kitchen table

Boyfriend and I were at the mall yesterday during the Ernesto-sponsored rainstorm—a bad decision on many fronts—when a nauseating discovery was made at Delia’s:

He actually pointed it out to me, saying something along the lines of, “What the fuck?” Folks might remember all the buzz last year when a group of girls, otherwise known as Girls as Grantmakers, proposed a girlcott of a slew of Abercrombie & Fitch’s t-shirts. With slogans such as, “Who needs brains when you have these?” strategically printed over the shirt’s front, A&F was joining a long line of product-placers who have caught flack for valuing profit over gender equality. (My personal fave is the “Math is Hard” Barbie.)

Delia’s, which this author remembers more as a must-have catalog from high school days than a store in the mall, has long been cashing in on “alternative” fashion trends and dispatching the lace-up combat boots/fishnet tights/plaid mini-skirts to every dare-to-be-different girl in the country. Unfortunately, this ongoing vintage-logo trend in t-shirts has them stooping as low as their friends over at A&F. The “I’m tight like spandex!” tees are blantantly advertising the wearer’s virginity, sexualizing her innocence as creepily as a kiddie-porn producer. It’s nasty, nasty. Once again, girls are being told that their bodies are the most valuable thing they have to offer. And that’s not tight, I mean, err, cool. Yeah, that doesn’t work there either.

Anyway, here’s an idea: write to or call Delia’s, tell them how unfashionable sexism is, and let’s raise a fuss…

dELIAs, Inc. Executive Offices
435 Hudson St.
New York, NY 10014
Phone: (212) 807-9060

UPDATE: Carolyn brought to my attention that we could leave a comment on the website. Go! go!