{"id":5996,"date":"2016-07-28T14:13:26","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T21:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/?p=5996"},"modified":"2016-07-28T14:45:08","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T21:45:08","slug":"love-is-the-answer-cutie-and-other-things-that-piss-me-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/?p=5996","title":{"rendered":"Love is the answer, cutie, and other things that piss me off."},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi loves.\u00a0 I took my daughters shopping for back-to-school clothes this week.\u00a0 And I dunno.\u00a0 Just.\u00a0 *SIGH*<\/p>\n

I keep talking myself down off the Ledge of Anger, reminding myself how there are so many pissy things going on right now.\u00a0 No wonder I\u2019m on edge.\u00a0 Fucking terrorists.\u00a0 Fucking people getting shot by cops, and cops getting shot, and instead of extending\u00a0 fucking heartfelt sympathy like a human being, most people are screaming like GD idiots about how people basically deserve to die.\u00a0 Also, this presidential election is about to give me a stroke, and I\u2019m not even into politics.\u00a0 So I keep telling myself to back away from the pissiness\/crazy\/ranty place that these kids T-shirts are taking me.\u00a0 I am probably just having a bad reaction because the world is set to FUBAR and the vibes are getting to me.<\/p>\n

But I have to show you these shirts.\u00a0 You know, the ones with the writing on them.\u00a0 Basically, they seem like a warning label of sorts on your kid.\u00a0 Or at least a subliminal message.\u00a0 But harmless right?\u00a0 Nobody reads shit on shirts.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the options I saw while shopping with my daughters.
\n\"g522\"\"g2\"<\/p>\n

\"g613\"\"g7\"\"g_105330\"<\/p>\n

Technically, they are not wrong.\u00a0 Love is really important.<\/p>\n

OK, except this one is technically incorrect.<\/p>\n

\"g21\"<\/p>\n

Stars can shine without love.\u00a0 They are powered by nuclear fusion, not emotional connection.<\/p>\n

Kind of taken aback by the heavy themes in the girls’ department, I sneaked over to the boys’ department.\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t find a single shirt over there that said “love” or had hearts. Did find one with factual science tho:<\/p>\n

\"B316\"\"20160726_103319\"<\/p>\n

Fascinated with the unfamiliar (I have three girls and no boys), I spent some time there.\u00a0 Although love seems of little importance over there, some of the shirts are fucking fantastic.<\/p>\n

\"20160726_103243\" \"B1\" \"B11\"<\/p>\n

\"B46\" \"20160726_105112\"<\/p>\n

I thought it would be freaking awesome to get my kid a WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE shirt, but could not find one.\u00a0 FUTURE LEGEND was pretty great too, but not super applicable since it has a football and my kid doesn’t play that sport.\u00a0 I grabbed SCORING MACHINE and SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS.\u00a0 Then headed back to the girls\u2019 section, looking for shirts that endorsed achievement, adventure, or non relationship oriented qualities.\u00a0 They kinda<\/em> had some.<\/p>\n

\"20160726_105406\" \"20160726_105428\" \"20160726_104944\"<\/p>\n

\"20160726_104919\" \"20160726_103858\"<\/p>\n

But mostly there were zounds shirts like this.<\/p>\n

\"g0\" \"g20\" \"g628\"<\/p>\n

\"g749\" \"g3650\"<\/p>\n

\"g3726\" \"g3831\" \"g105221\"<\/p>\n

I handed SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS and SCORING MACHINE,\u00a0 along with some others, to my seven year old to try on.\u00a0 I\u2019d done this when my girls were toddlers \u2013 I DO MY OWN STUNTS from the boys\u2019 section over DADDY\u2019S GIRL from the girls\u2019.\u00a0 They\u2019d worn them no problem.<\/p>\n

Seven year old wouldn\u2019t even try them on.\u00a0 She cringed, shaking her head.\u00a0 Doing my best Sociologist in the field<\/em> style interview, I asked her what she didn\u2019t like about the shirts.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t say.\u00a0 Just.\u00a0 Ew. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I thought about handing her the BE A BEAST shirt, just for laughs, but stopped short.\u00a0 Being called a beast on a shirt might get a pretty negative reaction from… well, everyone.\u00a0 Would she get as much flak as a boy wearing a CUTIE shirt?\u00a0 Thinking about it is hella depressing.\u00a0 Boys are<\/em> cute.\u00a0 They should be allowed be identified as such.\u00a0 Especially if girls can hardly find a shirt that doesn’t<\/em> label them cute.<\/p>\n

I keep telling myself this is probably nothing to get bent out of shape.\u00a0 Grappling with gender identity is what kids do, and probably most of them just want to blend in with their peers.\u00a0\u00a0 Having a mom who goes gender vigilante\u00a0 nuts and makes you wear a BE A BEAST shirt is probably more emotionally damaging than a ton of shirts with PRETTY on them.\u00a0 I need to settle the hell down.\u00a0 Plus, things are getting better.\u00a0 We have a woman presidential nominee, for cripes sake.\u00a0\u00a0 Those stupid shirts probably don’t mean shit.<\/p>\n

Still.\u00a0 UGHH.<\/p>\n

PS: As a slight aside, my oldest kid has a shirt she LOVES that says:<\/p>\n

PICK FLOWERS
\nNOT FIGHTS<\/p>\n

But the stylized writing makes me misread it as FUCK FLOWERS every time I see it.\u00a0 Every time, I am momentarily horrified.\u00a0 Then I spend a second wondering if it’s an ‘on purpose’ tweak of the kerning.\u00a0 Then I kind of smile and think, Yeah.\u00a0 Fuck flowers, man.\u00a0 Fuck. them. all.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi loves.\u00a0 I took my daughters shopping for back-to-school clothes this week.\u00a0 And I dunno.\u00a0 Just.\u00a0 *SIGH* I keep talking myself down off the Ledge of Anger, reminding myself how there are so many pissy things going on right now.\u00a0 No wonder I\u2019m on edge.\u00a0 Fucking terrorists.\u00a0 Fucking people getting shot by cops, and cops …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ranty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5996"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6052,"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5996\/revisions\/6052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annenahm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}