alexseanchai | (no subject)

(no subject)

Read this post, explore the linked website, and bug their owners.

zarhooie's complaint is that a lot of We Love Fine's geeky T-shirts ~~don't acknowledge the existence of~~ don't have versions cut to fit the female[-assigned-at-birth] geek, something about licensing, I don't pretend to understand, and Kat would appreciate it if we all expressed to them our desire for T-shirts cut to accommodate breasts.

I do not have money for that Korra shirt. I do not have money for that Korra shirt. I do not...

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I don't think it's as much a refusal to acknowledge birth assigned geeks (they often partner wit The Mary Sue as the usual licensors being idiots.
That said, I've never quite understood the fascination with "girly" t-shirts. Probably because for reasons I don't want to get into publicly (PM me if you're curious)' I'm uncomfortable with shirt cuts that emphasize my breasts and therefore just find them uncomfortable. Or I'm just so petite (read: short but not thin) that they don't fit right so I'm more comfortable in a slightly bulkier men's shirt.

I think it's just a question of recognizing that there are lots of different body types and style preferences. For those of us who aren't very curvy, clothes cut specifically for women actually helps us look like, you know, women. Put me in a men's t-shirt and you can't tell I have any shape at all, so I avoid t-shirts cut for men if I can at all help it because I do like to look feminine.

Her Universe is a great site that caters specifically to girl geeks. It started as a Star Wars store (the founder is the voice actress for the Clone Wars cartoon character Asoka), but has been gradually expanding to other fandoms. She started it specifically as a response to this kind of thing, geeky sites that sell nothing for women.

Now, they've had their issues with recognizing bodies come in different shapes, too, not so much because they don't recognize girls can be geeks, too, since that's their specific mission, but with making clothes for women who aren't slender. But they're pretty responsive to suggestions. My more curvy geek friends have had good response when they've complained that just making a shirt bigger doesn't mean it will work for a bigger woman, and Ashley's been really trying to make changes along those lines as well.

If I had money for all the geeky clothes I wanted, that's probably where I'd spend it.

ETA: Also, they have this instead of this.

Edited 2013-05-09 23:21 (UTC)

Yeah, the Marvel women vs men shirts are ridiculous. I think the real problem is that mass produced clothes are hard to fit people who aren't mass produced to spec.
Sorry if this was overly cranky, I think my massive hatred of "girly tees" just gets the better of me sometimes.
Though if you want to hear me rant about sexist merchandising, get me started about the mix of Power Ranger action figures sent to stores....

Yeah, no worries. Everyone has different tastes, and that's cool. I tend to not like girly styles (pink and cutesy) but like girl cuts. I remember how excited I was when I saw a girls' cut Avengers shirt that was a strip from the comics -- at Penneys, no less! No pastels. No cutesy art style. Just straight out of the pages of the comic. It was like, okay, someone gets it, that girls can be feminine and still like superheroes without making them cutesy. That's what pisses me off about only offering men's cut shirts, because it's like the default assumption is geek stuff is only for guys or for girls who want to dress like guys, that femininity and superheroes or sci fi are mutually exclusive. If that look isn't your thing, more power to you.

I want the self-rescuing princess shirt. Sadly I don't think I'm quite small enough for youth sizes.

Ask them for adult sizes! If you'd but it, they should know there!s a market or it.

Good point.

iirc ThinkGeek has a self-rescuing princess shirt! I have it, actually.

Ooo. does not immediately rush off to ThinkGeek, because at work

Yeah, you might be right that it's the licensors' fault. And I'm not fond of babydoll-cut t-shirts either, I'd rather wear the style that's alternately called 'men's' and 'unisex', but I don't see why I shouldn't support people who want t-shirts that fit them even when those t-shirts wouldn't suit me.

True, and when I'm not on my iPad I may signal boost that if folks are looking for ladies' styles the trick is to ask for them to show there's a market and they can offer the (licensors may have to pay for unsold items or something.) but it seems disingenuous to suggest that I would buy something I have no intention of buying, if that makes sense? But folks may not think to ask, and they should cretainly knw that asking is more likely than not to produce results in this case.

... SIGNAL BOOST YOU SAY

I am heading to bed, but this is totally appropriate in

signalboost if anyone wants to stick it there.

Exactly. It's all about offering a variety of choices and not assuming all geeks are this or that, or hell, all women are this or that.

I've been trying to get over my reaction to this and not say anything, but there's a serious thin-privilege thing going on over there. The idea that it's kind of a travesty that one particular store doesn't carry EVERYTHING in sizes to flatter smaller women's bodies is just making me have rage flails every time I think about it. I'm pretty much thrilled any time an online store that carries designs I like carries shirts that will BASICALLY fit on my body and that don't cost $$$$. Given how small those fitted t-shirts run, anybody who can wear them can find no end of clothing to fit and flatter them just about anywhere. That's a privilege that I can't even really imagine.

I'm sorry that this is probably rude and argumentative, but I keep thinking about it and can't really get past it.

Not rude or argumentative, though you'd have a right to be. You make a very valid point, which we should all be taking into consideration.

Which Korra shirt is the one you want? I kind of feel I need all of them, but especially BabyKorra and the Fire Ferrets one.

The one with Naga center stage.

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