"I'm too pretty to do maths" - AIBU to think this is a terrible slogan for a product marketed to teen girls?

[Ifrit]

accessories.ee.co.uk/product/dgskbl/david_&goliath/blonde_phone_sock-_im_too_pretty_to_do_maths/

Found on the EE accessories shop.

I know it's a piece of pink printed tat but AIBU to think that telling young girls you can be either pretty or clever is absolutely shit?

[Ifrit]

It's in the EE online accessories shop. There's a thread about it on their FB page in the visitor posts section :)

[iklboo]

So they have one that says 'I do maths. I must be fecking ugly'. No. Thought not. Because they'd say THAT was offensive. But it's just the same slogan reworded.

[BatmanLovesPeaceAndQuiet]

I've tweeted it to Jo Boaler - this is exactly the kind of thing she talks about in her Mindset articles and books. David & Goliath may see it as a harmless joke, but it's just another message to children that Maths is hard. It's never 'I'm too pretty to do Geography' or 'I'm too pretty to do PE', is it?

[senua]

And if any mathematician can explain why two minuses = a plus I'd be very happy to listen.

Think of the number line. Usually going to the right means going up higher and higher positive numbers. A minus means go in the opposite direction. Two minuses means change direction twice i.e. carry on in the same direction (positive).
Does that make sense?

[notquitehuman]

Ugh that phone case. Reminds me of a girl's tshirt that I saw that said 'I want to be a footballer's wife'. Vomit.

David and Goliath are a shitty company too. They've been known to steal artworks and print them on their crap tshirts. I wouldn't buy their overpriced junk.

[UnGoogleable]

senua that's the best explanation I've ever read. Wish you had been my Maths teacher!

Instead I had a belligerent man who told me he hoped I would fail because I talked too much. So I worked even harder and got a B grade just to prove the fucker wrong.

[Ifrit]

It's been tweeted about a few times overnight :)

Wonder if EE will have a better response now it's Monday and the office staff will be in rather than the weekend cover.

[PurpleDaisies]

It's this sort of casual throw away nonsense that means girls don't think maths and science are subjects for them. If I had a pound for every time I was told by primary age children that boys are good at maths and girls are good at writing stories I would have a nicer car on the driveway. That doesn't come from nowhere.

It's socially acceptable to say "I'm rubbish at maths" but no one wants to admit to not being able to read. It makes me really annoyed.

[KeyserSophie]

It's socially acceptable to say "I'm rubbish at maths" but no one wants to admit to not being able to read. It makes me really annoyed.

This. My mum was a teacher. This attitude from parents used to drive her nuts. If their DC were struggling wit reading they'd be demanding action, but if it was maths they'd just be "meh- I'm crap at maths too". I'm not saying that everyone has to be a mathematical genius, but achieving basic competency is something parents should be concerned about.

[Pannn]

have tweeted the @EE account, asking is this their effort to support women in STEM, and asking them to remove it. I only have 185 followers and am not an EE customer so they wont be quaking.....

[meditrina]

"I'm sure the designers didn't mean for this message to be taken seriously but simply as a silly jest."

Whoever wrote that seems to have missed the whole architecture of the Equalities Act, which is that it's all about the effect on the audience,not the intent of the utterer.

[waitingforsomething]

Hideous and damaging. I can't believe someone would make it.

[SirChenjin]

I wonder if EE employs any women accountants, IT bods, economists and so on? Or do they employ them, but lock away the Plain Janes in a basement so that the men and the more attractive girlz in the non-maths related jobs don't have to actually look at them?

EE - one definition of humour is "the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech". This is neither.

I despair, I really do. Have we not progressed beyond 1979?

[MadameJosephine]

It's socially acceptable to say "I'm rubbish at maths" but no one wants to admit to not being able to read. It makes me really annoyed

Oh god yes, my xDP used to get what I called 'maths blindness', he wouldn't even attempt the most simple calculation like working out 10% off a price. He would just glaze over and claim he 'couldn't do maths'. It used to drive me crazy!

