It’s an adorable concept: a shirt little boys can wear to show they care about equality with girls. But when J.Crew started selling T-shirts for boys with the words “I Am a Feminist Too,” some fans of the brand weren’t too happy, Insider reports. Despite the backlash, J.Crew is standing by their shirt.
The tee is a product of J.Crew’s collaboration with Prinkshop, a company that makes clothing and accessories with activist messages. Their site also sells adult-sized shirts with the “I Am a Feminist Too” slogan. Sales from the J.Crew/Prinkshop collaboration benefit Girl Up, a group that partners with the United Nations to help girls around the world get an education.
On J.Crew’s Instagram account, some commenters, especially conservative ones, called the company out for encouraging kids to wear slogans they don’t fully understand. “This poor kid doesn't even know what he's representing,” one commenter wrote. "Shame on you for politicizing little boys into what their MOMS want them to be. Kids should be kids not political grandstanding tokens,” another wrote. The backlash continued on Twitter.
Other people supported the shirt, saying feminism isn’t a political issue and that all parents should be raising their children to be feminists.
The company is defending the somehow-controversial shirt, saying it shows their commitment to equality. A representative for J.Crew responded to the uproar in a statement to MarieClaire.com: “J.Crew stands for equality, and is for everybody.” And that commitment is working, because it’s already sold out in a few sizes.
