Some Girls Offended by new Abercrombie and Fitch T-Shirts

November 2, 2005

With a few words on their T-shirts, Abercrombie & Fitch lets young women send a message: "Who needs a brain when you have these?"

A group of female high school students have a message for A&F: Stop degrading us.

The Allegheny County (Pa.) Girls have started a boycott--or girlcott, as they're calling it--of the retailer. The campaign, conceived three weeks ago during the group's monthly meeting, went national Tuesday morning on NBC's "Today" show.

"We're telling [girls] to think about the fact that they're being degraded," Emma Blackman-Mathis, the 16-year-old co-chair of the group, told RedEye on Tuesday. "We're all going to come together in this one effort to fight this message that we're getting from pop culture."

Abercrombie has been a lightning rod for criticism. In 2003, a catalog containing photos of topless women and bare-bottomed men provoked so much outrage that the company pulled the publication.

Last year, after the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team failed to win a gold medal, the company sold T-shirts with the phrase "L is for loser" next to a picture of a gymnast on the rings. Those shirts were pulled from the racks after USA Gymastics called for a boycott.

While Abercrombie backed down in those cases, it show no signs of doing so this time.

"Our clothing appeals to a wide variety of customers. These particular T-shirts have been very popular among adult women to whom they are marketed," a company spokesman said in a statement.

News of the girlcott hadn't reached Tawana Clark, 20, who was applying for a job at the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Water Tower Place on Tuesday. But she doesn't think the protest will work.

"I think it's only older people that have a problem with it," she said. "Teenagers don't have a problem with it."

Clark sees the shirts as funny, not offensive.

"It's not to be taken seriously," she said.

Kristine Campbell, 20, of Lincoln Park won't wear the T-shirts. Although she's not offended by them, she doesn't think much of girls who wear them.

"It tells me that they're shallow and that's all they care about," said Campbell, who was also applying for a job at A&F on Tuesday.

"There's not much substance to that person if you have to wear something like that."

The aim of the girlcott is to convince people that the T-shirts are offensive, but young people don't care if they are, according to David Krafft, senior vice president of Chicago-based Graziano, Krafft and Zale Advertising.

"You figure they're appealing to a younger audience demographic and (young people) are going to want go for brands that are more cutting edge, or viewed as more cutting edge," Krafft said. "So it's just going to be a benefit anyway to Abercrombie & Fitch."

The attention from this boycott is likely to help Abercrombie's image, and its audience will be attracted to the controversy, said Steve Bassill, president of Libertyville-based QDI strategies, a marketing consulting firm.

"That's been their whole strategy, isn't it, to be radical?" Bassill asked. "I think that's what we've seen for quite a while from them."

Krafft says the "Today" show appearance was tantamount to free advertising.

According to Chicago-based media company Starcom USA, a 30-second commercial on "Today" costs approximately $58,000.

The girlcott girls were on for several minutes. The girlcott almost is "playing into their hands," Bassill said.

Heather Arnett, adviser for the girls' group, said it doesn't matter if Abercrombie gets free advertising. They're already a giant as far as she's concerned. What matters is empowering young women, she said, who in turn serve as examples to other young women.

"A week ago, Katie Couric knew who Abercrombie & Fitch was, but she didn't know who Emma Blackman-Mathis was," Arnett said. "A bunch of teenage girls are being interviewed by national media about what they think. And that is the news."

Blackman-Mathis admits that, at first glance, the T-shirts are a little funny.

But the more she looked at them, the less amusing they were. She's still stunned to have appeared on national TV and is hopeful the message will reach young girls.

"Worst-case scenario, I just want girls to at least think about everything that they buy," Blackman-Mathis said. "Think about the message that it conveys to themselves and other people when they wear it."

Her best-case scenario?

"They would stand up and say something for themselves and for girls."

--jgreenfield@tribune.com
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.

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At least there's some defiance this time. This is just plain sad.

