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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in being shocked at young boy in sleazy tshirt???

86 replies

indiasmum · 22/08/2007 18:19

was in sainsburys with dd (thats irrelevant really dont know why i said that!) and saw a boy age about 11 or 12, really no older wearing a tshirt which on a man i would have thought 'twat' or similar.... one of those dreadful fcuk things where the joke has really overrun itself now
it said on it

'too busy to fcuk'

now obv i know it doesnt say the actual f word and haha arent french connection really funny and all that?! but on a boy? out with his parents? why would you let your child wear it? nay, why would you buy it for your child to wear?

now it doesnt offend me per se, i just think its wrong! i dont think i am being unreasonable to expect children to wear suitable attire and that i wont have to be bothered by said child and his 'oh-so-liberal- parents all night!

would you have been shocked by this?

OP posts:
emj23 · 22/08/2007 20:21

On that 'Mary Queen of Shops' programme one of the stores had t-shirts for children with bad slogans. One said something like 'Test Tube Kid - Daddy is a W*er'. She made the shop owners get rid of them when she tarted the shop up for them IIRC. I've never seen any children wearing one with anything like that written on it but it surprised me enough watching the programme.

pastalady · 22/08/2007 20:23

That's disgraceful. Sorry, but IMO t-shirts like that shouldn't be printed for children and parents who buy them for their kids are simply teaching them that swearing, jokes about swearing, crudeness etc is acceptable.

AS bad as the teeny-tiny starter bra's that are padded, but don't get me started on those.

YANBU!

southeastastra · 22/08/2007 20:24

i saw that show emj they were awful and he had stacks of them!

redtoenails · 22/08/2007 20:29

why are things like that made? (and WHO buys them?)

madamez · 22/08/2007 20:30

Swearing and crude jokes are not crimes. Some people get awfully upset by them, some people think they are funny. What business is it of yours what slogan someone else or someone else's DC has ona t-shirt? Have you really got nothing else to get your underwear in a bundle about?

handlemecarefully · 22/08/2007 20:37

Madamez - we wouldn't discuss a fcuk-ing thing on here though if we were all to mind our own business / live and let live etc(insert other platitudes), no?

And can you really not see the point here where it applies to a child? - or are you just being devils advocate for the hell of it because your blood is up tonight?

Incidentally agree that swearing and being crude is not a crime. I am totally potty mouthed and revel in a bit of hard core swearing - but tend to think that it should be left to the grown ups

redtoenails · 22/08/2007 20:40

well madame it is completely my business so there!

margoandjerry · 22/08/2007 20:49

I saw a girl of about 10 with a t shirt on with the playboy logo on it and the word "SCORE".

Horrible. Cheap, vulgar, crude, inappropriate, depressing, stupid. Ummm...don't like it.

Rubybees · 22/08/2007 21:21

yanbu

I also hate seeing trouser on kids with babe, foxy etc. across the 'bottom'

SleeplessInTheStaceym11House · 22/08/2007 21:27

my dd had angel 'bum' trousers at 3 mo! was cute then, but not sure about pre-teens

melpomene · 22/08/2007 23:33

at cocolepew and LilianGish's examples

In the newspaper a few weeks ago there was a picture of Jon Ronson's 8-year-old son, who was wearing a T shirt that said something like

"Perfectly
Intellectual
Moral
Person"

together with a picture of a stereotypical pimp. I found that pretty offensive on an 8 year old.

I also heard about a shop that got into trouble for displaying a baby T Shirt with the slogan "Winner of the egg and sperm race." Personally I don't find that one offensive though; it's kind of factual and (unlike the other examples here) not attributing sexual motives to the child.

pastalady · 23/08/2007 00:03

No, swearing and crudeness are not crimes but surely they are not something you want to actively encourage your child to do and when you buy a T-shirt like that for them, what does that say? Does a young child understand the 'joke?'/meaning/ true connetations of the slogan 'too busy to fcuck' on his T-shirt. Do you want him too? Would you tell him off for swearing if he said one morning ' I want to wear my 'fuck' T-shirt Mummy!' (because surely that's how a child that age would say it?).

When they grow up, our kids have got the whole of the rest of their lives to swear and spend their money on T-shirts with whatever they want on. That's when it's their choice, they're more informed and the buck stops with them.

Adult slogans on kids clothes, which if the child truely understood what they meant would mean that they have lost some innocence as a child are just sad and depressing.

hotchocscot · 23/08/2007 00:07

I saw an 8ish year old girl wearing a boob tube style top that said "future footballer's wife" on it. I thought, aim high for your kid, why dontcha?

mamama · 23/08/2007 00:08

Think it is inappropriate for the boy to be wearing that.

Think it even more inappropriate for DS's father to wear them when he is out with DS

MrsMarvel · 23/08/2007 00:37

I believe that if you write it down you should also have the guts to say it. I'm sure the boys parents wouldn't be so pleased if you read his t-shirt back to them. It's important not to forget what words and images actually mean. There's an assumption that we should all get used to these things the more we are exposed to them but I think that's a big mistake. We are getting more and more blase about how and whether we offend people and we lose something through that.

StrwBry · 23/08/2007 00:45

How do you know he was only 11/12? He could have been 16+ My friend's ds is 17 and looks about 12.

Just a thought.

StrwBry · 23/08/2007 00:46

Forgot to add, I hate those t shirts full stop!

nappyaddict · 23/08/2007 03:28

don't see the problem with thobras. loadsa girls stuff tissue down their bra don't they cos the dont want to be teased that they are the last to get a bra. would prefer my daughter to have a padded one than stuff tissue down it which could potentially fall out and cause more embarassment.

but then i wouldn't have a problem with a tween wearing a thong or french knicker type underwear and i know a lot of people do. i find them much more comfortable than normal pants and wish i'd known about them sooner.

AnnainNZ · 23/08/2007 03:40

Designer over here produced a girl's T shirt (aged for a bout 7/8/9 I htink) which said "Future Porn Star" on it.

They got a fair bit of stick for it and eventually withdrew it, admitting they hadn't sold many...

LieselVentouse · 23/08/2007 05:48

i know its not the same but i saw a really funny one yesterday - an early chubby teenager with t-shirt saying "my other bodys a temple"

quickdrawmcgraw · 23/08/2007 09:06

re. bras A friend of mine wrote an article on this subject and in her research found shops selling padded bras for age 9/10. I can't understand why a parent (because presumably it's parents buying these things for their children at that age) would want to sexualise their child before puberty or at least before most girls hit puberty . Buying them just because they don't want to get teased just shortens childhood. Thongs are also available for girls from age 8.

Wuxiapian · 23/08/2007 09:45

It's sickening!

What's wrong with children being children nowadays?!

Parents who allow this are to be pitied.

nappyaddict · 23/08/2007 13:32

oh i was thinking more like age 11 for the underwear. that i can understand.

Charlee · 23/08/2007 13:36

I hat dirty/rude shirts on any age. |WHn i met DP he had an 'eat pussy' t-shirt and 'a dogs for life not just for a friday night' t-shirt i bineed them both pretty damn quickly.

If i see someone wearing one i immediatley think 'twat'

Charlee · 23/08/2007 13:36

God sorry for the spelling mistakes in that post, far to many to mention!