Comments on: “I’m cute, not smart”, first impressions [Intent versus Message, Part 1]

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:26:31 +0000

It makes me think that she was allowed to join the party because of her cuteness, but ended up (accidentally?) team-killing all of them due to her stupidity. “Oops, I totally thought *you* were the bad guy! Tee hee!”

By: ty

ty — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:51:39 +0000

man i’m late,but if you want my opinion this picture scares the mess out of me it seems like a crazy girl who is smarts but really wants to be considered cute and will kill anyone who says she isn’t

By: Denise

Denise — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 04:18:57 +0000

First impression: Must we play the brains vs. beauty game again? I hate that one.

Then, I am confused by the bloody sword. Whose blood is it intended to be? Did she kill the enemy, but in a “dumb” fashion? Did she accidentally kill her party member? Did she intentionally kill a party member as part of some intrigue with another group? Finally, I decide I’m paying too much attention to the confusion cased by a t-shirt design, and I am not in the audience for this promotion.

I think the central image itself is kind of appealing (cute, not too sexualized, and dangerous; I can go for that), but the text surrounding it just confuses me, then puts me off completely.

My background: white bisexual (in long term lesbian relationship) radical feminist, gender warrior and anti-racist radical leftist atheist (with respect for respectful religous persons) granola-cruncher who works a tidge too much and so doesn’t have lots of time for discovering/exploring new games.

By: Jade Reporting » July 21

Jade Reporting » July 21 — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:25:03 +0000

[...] “I’m cute, not smart,” first impressions “I’m cute, not smart”, an explanation [...]

By: N2

N2 — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 07:03:36 +0000

I too didn’t like it and couldn’t understand it moreover (i’ve deliberately not read any of the comments so that i could post fresh).

I couldn’t see the point of the “I’m cute not smart” headline. is it trying to say that gaming is for cute but dumb people? or is it targetted at a male audience and so saying that also . also can’t make out what the object in the girl’s hand is. is it a quill with blood/ink at the end, signifying a ‘we don’t need no education’ kind of message (since she’s supposed to be dumb? or is it a bent out of shape sword indicating that she’s deadly? can’t tell.

By: 01d55

01d55 — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:09:41 +0000

My impression of the image, with top and bottom quotes, is that it’s a sexist joke: “Tee hee, the silly little girl caused a TPK with her adorable stupidity.” The gaming site T-shirt design info gives me someone to blame (and it’s an unsurprising culprit).

By: LC

LC — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:38:42 +0000

I think everyone’s pretty much covered it and I only have a minute so I’ll be brief. The picture is okay, although I don’t know how it relates to the label exactly. The label, though, is offensive, like something Talking Malibu Stacey would say, except less catchy. On revelation that it is a T-shirt design, I find it slightly more annoying for having been seen as worthy of people’s money. Finally I figure that being shallow and deadly are two unrelated traits of the girl’s character that are somewhat awkwardly shoved together in this graphic. But I’m not assuming the character is actually used in a game or anything; I figure she is more likely intended to be a generic example or mascot.

By: Official Shrub.com Blog » Blog Archive » “I’m cute, not smart”, an explanation [Intent versus Message, Part 2]

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:50:50 +0000

[...] you haven’t yet, go read the first part of this [...]

By: Sage

Sage — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:02:33 +0000

You might also want to mention to people to avoid reading the comments before commenting, just to avoid the concensus effect. (so i didn’t read any comments)

At first sight, the shirt is offensive to me. My first guess is a shirt made for young teens, and I hate the idea that they can’t be sexy AND smart.

But as a gaming shirt, if that’s made clear on the back perhaps, then I’d assume it’s just one of many characters people can play, and it’s far less offensive. Is that a knife dripping blood? (to me it looks like a leaf with petals falling at a glance) Clarify that it’s all about evil and killing, and it makes the character look strong instead of completely useless.

By: Katealaurel

Katealaurel — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:40:13 +0000

My immediate first reaction was irritation at the same constant, annoying assertion that women can be either cute or smart, but not both– and that they’re more likely to be the former than the latter. I have to admit that I sort of skimmed over the image and the text at the bottom initially, since the poorly drawn illustration didn’t catch my eye and the bottom text didn’t make a great deal of sense.

My reaction after reading that it was a shirt meant to advertise for a gaming site was a transfer of irritation from the design itself to the site. Also, some confusion: do they actually think this will gain them users?