Athosxc

Frmr. Pres. Carter on "Abortion Culture"

Former President Jimmy Carter yesterday condemned all abortions and chastised his party for its intolerance of candidates and nominees who oppose abortion.
"I never have felt that any abortion should be committed -- I think each abortion is the result of a series of errors," he told reporters over breakfast at the Ritz-CarltonHotel, while across town Senate Democrats deliberated whether to filibuster the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. because he may share President Bush and Mr. Carter's abhorrence of abortion.
"These things impact other issues on which [Mr. Bush] and I basically agree," the Georgia Democrat said. "I've never been convinced, if you let me inject my Christianity into it, that Jesus Christ would approve abortion."
Mr. Carter said his party's congressional leadership only hurts Democrats by making a rigid pro-abortion rights stand the criterion for assessing judicial nominees.
"I have always thought it was not in the mainstream of the American public to be extremely liberal on many issues," Mr. Carter said. "I think our party's leaders -- some of them -- are overemphasizing the abortion issue."
While Mr. Carter has previously expressed ambivalence about abortion, his statements yesterday were "astonishing," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America.
"He has long professed to be an evangelical Christian and yet he had embraced virtually all the liberal political agenda," said Mr. Knight. "Maybe with Jimmy Carter saying things he never uttered before, more liberals will rethink their worship of abortion as the high holy sacrament of liberalism."
Running for president in 1976 -- just three years after the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision -- Mr. Carter took a moderate stance.
"I think abortion is wrong and that the government ought never do anything to encourage abortion," he said during that campaign. "But I do not favor a constitutional amendment which would prohibit all abortions, nor one that would give states [a] local option to ban abortions."
In Washington to promote his latest book, "Our Enduring Values," Mr. Carter acknowledged he made mistakes in office.
"I can't deny I'm a better ex-president than I was a president," said Mr. Carter, who in recent years has traveled the globe with his wife Rosalyn, "trying to help hold 61 elections" in developing countries.
He has been outspoken in condemning Mr. Bush's policy toward Iraq. "I think all Christians -- and certainly all Baptists -- are different," Mr. Carter said yesterday. "I have a commitment to worship the Prince of Peace, not the Prince of Preemptive War."
But he praised Mr. Bush's policy toward war-torn Sudan, and declared that the best treatment he has received since leaving the Oval Office was from the first President Bush, and the second-best treatment he got was during the Reagan administration, especially from Secretary of State George P. Shultz. The worst treatment he's received, the former president said, was from President Clinton.
Mr. Carter said his party lost the 2004 presidential elections and lost House and Senate seats because Democratic leaders failed "to demonstrate a compatibility with the deeply religious people in this country. I think that absence hurt a lot."
Democrats must "let the deeply religious people and the moderates on social issues like abortion feel that the Democratic party cares about them and understands them," he said, adding that many Democrats, like him, "have some concern about, say, late-term abortions, where you kill a baby as it's emerging from its mother's womb."

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Thoughts anyone?

Athosxc

Why it helps to know the truth!

Heheheh, wording does mean everything doesn't it? :-)

A new young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.

He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up. In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.



The Abbot says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son".

So, he goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscript is held in a locked vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of years.



Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot.



Eventually the young monk gets worried and goes downstairs to look for him. He sees him banging his head against the wall. His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably.



The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?"



In a choking voice, the old abbot replies, "The word is celebrate, not celibate!"

Ten Commandments -- Cajun Style!

Well, being the conservative that I am, I not only like the 10 commandments, but think they should be shown everywhere. I'd be the first one to admit it if they didn't do any good, but I'd certainly support giving it a try. Post 'em in school, courts, businesses,...everywhere again, give it a 3 year test run, and see what happens....ok, enough of my soapbox. Here's a new flavor of the true top 10 for you. Somehow, the wording changes, but the truth and impact is still there. Enjoy!

The Ten Commandments in Cajun... (Keeps it REAL Simple)

1. God is number one... and das' All.

2. Don't pray to nuttin' or nobody... jus' God.

3 Don't cuss nobody... 'specially da Good Lord.

4. When it be Sunday... pass yo'self by the church house.

5 Yo mama an' yo daddy dun did it all... lissen to dem.

6. Killin' duck an' fish, das' OK... people - No!

7. God done give you a wife... sleep wit' jus' her.

8 Don't take nobody's boat... or nuttin' else.

9. Don't go wantin' somebody's stuff.

10. Stop lyin'... yo tongue gonna fall out yo mouf!



Purty Kewl!

