Nike "Gold Digging" Shirt called "Sexist"

Is Nike's "Gold Digging" Shirt Sexist or Supportive?

Nike released this shirt with the label "Gold Digging" to stores recently in support of the success of the USA women olympians. This shirt is being called sexist because the term gold digger is not looked highly upon. Urban Dictionary defines a gold digger as "Any woman whose primary interest in a relationship is material benefits. A woman who cares more about a man's bank account than she does about the man. "  Nike labeled the shirts gold digger in light of the many gold medals that were brought home from London this Summer. The main problem people are having with the shirt is the fact that it is only made for women. 

Nike was an official outfitter for the London Olympics, so they put out many apparel. None getting criticized as much as this one. Certain women feel the shirt condescends the effort of the women athletes that achieved their golds though hard work. The term gold digging makes it seem as if they did not have to work for it. 

In my opinion people need to pull their emotions out of it and take the shirt and term at face value. Nike is known for having catchy shirts with short, witty sayings on them. This is just another example of one that people are taking out of context. We first need to look at what the term gold digging actually means, and not the urban saying that comes to mind when it is said. The act of gold digging is just what it implies, digging for gold. What did the female athletes do at the olympics? They fought, competed, and in a way dug, for their hard earned gold medals.

Looking at it this way, I give Nike the pass as they were just trying to find a witty way to refer to the success of the women in London. The only fault Nike had was the fact that they did not make the shirt for men also. This is what made it seem sexist, but Nike tends to have different sayings on their men's and women's shirts. Though Nike knew what they were doing by putting "Gold digging" on the women's shirts, I believe anyone who gets offended by this is just looking for something to offend them. This shirt is definitely going to continue to make headlines, but  all in all Nike made these shirts to support our women, not attack their work ethic.

Comment below what you think about Nike's racy shirts, and vote on the polls to the right.