Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps

I just read this article at CNN.com about sexy clothes for little girls, specifically about Abercrombie and Fitch selling push-up bras for girls who should be too young to have anything to push up. Here's an excerpt:
What kind of PowerPoint presentation was shown to the Abercrombie executives that persuaded them to green light such a product?

That there was a demand to make little girls hot?

I mean, that is the purpose of a push-up bra, right? To enhance sex appeal by lifting up, pushing together and basically showcasing the wearer's breasts. Now, thanks to AF Kids, girls don't have to wait until high school to feel self-conscious about their, uhm, girls. They can start almost as soon as they're potty trained. Maybe this fall the retailer should consider keeping a plastic surgeon on site for free consultations.
It goes on to talk about the fact that Abercrombie would never make such a product if they didn't think someone would buy it - and little girls don't have cars or jobs or money.
I guess I've been out-of-the-loop and didn't realize there's been an ongoing stampede of 10-year-old girls driving to the mall with their tiny fists full of cash demanding sexier apparel.

What's that you say? Ten-year-olds can't drive? They don't have money, either? Well, how else are they getting ahold of these push-up bras and whore-friendly panties?

Their parents?

Noooo, couldn't be.

What adult who wants a daughter to grow up with high self-esteem would even consider purchasing such items? What parent is looking at their sweet, little girl thinking, "She would be perfect if she just had a little bit more up top."
The whole article is fantastic and sad and very necessary - especially in light of the study he quotes about the results of early sexualization of girls, "linking early sexualization with three of the most common mental-health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression." Read it. Share it with your friends. And let your little girls know they are more than sex symbols.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/19/granderson.children.dress/index.html?npt=NP1

4 comments:

Debra Hawkins said...

I read this a week or so ago, not that particular opinion piece, but another article on this subject. All I can say is WOW, seriously who wants to make their child a subject of prey to perverts? It really makes me pretty angry, so I will stop this comment before it becomes a novel. :)

Lis said...

I read an article about that too. I work in a high school and wonder how the parents could send their daughter to school dressed so scantily, then I see the mom with them and it all makes sense- like mother like daughter. Sad, sad days we live in.... Good thing we have a lovely blog to read!

mkgs said...

Brilliant article, and awful in the fact that it even needs to be written. How do some people not know this instinctively?

I guess the thing is that a lot of parents don't think their little girls look sexy in those clothes--they just think it looks cute for kids to wear grownup things (without realizing the damage this will inevitably cause). I can't see how push-up bras follow that trend, though; there just isn't anything cute about a little girl looking like she has breasts.

Anonymous said...

Oh A&F. You were the light of my life back in the 7th grade. What ever happened to you.