Way to Go David & Goliath With Your Brilliant Messages

Why isn't anyone else blogging about the David & Goliath shirts that JC Penney has been carrying?

From yahoo.com Shine

OK. Where do I start? First of all, I am all about looking good and how your appearance affects your self-esteem. I even blogged about it earlier this week. But I also pointed out that my daughter is brilliant. That is more important to me any day. I've never been one to fuss over her hair or her clothes up to this point, but she's also extremely smart and I encourage that first. The reason I want to pay more attention to her clothes more now is because I realize that middle school will be a completely different story. Kids can be cruel.

However, never would I encourage the type of message on David & Goliath shirts. Apparently this isn't the first offensive t-shirt made by this company. This is the only the first one that parents made a big enough fuss about that it's being pulled off the JC Penney racks. Others have included, "Trophy Wife" and "I'm Too Pretty To Do Math." Lovely! In my research I found one even worse, "NO means NO, well maybe if I'm drunk." Yeah, that's really the message I want for my daughter to give out to the world.

David & Goliath and JC Penney may argue that it's all in fun. That they really don't believe these messages. I'm all about tongue in cheek humor, but when it comes to my daughter and her self-esteem I wouldn't kid about something like her intelligence or her education.

When I was doing my gender studies for my thesis in grad school I read once about a study that was done over a number of years with young women. They were asked a series of questions when they were very young, around 3 or 4, and then they were asked the same questions when they were in middle school. Many of the girls gave completely different answers. They were less assertive and had a lower self-esteem. For some reason little girls that were very smart in elementary school become disinterested in middle school. (I wish I had kept that article.)

That's why I love campaigns such as the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. During the campaign I sent in receipts of products that I bought to buy a t-shirt that says, "Be Yourself, Be Beautiful." I love wearing that t-shirt and was crushed when I got something black on the bottom corner.

I love the positive messages Nike has on their t-shirts. Some have slogans like, "I am a woman, watch me score," "Cute Doesn't Win Games," and "I Will Run You Over." I would much rather see my daughter wearing one of those.

As we start on the trek to middle school and I'm helping my daughter with her hair, her accessories and her looks this is the message I want to send to her. I want her to know that she can be anything she wants. She can be beautiful, strong, an athlete and a genius. She is all of these things and more.