kiddie fashion

SuicideJade · 08-21-2004, 12:02 AM

I know that i'm not generally serious on here but occasionally a serious thought does cross my mind..
This is the end result of a conversation i had with myself after Watching the 20/20 Newsmagazine show a few hours ago..

On John Stossel's "Give Me a Break" segment, he was discussing the increasing sexiness of clothes marketed to preteen girls.
They showed some of the new fall fashions in stores like the limited too and showcased magazines with sexy ads (cosmo girl, YM and seventeen for example).
This is an issue which i am very opinionated about.. I live in an area where there's lots of preteen kids so i see the effects of the media on them daily..
There are girls not even in HIGHSCHOOL yet running around in miniskirts and push up bras with shirts cut low and stopping short. There are girls that should still be playing with dolls that are wearing playboy clothes and jewelry..
There are 9 year olds that buy thongs..(no one needs to see your panty drawers at that age!)
Preteen kids are becoming more and more sexualized but the emphasis that's put on sex education is still sub par..
People seem to worry that if they teach kids about sex that it will fell more accessible to kids and they'll do it more..
i think it's more prudent to teach them so that if they do go out and do it that at least they will be more likey to use good sense and protect themselves..
Kids are becoming more worldly by the year.. the clothes are getting sexier, puberty is hitting sooner...
sometimes you can think too forward..
just the other day my boyfriend and brother were out walking and they found a 12 year old girl having a threesome with two boys about the same age in a trash dumpster at our apartment complex..
think about it
what were you doing at that age..
I know that i can be real old fashioned *i was raised by my great grandparents for my first 13 years* but fashion has taken such a huge change from what it was 12 years ago.. and i'm not just talking about clothes, but the fashion that we live our lives in..

I'm curious to hear what others have to say about all this..
hurry, hurry, hurry! step right up and post!

gingerbreadwench · 08-21-2004, 12:45 AM

When I was younger (and thinner), ballet was my LIFE. We lived in a rather rural community in Virginia, so most of the girls in my pointe class were pretty normal. However, there was this one girl named Erica who was being raised by her grandmother, who did her best to make Erica look like a s-l-u-t slut. We were all ten years old (we were the group who went en pointe early), and wearing Winnie-The-Pooh t-shirts and denim shorts, but Erica's grandmother bought her low-cut jeans with cutouts, tube tops, padded bras, 'hoochie' shoes... everything. Erica did pageants, and between classes we'd see her and her grandmother going over her pageant routines, which looked more like stripteases... pelvic thrusts and the works.

My point is, that for some reasons, the parents are trying to over-sex their children. I really feel bad for the girls who think that they must look like prostitutes, because that's what their moms and grandmothers taught them.

VRLowKey · 08-21-2004, 03:10 AM

I suppose it depends on how complex a person you're trying to raise. Dogs reach maturity at one year. There's not much to being a dog.
Humans take a little longer.
Heck, in Victorian times a six-year-old was often an expirienced miner while a 30-year-old man was just barely ready to marry and have children.
In the case of the little stripper-in-training, the grandmother obviously didn't have much hopes of her getting a family or raising children or she'd have tried to raise a more complex person, taking longer. :shock:

OnMyOwn · 08-21-2004, 06:21 AM

I have to agree with suicide.

right now im spaced out or something becuase i have nothing to say but i would have said the same thing as you suicide.Maybe ill put something later :wink:

Jane13 · 08-21-2004, 08:33 AM

I deffinitely agree. I've seen a lot of little kids that act and dress like that. It's incredibly depressing. Every great empire falls, and I think America's downfall will be our growing indiference to education, and the increasingly sexualized mindset. I find it annoying when I try to discuss literature with people, and they just don't get what's so great about it. Most people say, "Why are you reading that? It wasn't assigned at shcool..."
I have a close friend (15 years old) who dresses in close that would be considered 'revealing'. When older people see her they start muttering about how parents raise their children these days, but when they see little kids in even skimpier outfits they call it 'cute'. It's just disgusting. I sw that 'Give Me a Break' sho as well.

