Forever 21 has a New “rape” T-shirt?
By: Alyssa Riegel
Fashion bloggers and millennial shoppers are furious over Forever 21’s new shirt that advertises rape.
Forever 21’s men’s clothing line released a shirt with the saying “Don’t say maybe if you want to say no.”
“Don’t say maybe if you want to say no.” Sounds very convincing, huh? Well, recently Forever 21 added a new men’s t-shirt to their clothing line which was later taken off of their website. The shirt, which had the saying “Don’t say maybe if you want to say no,” was retailed at $19.99 and was sold both in stores and online according to consumerist.com.
After receiving immediate backlash from fashion bloggers, millennials all over social medias and multiple news sources, Forever 21 removed its shirt from their site. However, before this action was done, multiple people had already taken pictures of the shirt in stores and some even bought it.
The shirt has many problems. For one, it is a part of the men’s line, meaning that the saying on it is directed at women. Second, the line “Don’t say maybe if you want to say no” is a straight, upfront slam in the face to rape and sexual consent. Third, there is no clear explanation of what Forever 21 wanted to say when releasing such a bold shirt.
According to consumerist.com, Forever 21 released a statement via email saying:
“Forever 21 strives to exemplify the highest ethical standards and takes feedback and product concerns very seriously. With regards to the t-shirt in question, upon receiving feedback from our customers, we took immediate action to have it removed from our website. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by the product.”
It seems as though Forever 21 has its butt covered, for now. However, it is important that we mention that this is not the first t-shirt that has had consumers in a furry. Previously in December 2015, Old Navy released a toddler t-shirt that slammed artists. Similarly to Forever 21, Old Navy immediately pulled the shirts from its shelves.