Since the creation of the movable type printing press, writers have been criticize for many reasons. Some writers have been accused of heresy, racism or even sexism based on the content of their writings. John Updike, the author of A&P, is not sexist because his descriptions of Queenie are in character, the character Sammy notices more than just the physical elements of the group of girls and Queenie is not the stereotypical blond bomb-shell.
John Updike's description of Queenie is in character via a young man, Sammy, in his late teens. Male teens tend to “adore” the physical gifts women posses. Updike tried to make Sammy relate to teens, since this was his target audience. The physical description of Queenie is important to the story because it gives us an inside into the mind of Sammy and gives us a sense of what he was thinking when he quit his job in protest.
Updike is not a sexist because the character Sammy notices more about the group of girls besides their looks. “She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round.” Sammy notices the structure if the group. Moreover, he can tell that the other girls aren't comfortable in the store. “
Updike is not sexist because Sammy likes girls that are not the stereotypical blond bombshell. “She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescent of white just under it...”