Jane13 · 08-21-2004, 10:29 AM

I guess these kids that miss out on their childhoods think they can just take it back when they're older. Your sister's got the idea, X... it'll probably be easier for you to look out for her that way.

SuicideJade · 08-21-2004, 07:54 PM

where do you go to school Xnguela?
when i was in highschool they wouldn't even let the cheerleaders wear their shorts in school.. if they would have seen someone in a corset there would have been an outrage!
it's a sign of changing times i guess ..not that it's been long since i've been out of school.. only 5 years..

ugh... · 08-21-2004, 08:22 PM

Its not only that the kids are getting sexy clothes, its that children are becoming more and more sexy and losing their innocence so young. It really pisses me off when I'm talking to my friends (most of them are 15) and they start talknig about how they lost their virginity in 5th grade (while unprotected) :shock: ... That's just barely out of grammar school in my town!!! The odd thing is that I don't hang out with the "hoochie" type, most of the people I hang out with are "grungers" or "goth" or something and they're really modest... its just the rise in sexualty and the lack of information that's ravaging our society.

I say go out to the kids in the sand boxes and start with them... cases std's and teenage pregnancies are trippeling in number each year and children are out future.

ice · 08-21-2004, 08:58 PM

ugh... (<---sn, I'm not saying "ugh..." ... so maybe I'll refer to ugh... as ug)

ug... that's just wrong. Kids having (unprotected) sex or any sex during 5th grade is just... wrong.

How the fuck could kids know about fucking, or be able to fuck when they are what, 10? Jeeze. >_<

-(my same old thing) if I ever have kids, I'm going to put the noose on their fashions... in fact, I think I'll just pass on digital cable in my house.

gingerbreadwench · 08-21-2004, 09:36 PM

I'll agree with ice... but I think maybe a lot of people aren't being completely honest about their virginity. A lot of people I know wouldn't want to admit that they haven't had sex or don't know much about sex, so I'd say a good percent of people are lying about their sexuality. But then that brings us back to the topic at hand-- if clothing companies and fashion magazines are telling kids that they have to look sexy, then a lot of them will interpret that as meaning that they have to be sexually active as well.

Tenebris · 08-26-2004, 08:46 AM

...or worse yet, older people will think it's OK to have sex with them. They're older so they should know better, and to say that it's the kid's fault would be blaming the victim. But sexy things are sexy because they make people think of, well, sex. Children are not supposed to be sexual.

I wish teen magazines dealt more with self-respect, self-awareness, self-confidence, and all the other self-things most people aged 10 and up struggle with. But it's more profitable for the industry to equate self-confidence with what a person is wearing.

Panther · 08-26-2004, 08:55 AM

I would never dress the way I see some kids dressed now. I sa fairly girly, but I would have laughed at a mini-skirt and tried to put it on my Barbie.

My sister's the same way, thank goodness. Fashion does puit way to much emphasis on sex. But so does everyone else.

Who makes up hte fashions? Older people. Around twentish. Little girls want to look like the pretty people they see, and teenagers are goddesses to them. So they dress like the older girls, who dress like the fashion designers, who know that sex sells.

And yes, sex ed should start younger, but who would feel comfortable teaching third graders about sex? That's not the point, but it is a fact.

Tenebris · 08-26-2004, 12:07 PM

I grew up in Germany where they taught sex ed in the fourth grade, I believe. It may even have been third. At any rate, it was before most of us were close enough to puberty to giggle and find the topic stupid, really cool because it's dirty, or use it as an occasion to make off-color jokes. Which meant that we actually learned something about sexuality, contraception, STD's and such. Although that was before people knew about AIDS.

One of my dad's friends used to work for a teen magazine in Europe. It had a "things you want to know about sex" column where a supposed expert would answer teen questions about sex. Only thing is, they made up the questions as well as the answers. And these are the same people who plan the fashion spreads and the "how to dress like a hooker" spreads. One might almost think we're dealing with a bunch of middle-aged men trying to raise the next generation of easily available sex objects.

