GoldbergBlog

A recent segment on ABC News spoke about the disturbing fashion trends for pre-adolescent girls. While it’s not exactly new (there was a South Park about this a few years back and even then it was already a trend) and the previous generation will always think that the new one is growing up way too fast, six-year-olds dressing like skanks is still pretty disturbing. It may seem unfair that we’re focusing on how girls dress while ignoring boys, but boys aren’t dressing in a provocative manner. To be perfectly honest, I don’t even understand how any male could dress provocatively. I’m not gay, but even if I was, what on the male fashion market is provocative? Does Macy’s have codpieces? I guess there’s tight t-shirts, but only Vic Mackey seems able to pull those off (That previous “not gay” comment may have been premature).

But there just seems to be something incredibly wrong about pre-sexual girls trying to dress sexy. It’s one thing to dress your little girl in a bikini. It’s cute. It’s acceptable. It’s not like there’s anything to show off so it’s kind of like her dressing in mommy’s clothes except mommy doesn’t get all pissed off about it when she finds out. This is more like your little girl dressed in her teenage sister’s clothes and those clothes were tailored to fit.

The logic is that these little girls soak up the marketing and the sexpot idolatry, they go to the store, and the weak parents give into their little girl’s demands because God-forbid their child be unpopular. You know what? I could stand it if my little girl was unpopular with her classmates because you know who else she’d be unpopular with? Pedophiles. Granted, sex appeal has nothing to do with their pedophilia (it’s about power, according to Dr. Huang) but it does encourage her to have sex at an earlier age because she’s already sexualized herself and if the clothes make the man (or in this case, girl) and they’re forming their identity, then they must think that sex is only natural at a pre-sexual age.

And while there may be the “girl code”, i.e., no girl puts out easy because they don’t want to be known as a slut, if mentality towards that label changes and the connotation goes from negative to positive, then that taboo is no longer in place to stop the sexuality of pre-sexual girls. Think it’s not possible to change the connotation of the word “slut”? Okay. How many women under the age of thirty do you know that wear the word “bitch” like it’s a badge of honor? As if it’s a sign of strength? I understand that it’s a matter of co-opting a word in order to deprive it of its offensive nature, but all it’s done is made those who would use it move on to the insanely more offensive term, “cunt”. And I’m sure that in twenty years, that word will be co-opted. But by then, men will have moved on to a new derogatory term. My guess is “merkin” (Firefox’s dictionary refuses to acknowledge it as a real word, but it totally is.)

The segment ends with the solution of “compromise” and learning to meet your daughter half-way. I say hell no. I’m not a parent and I don’t know if I’ll ever have a daughter, but if I do, we’re becoming Amish. I will be the worst Amish since Brother Hezekiah Munson, but at least my daughter will be clad in black from head-to-toe. Sure, I could convert to Islam and dress her in a burkah, but Muslims have to pray five times a day. I can barely remember to brush my teeth. And they’re really strict about the rules. So are the Amish, but they seem more forgiving.

Honestly, if you’re a parent, and you’re uncomfortable with your daughter dressing like a skank, then don’t let her. You’re the adult, you have the power, and she has no money to buy these clothes on her own and she has no transportation to go to the mall and shoplift. And yeah, she’ll resent you for a little while. Guess what? Children sometimes resent their parents. It happens. She’ll resent you when you don’t get her a pony for Christmas. She’ll resent you for grounding her when she comes in past curfew. She’ll resent you when your shotgun accidentally goes off in the chest cavity of her boyfriend that you hate. You’ll never be friends with your kids. But you can be the one who protects them, supports them, and helps them to grow into decent human beings.

Tags: fashion, stupid //