provocative clothes on teens and pre-teens

[rambling man]

What is the take here on this?

I think it is disgusting and horrifying that designers are trying to turn young teenage and pre-teenage (age 8-12)girls into sex objects, marketing skimpy clothes, sometimes with suggestive messages on the chest.

I think it is even more disgusting that enough parents dress their children like this that it drives the market.

Up until the 1800s, maybe even the early 1900s, society viewed children as small adults and treated them as such in different situations. An outward sign of that lay in the fact that they dressed children in clothes apprpriate for adults. Social scientists, when their disciplines got going, discovered that this psychologically damaged the child by creating expectations they just could not fill. As a result, parents of recent generations saw a difference between child appropriate and adult appropriate.

Now, corporate irresponsibility and greed as well as foolish parenting is driving a blurring of these distinctions again. It is callous and irresponsible to allow pressures to force children into adult or late teen roles prematurely, especially in an area where they are particularly insecure, that of sexuality.

I'm not one to say there ought to be a law or whatever, I just wish parents would be parents for once and not let their kids dress in clothes more appropriate not for any adults but prostitutes...

 

[rambling man]

kicking back up because i always post the topics i want to discuss way, way , way too early
if it gets untouched again, i'll let it die, i promise

 

[Angel]

You want to know what I find amusing? The fact that all through my pre-teen and teen years, my mother begged me to stop covering up in baggy jeans and shirts and to start dressing like a girl. It was a problem all of my friend's mothers had.

Now that baggy clothes aren't in anymore, and provacative clothes are, parents have another problem. Trying to cover their daughters up. Ironic.

Make up your damn minds, folks.

 

[KillerMuffin]

My mother didn't have that problem. I dressed like the tomboy I was. I dressed appropriately for working with the horses and working with a truck. My mother wanted me to dress and behave more "ladylike," whatever that is.

They had problems with teens and preteen dressing sexy back then as well. All the way back to the 60s I think. Whether it's more or less prevelant now, no one can say. What defines dressing sexy changes as well. Remember the flap about the flappers? They were the evil hussies of the 20s who dressed in arm and ankle revealing outfits.

The underlying problem with teens and preteens dressing sexy is that one, males will automatically connect them with sex, you know, the slut thing. No matter what kind of "individual statement" one is trying to make, EVERYONE will judge a person based on their appearance and when dresses like a slut people will assume one is a slut. I agree that parents need to take some responsibility and put their collective feet down on some outfit. No one needs to wear spandex outside of the gym or on stage at a rock concert. There are ways for teens to dress to make them feel attractive (which is the goal after all), dressed appropriately for their social circle, and not look like a slut. Find a happy medium.

And while we're at it, explain that unless you have perfect breasts, wear a freaking bra. And if you're wearing a bra, cover it up with something! Trailer trash chic of thin strapped tops and thick bra straps is just that. Trash.

 

[Mensa]

Point taken

I can still see Jon Benet Ramsey dressed like a five-year-old going on twenty. Very disturbing!

There is a corollary to this in that some countries, the U.S.A. readily springs to mind, where they try to extend childhood beyond it's time. They treat sixteen and seventeen year-olds like they were children who require diligent protection. Most at that age are capable of functioning on their own and would gladly do so if allowed. Different countries have different customs and I really don't understand why the U.S. is so obsessed with the idea that an individual must wait eighteen years before being treated like a competent adult.

 

[rambling man]

The serious problem is that these clothing companies come on TV and tell these girls they have to dress like a slut to be "in." Girls with security and confidence won't do what a company tells them. The companies are targeting insecurity combined with lackadasical parenting. And they make these clothes for girls who are eight to twelve years old, girls who should not be done up like sluts in any era
KM is on target completely
My daughter is goign to private school when she leaves elementary school so no need to worry about any particular look

 

[miles]

Saturday night I picked up my 14 year old daughter from a party. There were enough hormones there to power an aircraft carrier for an entire year. Another parent told me they had to take a few kids off to the side for doing a little too much dirty dancing. I couldn't believe some of the girls - teeny boppers built like they are 21.

What are we feeding them?


PS: I almost OD'd on the scent of Melon - Cucumber.

 

[Angel]

What is popular for school aged kids to wear is not necessarily what you may think it is. It depends on where you live, the schools she attends and whatever the trends are there. NOT what is on T.V.

Do you have any clue how long bell bottoms, hip huggers and flares were *in* before manufacturers began producing and marketing them again? We were raiding our mother's old clothes for them, and baby t-shirts long before they were mass marketed as they are today. We were tripping around in her platform sandals long before Bakers and PacSun started offering them in their stores.

Teenagers and young adults set the trends you see marketed on TV.

You think Private school will solve the wardrobe issues? Keep her in a uniform during school hours and I can almost guarantee you that she'll dress more provacatively when she's able to get out of the uniform and into street clothes.

 

[rambling man]

I'm not forcing her, she wants to go and would be highly upset if I said she couldn't. The idea of uniforms appeals to her too. n She wants to be an air force pilot when she grows up

As far as fashions are concerned, the industry pushes a different set of clothes every year, or "gasp" someone might wear the same clothes they wore last year.

Remember when the bright orange and yellow road construction crew vests were in? Who would have worn those if the fashion industry had not said they were in? No one before and no one since.

You are right about regional differences. Around where I live, at least when I was in school, styles were only followed by the less popular. Everyone else just wore normal clothes. There has always been pressure on older teens, but bringing pressure to bear on younger kids to dress in sexual outfits...that's not right.