Oh, and has anyone else noticed the tendency of teen and women's magazines to talk about how to dress/wear your hair/behave so you'll attract a man? From what I can tell, women and girls are supposed to change into fashion dolls to get a guy. Only, chances are that wouldn't be a guy they'd want anyway...

Oops. I guess this should have been in the whining section. Sorry about that, it's a pet peeve of mine.

Jane13 · 08-28-2004, 11:19 AM

It's fine by me if my freinds wnt to show skin, but my most revealing outfit doesn't really even show my knees. I'm not ashemed of my body... I just prefer to be 'modest'.

mlwlildevil · 08-28-2004, 11:50 AM

Well, I'd have to say I'm a 13 year old who wears push-up bras.... {it's the only bra I have and I hate to wear it.....even though it is a bit flattering} and I know people who now are about in 6th grade but I heard of a girl's first time {she was willing it wasnt forced} in second grade....when I was in sixth grade there were rumors of a girl being pregnant... I can't say I've never thought of sex but doing it at my age is just crazy...there are people who can''t even say the word sex without giggleing that are doing it and it's not just sex and sexy clothing that is being seen more and more in younger ages its drugs and alchohol too... I know someone who brought vodka to school in a waterbottle, an half of the people in school knew about it . And people say to tell teachers about shit like that they do nothing! one of my teachers knows about someone who turned 15 last month and hes having sex doing drugs and already in trouble with the law... I guess the whole point of that second half was saying that It isn't just sex and things of the sort that kids my age are being ,i dont think pressured is the right word but its the only thing I can think of at this time, into doing but I beleive that being taught about sex in the fifth grade is a bit early i think ninth or tenth would be better.... but hey thats just my opinion...

Jane13 · 08-28-2004, 07:58 PM

Ninth?! Oi, I'm supposed to be having sex, now? Just kidding. I really get what you're saying. It soundds like you've got the right idea. I hope you're as cool as you sound so far, because it'll be nice to have someone a year younger than me. Anyway, that story I posted about my friend? She was 12 at the time.

WolfMoon · 09-03-2004, 07:53 PM

This is just sick.About a week ago I saw a 3 y.o. in those low-low rise jeans and a red bandeau top almost too small to cover what would be boobs if a 3 y.o. had 'em.I was horrified that someone would dress a child like that!My husband is already telling me to get used to the fact that our daughter will probably be wearing thongs at ten.My answer?If I find one in the house that definately isn't mine it's going in the garbage.I guess men aren't as sensitive to the issue as they are about getting a boy circumcized.

WolfMoon · 09-03-2004, 08:05 PM

Don't worry Pee-pee,I don't plan on going holy-roller(gods forbid).

Sandmanhero · 09-04-2004, 12:52 AM

Well, i'm going to address a few things other people brought up.

As far as the sex education thing goes, i think the younger, the better. By the time somene is in 9th grade, they have heard it from someone else already and think they know all there is to know about sex. First and second grade are too young. i think third is just about right. people don't give kids the credit they deserve. they are not stupid and cn actually comprehend subjects like sex ed. My mother told me the exact way that babies are born when i was five. She used the technical tterms like Penis and vagina and you know what my rreaction was?

"oh" that's all i said about it. I wasn't scandalized. I didn't giggle or make jokes. I learned. The thing people forget is that a kid is not born with hangups. they are taught them. If you treat sex like a taboo subject, they will have hang ups about it and eventually go all sex crazy becasue it is taboo.

But if you teach a person (especially a girl) what sex is, what will happen to their bodies, etc. they will grow up having a better idea about what is happening to their bodies and will more likely have a better self image and make the choice to wait, rather then jump into it.

as far as the clothing thing goes, i blame the parents. no ten year old has the money to buy themselves those clothes. the parents say it's okay and buy it for them. I think a lot of it coms from people have babies very young. They are still in the mindset of being trendy rather then practicle. A lot of the young mothers veiw their daughters as a cute doll to play dress up with. unfortunatly, they don't get that a 6 year old doesn't need to get wear those three inch platform boots and tube top. They want to make them little trend setters.