Athosxc

Something to think about...

Muslims pray five times a day. Is this wrong? Absolutely not, even if I would argue that they pray to a non-existent god because they do not pray to Yahweh. They still have the right to pray. This story shows how five muslims went to a football game, prayed in public, and were questioned by the FBI who admitted racial profiling. The muslims said that they pray wherever they are in public because they must, that is what muslims do. They will not change because they did nothing wrong. The muslims want to use this as an opportunity to educate the public regarding Islam.

Now the question: If a CHRISTIAN was praying in public, would it cause a fuss? If a Christian said " I pray continuously no matter where I am, because I am a Christian, it is what Christians do" and wanted to take this as an opportunity to educate the public about Christianity, would it be as readily accepted? Since I'm taking the initiative in finding a bone to pick here where there isn't one, (purely for the sake of asking us all to think), let me clarify that I have no problem with the muslims or anyone else praying in public. My question is on the public's reaction and even the acceptance of the act by other religions. Would we as Christians have our views as easily accepted?? I don't think so, but you may think differently. Comments???

Here's the story:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Five Muslims who were detained after praying at an American football game want to turn the incident into a tool to teach Americans about Islam. While at a New York Giants against New Orleans Saints game at Giants Stadium on September 19, the New Jersey residents were removed from their seats and questioned by FBI agents after other fans saw them bow to the ground as part of the five-daily Muslim prayers.

"As Muslims, we just have to pray when it's time to pray," Sami Shaban told a news conference in New York on Wednesday. "We thought nothing of it. I pray in malls, I pray everywhere."

The 27-year-old law school student said he and his friends were questioned for about 25 minutes, missing part of the second half of the game. After they were released, an FBI agent told him they had been unwitting victims of racial profiling, Shaban said.

The FBI said the men were questioned because they congregated near an air duct at the stadium, not because they were praying. But the men dismissed that explanation.

"Let's be real here, if anybody with my description even scratches their ear, people get nervous," said Mostafa Khalifa, 27, who, like Shaban, wears a long beard and was among those detained. "I did nothing wrong, I should not change."

He pointed out that football players often huddle and pray on the sideline as a teammate attempts a game-winning kick in the waning seconds of a game.

The fans said they would like to turn the incident into an opportunity to teach Americans about Islamic traditions.

They teamed up with the Council on American-Islamic Relations and invited anybody interested to join them in celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan along with thousands of worshipers in New Jersey on Thursday or Friday.

"We want to stop profiling. The more that people learn about Islam, the more tolerant they become," said Wissam Nasr, the council's executive director in New York.

Shaban said he has made giving Muslims a good name in the United States his life's purpose.

"I've been a Giants fan since I was like six years old," he said. "I don't want it to be that any time a Muslim goes to a Giants game they can't enjoy the game ... because of the length of our beard or the way that we are."

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Again, this just gives us something to think about in relation to the turn of acceptance away from Christianity and the truth of God. Comments?

Athosxc

How Much Of This Is Still Known And Taught???

DID YOU KNOW? As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S. Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view ... it is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!

DID YOU KNOW?

As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.


DID YOU KNOW?

As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall,
right above where the Supreme Court judges sit,
a display of the Ten Commandments!


DID YOU KNOW?


There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C.


DID YOU KNOW?

James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement:

"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

DID YOU KNOW?

Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said:


"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".
DID YOU KNOW?


Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.


DID YOU KNOW?


Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.


DID YOU KNOW?

Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law would begin making law an oligarchy .
the rule of few over many.


DID YOU KNOW?


The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said:


"Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."


How, then, have we gotten to the point that everything we have done for 220 years in this country is now suddenly wrong and unconstitutional?

Lets put it around the world and let the world see and remember what this great country was built on.


It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the other 14% to Sit Down and SHUT UP!!!

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Amen. - Athosxc