A t-shirt of Joan Jett wearing a Sex Pistols t-shirt was banned in a middle school. The girl was an 8th grade student, and her mother told the story on her blog:
I am not sure if this was an official censor. Last month my 8th grade daughter came home from school to tell me that her Health Ed teacher told her that she could not wear her Joan Jett T-shirt to school anymore. “Mom, a lot of the teachers told me it was cool” she mused. In the T-shirt Joan Jett is wearing a t-shirt that says “Sex Pistols”. The word sex was offensive to the teacher.
…
My daughter has been a big fan of Joan Jett since the movie the Runaways had been released. We had been collecting Joan Jett T-shirts on all of our trips to New York City. She purchased this particular one with her father and grandmother at Trash & Vaudeville on St. Marks.
Read the rest HERE.
Now, I’m not interested in debating censorship in schools. I went to Catholic school, so uniform restrictions are not weird to me. The world of academia is full of crap like this, and once you leave school it all goes away–to be replaced by crap in “the real world.”
The interesting part of this story is actuallly the response from this woman’s daughter, the offended party in question, in the comments on the blog:
As the daughter with the tee shirt in question, I’m offended you’ve stated that The Runaways movie is what prompted my love of Joan Jett. If anything, my reaction to the movie was, “Ooh, a movie will be released on one of the most influential female rock bands in history, what luck,” not, “Ooh, I just saw this amazing movie, I want to know who this band is!”
With the statement of the movie setting the Joan Jett love off, it has implications that I watched the movie for reasons other than the music. Those reasons, in this entertainment climate, are more likely than not the actress playing Joan Jett- Kristen Stewart. Kristen Stewart has a number of fangirls, who have followed her work since Twilight, the utter travesty it is.
Your statement of how I discovered the Runaways, in effect, implies that I am a Twilight fan, and that right there is far from the truth.
[/End irrelevant rant.]
Yes, I saw the irony, especially as the lesson that day was on sex.
–gianttacosalad
Insults to Twilight aside, I am EXTREMELY impressed with this Jetthead”s intelligence! Not just in her collegiate-level vocabulary (she will KICK ASS on her SAT’s), but in her thorough knowledge, acceptance, and unconditional love of Joan Jett and The Runaways. This is the smartest 13-year-old (or soon-to-be-13-year-old) on the planet. I am perfectly comfortable leaving this world in her hands when I die.
I just have one message for “gianttacosalad”: You’re wrong about Kristen Stewart and her fans. They’ve been around since well before Twilight. Kristen has made many cool movies that her fans, including me, love her for. Think of it this way: Twilight is Kristen Stewart’s I Love Rock -n- Roll. If someone had accused YOU of only loving Joan Jett because of I Love Rock-n-Roll, I bet you’d be pissed. [/End totally relevant rant.]
Welcome to the Jetthead fandom, gianttacosalad! *waves* We’re proud to count you in our numbers! 😀
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maybe the teacher didnt like the pic, cuz joan has her fingers . you know down there . but i don’t know, People has different points of view about what it’s right or wrong..
but she is stuck in the past ,i think…
sorry for this but…
gianttacosalad : what the hell is wrong with you?
Wow, well said… as always.
I’m not that obsessed with Kristen and I don’t agree with most of her attitudes… But who the hell am I to judge her, right?
I also think you’re so right about saying that Twilight is Kristen’s I Love Rock’n Roll…
And about the t-shirt thing… well, I studied in private schools, so I had to wear those uniforms, but everyone’s here is ok with the word “sex”, LOL… It’s just something normal O_O but I think Joan’s the problem, no? Lots and lots of people think she is TROUBLE. And I tell them to fuck off, because the world is like that now, thanks to Joan. I’m so glad for what she’ve done for the women that words are not enough to decribe.
What a crazy people?… How they banned a t-shirt, that’s very stupid decision. People had free will, right? I’m from Bulgaria, and here some middle school, not only the private one, also have uniforms, but those who don’t they ban only very short skirt and tops.
About Kristen, i like her very much, i don’t like the word-fan, because fan is some obsessed,crazy person. And i like her because of her personality and behaviour, not only for the movie Twilight and Bela thing.
She had that charisma and cute smile who can make you smile too.
This happens everywhere in America. Stuffy grown-ups think that kids are going to giggle every time they see the word “sex” and not get their school work done.
I am a fan, and I call myself a fan. I don’t like the way that word has been twisted into something negative. I am obsessed with Joan Jett, otherwise I wouldn’t have this blog. But I am not crazy. I am a loyal, nice person. Good people make good fans, and bad people make bad fans. I don’t like it when people make negative assumptions about us just because we’re fans, and they don’t even try to get to know us.
This girl is an amazing fan at such a young age. All of you are right, Kristen is talented and I am glad she isn’t type cast because of Twilight. She was an amazing Joan Jett, I’ve been a Joan Jett follower (I didn’t say fan for the person who dosen’t like the term because of it’s implications) for almost 30 years. She crashed a lot of barriers for girls everywhere and we respect and admire her for that. Her music truly kicks ass and inspires all whom it touches. JJ I have been called too and I agree, I am not a crazy person either, the calling hits hard and takes hold! Bravo to this young lady for being intelligent and making her point well.