[Andrewofgg]

My sister, now 70, had the Rubbish at maths and proud of it approach - why my highly educated parents allowed it I do not know. I hope it was not because she was female but I will never know because I never had that attitude!

[Ifrit]

I've emailed customer services directly both about the message and about the woefully crap response on the FB page. I've asked if "it was a silly jest" and "she can't take a joke" would be accepted as a defence in a sexual discrimination hearing.

[lostInTheWash]

I was told by primary age children that boys are good at maths and girls are good at writing stories

My DD1 was told maths was for boys at primary school by a female teacher - and that it was hard - her ability dropped till we stepped in.

We've also had the your either good at maths of not thrown at my DC - by teachers, by other children by other adults they've encountered - it's a dangerous myth.

Thanks to people on here we found Carol Vordaman's mathfactor site - not only do my dc learn maths and get taught comprehensively they see a woman doing maths and being well know for doing maths. I'm glad it's there but we had to seek it out.

There is a huge and depressing amount of this shit around - all the trouble and naughty slogans on boys stuff as well. I have relatives who bought our DC t-shirt with I got my looks for my mother and my brains from my dad they weren't being ironic - I'm intelligent and as well educated as DH - and DH isn't ugly we know this but still found the joke lacking.

I'm sure it's bought ironically for female maths majors and accountants - people who are brilliant at maths who despite being female had good maths teaching and some support and are probably gorgeous so not mind the implied insult that they are ugly.

[SirChenjin]

Oh god yes, my xDP used to get what I called 'maths blindness'

It's a real thing - it's called dyscalculia. I am terrible at maths, not something I'm proud of but I totally get the complete blankness and subsequent panic that sets in.

[StitchesInTime]

This is so depressing.

And yes, no one thinks it's okay to joke about being rubbish at reading.

[PurpleDaisies]

We've also had the you're either good at maths or not thrown at my DC - by teachers, by other children by other adults they've encountered - it's a dangerous myth.

I really hope that wasn't a maths teacher saying that. I'm a private tutor in maths and science and 90% of the battle is to get the pupils to believe they can actually do it if they try. So many kids just seem to be getting the message that maths (and to some extent science) is hard and boring, even at primary school level. If they start with the attitude that they can't do it, it quickly turns into a self fulfilling prophecy.

The "maths is something you either can do or can't" thing is something I see a fair bit too. Yes, some people have a natural flair for maths but practising standard techniques until you're fluent works for the vast vast majority of pupils.

[lostInTheWash]

I do know Dyscalculia is a thing but I think the not being good at maths is wider than that.

www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is usually perceived of as a specific learning difficulty for mathematics, or, more appropriately, arithmetic.

Developmental Dyscalculia often occurs in association with other developmental disorders such as dyslexia or ADHD/ADD. Co-occurrence of learning disorders appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Co-occurrence is generally assumed to be a consequence of risk factors that are shared between disorders, for example, working memory.

My working memory as a child was very poor my mental arithmetic was very poor indeed - but give me a pen and paper I could do maths. ( I was still using fingers and working out some of the times tables I couldn't remember form ones I could in secondary school got a maths A-level though)

I come from a family full of good mathematicians including female one so got help and support with maths. It's also why we did something rather than accept being told your DC just aren't good at maths.

I'm dyslexic - I love reading - I struggled pronouncing unknown words I'm not always accurate in what I read and I really struggle with spellings - but I love reading books. No one ever said to me - oh reading isn't a strength don't bother with it.

[lostInTheWash]

I really hope that wasn't a maths teacher saying that.

Primary school teacher not ones in charge of maths but one she spent bulk of the day with so had considerable influence. We have changed areas since and seen a marked improvement in maths teaching.

[lostInTheWash]

And if any mathematician can explain why two minuses = a plus I'd be very happy to listen.

www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/absolute-value/adding_subtracting_negatives/v/why-subtracting-a-negative-equivalent-to-adding-a-positive

[Ifrit]

EE have responded further on their FB page to say that the product is a parody.

Parody or not it's a worrying message and by stocking it it appears that EE are endorsing this message.

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1010864615655402&id=355991264476077&ref=m_notif&notif_t=feed_comment