It's something that many people accept as part of society, and never really think about. The way young girls are dressing is totally inappropriate for their age. Have you seen some of the stuff in stores lately?
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| Does this seem acceptable to you? Image courtesy of feminspire.com |
Bikinis on children barely in primary school. Bikinis on babies. Is this acceptable? Personally, the photo above seems more like child porn than fashionable clothing, but this may be just me. Do you find it acceptable?
Believe me, this isn't the worst kind of kids 'fashion' that I've seen. While researching for this post, I came across two images that really disturbed me.
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| Poor kids don't even know what this means. |
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| Disgusting. Would you let your child wear this? |
I highly doubt I am the only one who finds this kind of attire entirely inappropriate for children.
A quote from Professor Handsley, President of the Australian Council of Children and the Media: "It tends to go straight from Barbie and Dora the Explorer to Pretty Woman."
Her comment was in regards to a post a woman made on major retailer Target's Facebook page, about their clothes making girls "look like tramps." The post garnered over 60,000 votes in the space of a few days, causing the idea of a boycott of retailers that sell clothes like these to arise.
I find this ridiculous. I am not a parent, but even non-parents can agree that this clothing is ridiculous and horrifying.
"It all began when industry created and publicised the idea of tween."
Yep, this I agree with. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as a 'tween', or a 'tweenager'. I only learned about this fad when I was a 'tween' myself, yet neither of my parents knew what that was at the time. Nowadays, it is an accepted part of society. The fashion industry has created this new 'stage' of life, and seem to be trying to turn children into streetwalkers (Ok, maybe that's a bit harsh).
But the range of clothing available out there for young girls should be entirely unacceptable. Bikinis, clothes with sexual messages on them...it's just not done. I can't believe that some parents find this kind of clothing ok for their children to wear.
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| Miley Cyrus' little sister Noah (left) modelling clothing meant for twenty year olds. |
Here's something else that will shock you:
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| Sexualised Baby Clothes |
Yes, you read right. Clothes for babies now have sexualised messages on them. It seems that society is deeming it acceptable for babies and toddlers to wear this kind of clothing now.
References:
1. Force, T. (2012, August 28). Why Children Grow Up So Fast….And What Parents Can Do…. | MUMMedia | Parenting & Popular Culture |. Retrieved from http://www.mummedia.net/2012/08/why-children-grow-up-so-fast-and-what-parents-can-do/
2. Prideaux, K., & Ralston, N. (2012, August 14). Target clothes make girls 'look like tramps' | Newcastle Herald. Retrieved from http://www.theherald.com.au/story/269427/target-clothes-make-girls-look-like-tramps/
3. Spicer, S. (n.d.). Are tweens growing up too fast? - Lifestyle - MSN CA. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from http://lifestyle.ca.msn.com/family-parenting/ages-stages/rogers-article.aspx?cp-documentid=22426173
Wow!!! That is seriously one of the most disturbing things that I have ever seen. It is really terrible to think that people would put their children and babies into clothes like that. Things like the clothing for young girls that you have shown are the type of clothes that draw unwanted attention to young girls. Children should be protected and guided into being respectable adults who can make mature decisions but if you put your daughter in revealing and degrading clothes from so young she will not respect herself or her body when she gets older.
ReplyDeleteThose pictures really are inviting pedophiles and child molesters to take an interest, I'm sorry if that is too blunt but really those are small children not legal adults.
Wow! i think this might be a common response to this, This post defintely adds to your argument here and man its distrurbing. This is well put together and will comment on your earlier posts
ReplyDeleteI agree with you idea about children should not be wearing those adult styled clothes. Every time see a young girl wearing like this actually make me very sick and I am also angry about it. It is the kid fashion industries that need to be blamed,I think should charge those industries some fines actually for they did such bad thing in our society! I think childhood is the period of life that one get to know what is beauty, this learning should be through playing outside, seeing the blue sky and green fields.But through wearing those sexing clothes, they will have a sense about dressing beauty as well, this is artificial beauty not the natural beauty. And I think these sexing clothes' taste is quite opposite to the natural beauty. One like tights, like mini skirt would care less about natural beauty because they would think mini skirt is more pretty. Especially for kids, their mind is not developed, they are very easy to get influenced by the environment, dressing like this is very likely to lead to the consequence that kids starts dislike nature sceneries and this is not good for kid's development, they do not know what is love.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more. Your blog is very easy to read and your points are so on point that they are inarguable.
ReplyDeleteI have younger sisters, one who is 11 and going through the phase at the moment of wanting to wear more stylish clothes - which at the moment means crop tops and high waisted mini skirts, and cutouts in short dresses. When I was her age I was more than happy in jeans and a t shirt. Every morning it is a battle between her and my mother/me when she refuses to put leggings underneath her mini skirts. Even junior girls in high school came to mufti days in midriff baring crop tops and barely there denim shorts. It terrifies me to think about how much more extreme it will be when my 8 year old sister goes through the same phase in a few years time.
Children are extremely influenced by what they see and for this reason I also think the recent developments in technology are to blame. Things like twitter, instagram and facebook mean young girls can follow their 20 something year old idols and see what they're wearing. This is an issue spiraling out of control and it is something that seriously concerns me.
Hi Ashleigh,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I think your blog and articles are great, As a father of a young girl I couldn’t agree with you more and was disgusted with some of the photos of children were clothing that was either sexual or contained profanity. Your grammar looks spot on and so does your referencing.
The only form of constructive criticism I have, which is very very minor is the sentence starting “Yep, this I agree with. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as a 'tween', or a 'tweenager'. I only learned about this fad when I was a 'tween' myself, yet neither of my parents knew what that was at the time”. I don’t know if Yip is a word but it fits, its just that the beginning of the sentence and the middle seem a little bit contradictory to me.
Besides that, this is a great example of a well constructed and nicely presented blog, Great stuff!
HI Ashleigh.
ReplyDeleteAs a father of a 10 year old girl I see this as an important topic. My girl is a shorts and t-shirts type of girl, that's why we liked Dora the Explorer years ago as a role model of a competent and adventurous girl presented in a non sexualised way. Sex is used by advertising and marketing industry to sell products. Adults are able to interpret these marketing message and make decisions. Extending the market to sell sexualised clothes and products to children (bought by adults) is morally corrupt and forces children into an artificially sexualised world where they lack the understanding as they are just too young. It risks girls getting the wrong ideas about their bodies and their selves.
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with extra information? It is extremely helpful for me. Kleertjes
ReplyDeleteGreat Information! Thanks for sharing this content with us. I have something important to share with you regarding Designer girls dresses and Luxury kids clothing ,I hope this will give you some suggestions to work on your upcoming blogs.
ReplyDeleteI really loved reading your blog. It was very well authored and easy to undertand. Unlike additional blogs I have read which are really not tht good. I also found your posts very interesting. In fact after reading, I had to go show it to my friend and he ejoyed it as well! Baby Bottle Review
ReplyDelete