It makes me very angry to see a child dressed like that. I want to smack the parent and ask them what the hell they were thinking.

I know when i do finally have kids, i will be very strict on what they can and can't wear. I wasn't even aloud to shave my legs until i was fourteen and i couldn't wear makeup until i was 16. same rules apply to my kids. My kids can scream and yell all they want, but eventually they will come to know that i was just trying to keep them from running too fast into adult hood. i won't be a crazy person about it, but my daughter ure as hell wont be wearing any thongs until she gets a job and buys them herself.

OnMyOwn · 09-04-2004, 05:10 AM

A couple of years ago a girl from 7th grade in my little school got pregnant.She was 12 years old and the guy was 16. I never really talked to her cus she was to cool and it seemed like we would never have something in common. My mother works with girls and families so they can get help for food and stuff for the babies but i dont know how to say it now. sorry. And she gets at least two 15 year olds or younger a week that are pregnant.

Since were talking about the sex thing here to Ill just pop my opinion in.

Girls are acting too out of placed. In at least 2 days or less of knowing a person they start saying that they love them like if it werent a big deal. This might also have something to do with the too young having sex. The excuse is always the same "he loves me" when the guy really doesnt .

hope i didnt write a big mess like i usually do.

Soul_Immortal · 09-04-2004, 06:41 AM

Obvisouly kids this young may not have the funds to purchase clothes for themselves. So personally, I don't blame the media. They are just trying to sell their wares, like everyone else.

What or who I do blame, are the adults that contribute to this horrendous trend. They are the ones who have the power to say "NO". My daughter, and my mother-in-law is a fan of putting clothes on her that my 17-year-old sister in law likes to wear. Oh yeah, best role model, lemme tell you, shes getting married soon. Thats not the half of it.

As her mom, and my husband her dad, you would think we have a right to say what goes? We do. But we definitely know, that its "Pay me now, or pay me later" when it comes to raising kids, and can be put to anything (almost). So we start that "discipline" of what its like to dress girly and not slutty (thin line here) NOW, than later when shes 16 and starts the whole, "I'm almost 17 and can move out if I want to!!" bit, and gets a bad start in life on her own because she thinks its ok to show her ass in "shorts" that look like fucking underwear.

Hm, kicked it into mom mode a bit much there. Not angry at anyone here, at all, just having my rant on this lil ol' topic.

*Soul*

Jane13 · 09-04-2004, 09:44 AM

"They don't have the money to dress like that". That's not true at all. Has anyone seen the Mary Kate and Ashley line of clothes at K-Mart? Absolutely disgusting.

Soul_Immortal · 09-04-2004, 04:07 PM

Yes I have, my fellow WalMart shopper;-). Horrendous, and one of those twins has a battle with anorexia? :? Weird.

I just wish some parents would say and act on the word "No", thats all.

*Soul*

WolfMoon · 09-04-2004, 04:32 PM

I think it may be that far too many parents are afraid of hearing their kids yell,scream or say "I hate you!".My daughter is already going through a bratty stage at 14 mos. And if she screams because she can't have her way I sit there for about 5 minutes and watch her throw a fit then get up like nothing ever happened.I'm not scared of pissing her off or hearing her whine when I say no.And one day she probably will yell that she hates me,but I know she won't mean it.I never meant it when I yelled it at my mom.

I just don't think people know enough nowadays about good parenting.And they are indeed having kids and sex, too young.

amee · 09-05-2004, 11:07 AM

I dont have a problem with a little girl wearing a miniskirt or something, cuz thats all you can really buy now a days...

when I was younger...five years ago...I was already making out with boys and getting into a lot of trouble getting in fights with other girls and beating the shit out of them...so...

i actually new what sex was since i was probably in kindergarten, seeing i was ***** by my older cousin...

i'm still very sexually active and only 15 so bring it! girls and boys welcome! lmao