Girlcott: "Think About the Fact That You're Being Degraded"

"It's time to take action." That's what a group of teenage girls from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania said last month in response to a new line of shirts from Abercrombie & Fitch. The shirts, which carried phrases across the chests like "Who needs brains when you have these?" and a number of other slogans degrading to women, sparked a national campaign of action.

The girlcott --rather than a boycott--of Abercrombie and Fitch formally began in the minds of a group of girls, ages 13 - 16, who are members of " Girls as Grantmakers ," a program of the Women and Girls' Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania. Members of the group pledged to continue their "girlcott" of all Abercrombie products until the company addressed their concerns. The group said, "We would never let anyone exploit us, so why are we exploiting ourselves? As girls, we can spend our dollars on more empowering, less racist and less sexist street ware."

The organizers asked girls throughout the country to do three things:

1. Stop shopping at A&F until they stop selling these tees and formally apologize to all of us for selling them in the first place.
2. Email a letter saying that you will be doing #1, to the A&F "Investor Relations headquarters.
3. Spread the word to other groovy girls you know.

What initially began as a small rally and email campaign to friends quickly gained national attention when the organization's 16-year old co-chair, Emma Blackman-Mathis was invited to appear on the "Today Show" and other national news programs to talk about the girlcott. "We're telling (girls) to think about the fact that they're being degraded," she said.

As national attention and pressure grew, the company was finally forced to respond. On November 4th A&F released this statement: "We recognize that the shirts in question, while meant to be humorous, might be troubling to some." And guess what...they agreed to pull several of the controversial T-shirts from the show floor. The girlcott succeeded.

Action like the girlcott against Abercrombie shines a light on the important social activism currently underway at all levels of our society, even by those too young to vote. Teens across this country are standing up and refusing to participate in cultural practices that demean others, especially young girls. Even as dominant voices in our culture continue to use and exploit women for profit, girls and women of all ages are standing up, raising their voices, and demanding their dignity. This small group of women in Pennsylvania had a powerful message. By joining their voices together, they were powerful enough to halt a large, wealthy, popular corporation.

Catholic Connections

"The time has come to condemn vigorously the types of sexual violence which frequently have women for their object and to pass laws which effectively defend them from such violence. Nor can we fail, in the name of the respect due to the human person, to condemn the widespread hedonistic and commercial culture which encourages the systematic exploitation of sexuality and corrupts even very young girls into letting their bodies be used for profit."
--Pope John Paul II, 1995

Reflection Questions

Where do you see evidence of the exploitation of women and girls in your everyday life?

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