Mental Meanderings

Commercialism or Parents? Dressing our daughters as sluts!

I did something I don't usually do today. I actually watched the news. Sometimes I watch the weather but today I listened beyond tomorrows forecast for the news stories. I have no idea what prompted me to do that but I was suprised that there were some interesting stories that got me thinking.

One that struck a few cords with me related to childrens clothing and the advertising associated with products kids will use. Personally I'd noticed how skimpy and indecent some of the clothing for girls had become. I have a six year old daughter and when I was buying her first bathing suit a few years ago I was shocked to find BIKINI'S, for TWO-YEAR-OLDS!!

Never mind the fact that at two years old they have nothing to hold the bits of string up but seriously, what message are we sending our kids when we dress them in that sort of thing? Where is their respect for their body? Their right to have an intimate relationship with themself? Their personal boundaries?

I go into the shop and find black mini-mini-skirts, midrifts shirts, backless tanks, boobtubes, make up accessories, high heel shoes, and g-strings for kids who are in primary school. I can't understand who would let their kids dress in these sorts of things. Why are we making our children sex objects? It's bad enough that teenagers feel that sort of pressure but it seems like advertisers and peer pressure are striking younger and younger 'consumers'.

Thankfully school uniforms are the norm in my daughters school and the uniforms of her school are sedate. They are comfortable and easy and the uniformity helps her feel a part of her class. At this age kids notice being different and feel uncomfortable about it which is perhaps a sign of the power peer groups have. It makes me wonder if our search for acceptence is something we are born with and never lose.

I think the real issue is that media represents the what the people want. Or perhaps more accurately they create it. Fashion magazines tend to set the trends and strangely enough conformity works in a warped way. The 'perfect' form of women that are splashed across these magazines give men, women, and children an unobtainable goal. Men expect these kinds of women to be available and women replicate the image because it feels like the only way to attract men and children grow up with all this. It all spirals out of control because clothing is getting skimpier, women skinnier, and sex sells.

The news focused on one of the most alarming facts of this new trend towards children wearing clothing that advertises their growing bodies. It made me think about rape and the arguements that seem to frequently come up that relate to the way a woman acted or dressed, 'asked for it'. If our children are dressing like this what message is being sent out? That these little bodies, that are still growing and forming are sexually available? Pedophilia continues to grow as an issue all around the world. But how much of that is because of the turn towards creating sex appeal in young children?

On the news they even included a snippet from a children's DVD. It was a popular kids show, singing away having fun with a music clip. Then the next one comes on and it's a popular female artist, singing and dancing. She's completely naked with well placed lighting that hides just enough to bypass the censorship issues that would otherwise be involved. Kids are watching this, expecting their favorite cartoons and it's practically pornography.

I know a lot of people will argue that it's a parents responsibility to ensure their kids dress appropriately and watch suitable things on TV. etc. etc. and as a mother of two young kids I agree that we play the major role of shielding them. There are parents who don't and that is their parental choice. But I have to wonder about the parents whose kids aren't as great as mine. Or what about when my daughter is old enough that pleasing Mummy isn't her world? When she's eleven or fourteen or seventeen? These days it might be as early as this year she starts questioning why I won't buy her that shirt or let her wear lipstick.

She gets the influences from the outside world and kids want to be like their friends. They want to be like their idols. They want to be what they see in books and magazines and on TV. Kids start off wanting to grow up to BE things. What are we raising if what they're seeing and wanting to be are these sex symbols? Will they ever develop a great self esteem that allows them to appreciate the temple of their body? Learn to seek out the emotional depth involved in love making instead of emotionless sex?

*sighs* I'm concerned, because it's MY kids who are growing up in this. I know I can hold them back now. I can guide them to make the right choices for themselves. I can hope to instill morals and teach them about right and wrong and give them enough information to make as few mistakes as possible. I can love and cherish them and make sure they know I do so that they are confident and outgoing. But someday I have to step away and let them step forward on my own. What if all that isn't enough to prevent peer pressure and distorted media from carrying them into the darkness anyway?

This sort of thing leads to eating disorders, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, etc. It's a horrible feeling, this helplessness. Surely the commercial industry should take some responsibility. Surely parents around the world could unit to demand it? They put warning labels on cigarettes and age limits on alcohol, there must be a way to remind designers that our children, are just kids and deserve to have a worry-free, fun childhood. Stop making them grow up too fast, they'll get there soon enough as it is.