporations and get paid the same as men (what do you mean, we're not?), we've moved on into the age of the Oppressed Male.

But gee whiz, Wally - a T-shirt equaling oppression? This seemed so completely over the top that I had to call my 14-year-old nephew, an honors student and comedy fan, for a reality check.

"Really? I haven't seen one of those," he said of the T-shirts. "But I think that's hilarious."

If he did see one, would he feel demeaned or threatened? He laughed. "I think teenage boys have more important things to worry about. I sincerely doubt a girl wearing a shirt that said 'Throw rocks at boys' will actually throw a rock at me."

I also asked my friend Jim to ask his 12-year-old daughter if she would wear one of these T-shirts, and she told him that although she thought they were funny, they were too mean-spirited for her to wear.

She was far from alone in that thinking. Parents' groups, male-rights advocates and radio talk shows dog-piled on the issue, with Fox News columnist Wendy McElroy calling the T-shirts, "hate mongering." A school principal in San Carlos was quoted as saying she would ban the T-shirts if she saw them on campus.

They are absolutely right about a couple of points: that girl power doesn't need to come at the expense of boys. There's plenty of power to go around. And since there are still some critical issues facing young women, like money for sports and real sex education, to claim that darkly comic T- shirts are empowering is a bit of a stretch.

But beyond that, puh-leeze! If these hand-wringers were as worried about the self-esteem of our girls, they might take a walk out into the school parking lots at lunchtime and listen to the music by certain gangsta rappers - - the kind that refers to all women as "bitches and ho's," some of whom clearly need to be slapped around. They might want to consider banning those CDs, in addition to those esteem-damaging T-shirts. And while they're at it, they might consider demanding a dress code, so that these same young girls don't feel compelled to dress like 25-year-old hookers when they're only 12.

I would have been 10 times more happy to have my daughter wear a T-shirt that ironically suggested she "fling poo at boys," than dress like Christina Aguilera. One says they have a sense, if not of strength than at least of humor; the other says they are all about being a sheep and getting approval for the most superficial reasons.

Todd Goldman, chief designer for David & Goliath (www.davidandgoliathtees.com), thinks the idea that he's promoting violence is ridiculous. "If you look at the violence in rap songs, in video games," he was quoted as saying, "That's what they should be concentrating on, not a cartoon T-shirt."

It also might help if these protectors of boys recognized that, like all minorities who have waited a long time to get their share, today's high school girls have come into their "power" by going down a tough road. It was not so long ago that the shoe was on the other foot -- boys scored higher in tests, boys were more likely to be called on in class, boys got the sports money while girls had to pay for their own cheerleading outfits.

It might not be great manners, but this is the kind of crowing that comes with knowing you've gained ground. Cut these young women a little slack, and have a sense of humor. And I swear, no one will hit you with a rock.