Teens using sex to sell

[Guest]

A controversy is raging in a youth organization my child is in.

We have a car wash coming up as a fund raiser. The 15 year old girl in charge urged the girls in the coed group to wear bikinis to the event saying it would increase business.

I and some others opposed that, thinking 14 to 16 year old girls should not be exploited, even by themselves.

Others, including to my utter amazement, the father of one of the girls thought not only should they do this, but were foolish not to.

I'm somewhat astonished that a "porn" writer, and father of a son and not one of the girls would be the most offended by this.

What do you think?

I'm curious on the responses broken out by the sex of the respondent, hence the design of the questions.

 

[cloudy]

It's not surprising. Our society teaches our kids at a very young age what "sells" and what doesn't.

It would bother me, too, though.

 

[Matadore]

It would work very well. It would work for the boys to be topless as well (if they were buff.)

Is it "right" only if we are willing to teach that lesson and reap the consequences.

 

[Weird Harold]

We have a car wash coming up as a fund raiser. The 15 year old girl in charge urged the girls in the coed group to wear bikinis to the event saying it would increase business.

I and some others opposed that, thinking 14 to 16 year old girls should not be exploited, even by themselves.

If the suggestion was to wear bikinis to a bake sale, I'd be on your side. For a Car Wash, I'm on her side.

Of course, it depends on the Bikinis, too; I don't think Thongs or Strings would be appropriate but if the choice comes down to bikinis or wet t-shirts, to sell a youth group car wash, I'll go with the swim-wear.

 

[LadyJeanne]

It's not surprising. By the time girls are 15, they've learned that sex sells and that their looks are important. Most of the models they admire aren't much older than that. They might not be thinking of the car wash in this way, but I imagine that the girls are curious to test out their 'commercial' power.

I would push back on the bikinis. Just because 'sex sells' permeates society, doesn't mean I'd want to encourage it.

 

[cuninglinguist61]

Let's face it. The girls are doing a car wash. They are going to get wet, no matter what they are wearing. If they are in bikini's, One-piece's, halters, or t-shirts, is there really THAT much of a difference ? Where I am at, it seems that there is a car wash every weekend, with the local H.S. girl's athletic teams involved in most of them. Usually, the girls are in bikini tops, with shorts. I WILL admit that they DO get my attention, when I'm driving by, but I have yet to pull in to one.
On the other hand, my daughter, who's a cheerleader for our local Pop Warner football team, is already talking about cheering when she gets into H.S., which is only a couple of years away, and I'm not too thrilled by the idea of her being out there doing the bikini car wash thing at that point.
Yeah, I know it's a double standard, but hell, I'm a man, and we're experts at that kind of thing.

 

[oggbashan]

I would like to say 'no'.

I expect that the girls would like to say 'yes' IF they are confident enough about their bodies.

Bikinis or swimwear would seem to be sensible attire for amateur car washers. Swimwear does not go transparent when wet. Wet T-shirts might be more exploitation than swimwear.

What about the girl(s) who are not confident or have not yet shed their puppy fat?

Today I have been sitting on my balcony watching the sea and the beach. The 14 to 16 year-old girls wearing bikinis seem confident and proud. It doesn't bother me. I can admire them as fine specimens of girlhood without being aroused.

The mature women who can wear bikinis with pride - they're different. Where did I put my blood pressure pills?

Og

 

[Pure]

for balance, the handsome, fit athletic guys, particularly if well hung, can do the car wash in speedo swim wear.

fair is fair.

i must confess I don't like the idea of young teens, and esp. preteens like my nieces, concentrating too much on being sexual commodities.

 

[sophia jane]

I can see the point about swimwear vs wet t-shirts. It does make sense to wear appropriate clothes for a car wash. The thing that bothers me is the idea that the girls SHOULD wear bikinis to make money. Isn't that the wrong message to give our girls- that they can make money, not through hard work or intelligence or whatever, but in shedding their clothes and flaunting their boobs?

 

[cloudy]

I can see the point about swimwear vs wet t-shirts. It does make sense to wear appropriate clothes for a car wash. The thing that bothers me is the idea that the girls SHOULD wear bikinis to make money. Isn't that the wrong message to give our girls- that they can make money, not through hard work or intelligence or whatever, but in shedding their clothes and flaunting their boobs?

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Pure]

short of sending youth to Ellesmere Island w/o TV, how could one possibly ensure that the girls NOT get the message that sexy dress or partial dress, or nudity, sells?

yes you can praise her for her grades, but she is going to be thinking, not as much of tests as 'do the boys think i'm hot'.

here's an idea. encourage athleticism. praise the winning of any prizes, even if 37th place. then at least the girls winning prizes for physical attributes(shown in performance) are *doing* something and *trying* hard, not just standing and flaunting it.

 

[English Lady]

I say -why not?it's practical, and hell if you've got the confidence go for it. Now the age of consent is 16 over here, so you know 14-16 to me may not be as shocking as to others who's age of consent in their country is higher.

I think men and women should use the brains, bodies, personality, anything to do well, you might as well do, no point wasting what you've got is there?

 

[cloudy]

I say -why not?it's practical, and hell if you've got the confidence go for it. Now the age of consent is 16 over here, so you know 14-16 to me may not be as shocking as to others who's age of consent in their country is higher.

I think men and women should use the brains, bodies, personality, anything to do well, you might as well do, no point wasting what you've got is there?

EL, what if one of those 14 year olds was your daughter? Is it really okay to teach girls that they don't have to work, just flash their bodies? What about the kids that aren't quite as confident? Is it okay to teach them that they "just don't have the goods"?