I say this next part with a smile Angel, because I heard it 10 years ago when I was in the middle of high school.......when you have your own kids, your mind radically changes about a lot of things..it must be biological. You don't understand how much that worldview alters until you are bringing up your own kids.

 

[Closet Desire]

I'm a little...

...confused about this whole "slut" thing. I have to agree with an earlier writer who suggested this is largely an American issue. It's sort of a contradiction that the country which hosts so many "beauty" pageants for all ages still has prurient thoughts anytime they see a flash of midriff. Suddenly the sight of a navel makes a girl/woman a slut? What exactly is a slut?

I read an editorial on MSNBC.com that suggested middle aged women who have navel piercings are sluts too. I told my middle aged wife about that when she returned from seeing her patients. She flashed her midriff to me so I could see her shiny red stone. I guess she's a slut too.

Sigh...

 

[sexy-girl]

some of it is when they want to dress like britney spears etc ... pop stars targeted at preteen girls who wear very revealing adult clothes is a new concept so i guess it results in some preteen girls wanting to wear clothes that are too adult for them ... i think using words like slut isnt good though

 

[rambling man]

the point is pressuring children to grow up too fast by targeting their psyche in vulnerable areas......beauty pageants for the very young have become a symbol of that problem. It's called childhood for a reason and a variety of things are combining to shrink that period of life as much as possible

 

[Angel]

I'm not forcing her, she wants to go and would be highly upset if I said she couldn't. The idea of uniforms appeals to her too. n She wants to be an air force pilot when she grows up

As far as fashions are concerned, the industry pushes a different set of clothes every year, or "gasp" someone might wear the same clothes they wore last year.

Remember when the bright orange and yellow road construction crew vests were in? Who would have worn those if the fashion industry had not said they were in? No one before and no one since.

You are right about regional differences. Around where I live, at least when I was in school, styles were only followed by the less popular. Everyone else just wore normal clothes. There has always been pressure on older teens, but bringing pressure to bear on younger kids to dress in sexual outfits...that's not right.

I say this next part with a smile Angel, because I heard it 10 years ago when I was in the middle of high school.......when you have your own kids, your mind radically changes about a lot of things..it must be biological. You don't understand how much that worldview alters until you are bringing up your own kids.

I'm two and a half months away from being 23 years old. I'm barely out of my teens, yet I'm old enough to be married with children had I wanted my life to move in that direction this early.
I do know how much that world view alters and I don't need to have children to see that. I've changed my views on many many things since being out of school and in the real world. Most of the things that I said I would never do when I had children I will do when I have them. It's just part of being a responsible parent and adult. I didn't understand that when I was still the child.


I don't really see it as pressure for kids to prance around scantily clad - then again maybe what I view as scantily clad differs from what you view as scantily clad.

All of the clothing manufacturers with the brands of clothing that are popular with kids and teens here where I live show young adults with attractive, sexy but not revealing clothes. Maybe it just differs where you live.

 

[Angel]

the point is pressuring children to grow up too fast by targeting their psyche in vulnerable areas......beauty pageants for the very young have become a symbol of that problem. It's called childhood for a reason and a variety of things are combining to shrink that period of life as much as possible

Good gawd I despise those pageants.

 

[rambling man]

I can appreciate a scantily clad girl as much as the next guy when they are a certain age..it just kinda creeps me out to see a ten year old in a mini skirt, halter top, and full make up....that is pretty much the core of my problem with it

 

[Angel]

I can appreciate a scantily clad girl as much as the next guy when they are a certain age..it just kinda creeps me out to see a ten year old in a mini skirt, halter top, and full make up....that is pretty much the core of my problem with it

Uh, it pretty much creeps me out to see anyone of any age in a miniskirt, halter top and 5 pounds of makeup on. People still wear that shit off of the Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer stages?

Gawd, no wonder you have a problem with it!


That said, my kids wouldn't be caught dead dressed like that. This isn't 1984, first of all, and second of all just no.
no.

heh.

 

[Always]

At my little sister's school (outside of her clique, she's like me, a total outcast) she says all the girls dress like little sluts and whores, and she's only in the seventh grade. I know what you mean, and I find it sick. I, back then, dressed in black t-shirts and jeans and combat boots. fuck looking like a cheap whore just because it's cool.

Kids - cause they are kids, at least until they get into high school - don't need to dress provocatively. It does make me sick to see prepubescent girls showing off what they just don't have. I like my girls with pubes and boobs, no matter how they dress.

 

[Weird Harold]

I can appreciate a scantily clad girl as much as the next guy when they are a certain age..it just kinda creeps me out to see a ten year old in a mini skirt, halter top, and full make up....that is pretty much the core of my problem with it

I'd lay even money that ten-year-old in mini-skirt and makeup doesn't dress like that where her parents can see it. That sounds like a rebelious little girl who changes clothes after she leaves for school and wears makeup because her parents still treat her like a baby.

I don't see a general trend in young girls dressing beyond their age around here, although there are a few. Most of the young girls around here dress "stylishly" but "Stylish" isn't any more outrageous than the limits my sister pushed at when she was that age in the 1950's. (granted, most of what is "stylish" today for any woman would be grounds for arrest on a morals charge in the 50's.)

Young girls will always dress as "adult" as they can get away with when as they explore the changes they're going through and many will sneak around behind their parents back to dress the way they want. There is still a lot of kleenex and make-up being disposed of before going home, just as has been going on since Kleenex and make-up were invented.