Former Miss Mass miffed by anti-math tees

WASHINGTON, Sept 14, 2011 (AFP) - T-shirts for girls "allergic to algebra" and "too pretty for homework" have failed to impress a brainy former Miss Massachusetts pursing a Ph.D in biochemistry.

A student calculates a math problem on a chalkboard at a primary school (AFP/LEHTIKUVA/File)

Novelty outfits with such "anti-learning messages" stop girls from doing their intellectual best, said Erika Ebbel Angle, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) chemistry grad who won her state's beauty pageant in 2004.

In a statement on Wednesday, Ebbel Angle commended major American retailers JC Penny and Forever 21 for taking the T-shirts off their shelves in the face of online protests, "but there is still work to be done."

"I welcome both of them to join me and others in dispelling these negative stereotypes and removing barriers that prevent girls from reaching their full potential," she said.

Ebbel Angle is founder of Science from Scientists, a non-profit group that encourages pre-teens to embrace math, science and technology at school. She is also working on a doctorate in biochemistry at Boston University.

Last month, JC Penny pulled an "I'm too pretty for homework so my brother has to do it for me" shirt, priced at $9.99, from its online store, acknowledging that "it doesn't deliver an appropriate message."

In 2007, actress Danica McKellar cracked the New York Times bestseller list with "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail," aimed at making math "a little glamorous" for girls.