I know the age of consent is younger there, but that's not what worries me. What worries me is the message they're getting about their bodies.

 

[oggbashan]

What worries me far more are the beauty contests for very young girls.

A group of teenagers washing cars are less exploited than Junior Miss Whatever aged under 8 or 5. What message is society AND their parents giving to those children?

Og

Edited for PS. I didn't have to look very far. First hit:
Here

 

[Guest]

I feel having set the debate, I should stay out of it. However, there is one factual statement I'd like to make.

We have been involved in another coed car wash where the boys & girls each wore jeans and not light weight t-shirts (part of the uniform of that group).

No one got so wet that there was anything revealing, and if they had, I've got to believe the girls were wearing bras.

 

[Dar~]

Isn't this a church youth group? I would think that is exactly the message you wouldn't want to send to a bunch of young girls and young boys in a christian group.

To all of you who said go for it, do you really think this is appropriate as a message to our children? Is it right to teach young girls that men are going to exploit them and that its okay. Is it right to teach our young men that it is okay to exploit women, that they should in fact fell it is expected. How is this teaching our children self worth and self love? I voted an emphatic No.

 

[rgraham666]

I'm going to say no to this.

It's not so much the 'sex sells' message that gets to me, but the 'only sex sells' message. I think it's telling women that they're only as valuable as their bodies.

And it tells the kids that don't fit inside the 'sexual standard' that they're not good enough.

 

[Liar]

I say -why not?it's practical, and hell if you've got the confidence go for it. Now the age of consent is 16 over here, so you know 14-16 to me may not be as shocking as to others who's age of consent in their country is higher.

I'm not shocked either. I have no problem with a confident teenager around 15-ish showingoff her (or his) recently aquired bodily forms. I'm not even ashamed to admit that the sight of an attractive girl of that age does the same for my nether bone as the sight of an attactive grown woman. And I think that in the best of worlds they should be free to try this role out for themselves, both boys and girls. In their own pace and on their terms, naturally.

But this isn't the best of worlds and therefore it is a tricky situation. Teens in reveaiing clothes at the beach, or at the mall, or wherever, is one thing. Teens in revealing clothes as a commersial move raises other questions.

However, I think the biggest problem is not the girls that confidently and willingly do this, but the others, that really didn't want to but went along with the group because of peer pressure. And in any larger group of teenagers, you betcha boots there are a bunch of those. So for their sake, if nothing else, I say no.

 

[LadyJeanne]

I say -why not?it's practical, and hell if you've got the confidence go for it. Now the age of consent is 16 over here, so you know 14-16 to me may not be as shocking as to others who's age of consent in their country is higher.

I think men and women should use the brains, bodies, personality, anything to do well, you might as well do, no point wasting what you've got is there?

It's a practical lesson they learn on their own because it permeates society. I think it's up to parents to provide some guidance to girls on how to respect themselves, and how not to exploit themselves. If the parents don't draw some lines (in our family, this is how we ___ ), the kids won't know there are any.

 

[SonOfAGhost]

I voted no.

I can't fault the 15 year old for coming up with such a marketing ploy, encouraging it might get your organization in legal trouble. People seem to forget that the word 'teenager' didn't exist at all just a few decades ago. It used to be that children matured into adults at approximately the same time their bodies did, in many cultures they still do. Most 1st world 18 year olds now, though, are less mature than a 13 year old back then. I don't believe that's a good thing. Youth are in limbo now. At the age their great-grandparents got married and had kids, they're still being treated like kids but, with improved nutrition, their bodies are maturing sooner. They think they're all grown up, we know they're not but isn't that our fault as parents?

Actually I had another thought while I was typing. If it's the kids' idea, and wearing swimsuits makes sense anyway, maybe the cops would be interested in seeing who shows up to oggle bikini-clad 14 year olds so they know who to keep an eye on.

 

[R. Richard]

I do not have either a son or a daughter [the bitches be lyin'!]. I do have a somewhat different take on the matter than I have seen here. If my daughter or my son wanted to take park in a bikini girl/bare chested boy car wash, my first test would be the "porky pig" test. If my child had a porky pig build, no way! [Other kids may be obese, my kids will not]. If my kid had the right build and all the other kids were going to be wearing the same thing, fine.

If you try to impose different standards on a kid than the community does, you get your kid dressing at her girl friend's house. You have to be realistic here or you do more harm than good.

 

[Matadore]

What worries me far more are the beauty contests for very young girls.

A group of teenagers washing cars are less exploited than Junior Miss Whatever aged under 8 or 5. What message is society AND their parents giving to those children?

Og

Edited for PS. I didn't have to look very far. First hit:
Here

You do realize that Beauty is full blown (NPI) industry inthe USA?

 

[oggbashan]

You do realize that Beauty is full blown (NPI) industry inthe USA?

Yes. And I think it is a symptom of a sick society that parades very young girls presented as sexual objects yet insists they stay celibate until 18.

Og

 

[Matadore]

I wouldn't agree more with you. Many of these "Little Darlings" will spend tens of thousands on psychotherapy, plastic surgery, and relationships before they end their runs.

 

[oggbashan]

I wouldn't agree more with you. Many of these "Little Darlings" will spend tens of thousands on psychotherapy, plastic surgery, and relationships before they end their runs.

In the UK their parents could and probably would be prosecuted for child abuse. I'm serious about that. There are several aspects of the UK's child protection legislation that would cover these contests.

Og