LZ Granderson has a shockingly good opinion piece at CNN:
I saw someone at the airport the other day who really caught my eye.
Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie “10″ (or for the younger set, Christina Aguilera during her “Xtina” phase). Her lips were pink and shiny from the gloss, and her earrings dangled playfully from her lobes.
You can tell she had been vacationing somewhere warm, because you could see her deep tan around her midriff thanks to the halter top and the tight sweatpants that rested just a little low on her waist. The icing on the cake? The word “Juicy” was written on her backside.
Yeah, that 8-year-old girl was something to see alright. … I hope her parents are proud. Their daughter was the sexiest girl in the terminal, and she’s not even in middle school yet.
April 21st, 2011 | 10:15 am
As a father of a soon to be four-year-old, it chills me to the bone. I was a boy once (not too long ago) and I remember how I used to look at girls. This trend is seen as the greatest trend in the world by young boys (because it gives them more of what they already want), which should give all parents pause.
And I can’t remember the original source, but I’ve heard kids who have been all trolloped up like that by their parents called “prostitots.” Apt, but scary.
April 21st, 2011 | 12:54 pm
I too found this article to be quite good – mainly because you can really hear his voice in it. That is, it’s not just “written” it is truly spoken to us. His points are so obvious as to make us want to do facepalms: a) who THINKS of these ideas for girls [and yeah, do you have to be a registered sex offender to be in the meeting?], and b) why in the world do parents (or whomever!) buy them for the little ones!
April 21st, 2011 | 12:55 pm
(Unrelated: and P.S. Joe – Friday Night Lights is back!! ;-) Although if you have direct TV, you’ve seen it. I don’t so I’m enjoying it on NBC. NO spoilers anyone!!)
April 21st, 2011 | 1:24 pm
“why in the world do parents (or whomever!) buy them for the little ones!”
IMNSHO, this is a function of parents without well-defined standards who also haven’t grown up themselves, and judge what is appropriate for their children by what is cool in the culture, what they would want if they were 8 themselves, or what their kids ask for. They just aren’t being the adults in the situation, plus they don’t have a moral compass that indicates there’s anything wrong here.
April 21st, 2011 | 2:09 pm
Maybe the parents who buy that stuff are the same sort of people who bought it for themselves when they were old enough to make such decisions: things like short skirts and low-cut shirts.
I always wondered why women dressed that way, so many years ago, I actually asked a young woman (early 20s). She shrugged and answered was, “Because it’s cute.”
Oh! “Cute” is a word innocent and generic enough that I understood she didn’t dress that way to attract the attention of males. (Of course, that’s probably the motivation most men attribute to women for selecting that sort of dress. Correct me if I’m wrong.)
Reflecting on it later, my confusion returned. Her answer didn’t seem all that enlightening, and I began to wonder if even she knew what on earth her answer meant, or if it was just a superficial, unreflected response conditioned by glossy magazines telling her what to wear.
I honestly don’t know, and I’ve given up trying to figure it out.
April 21st, 2011 | 8:45 pm
It is disgusting. I think the parents are just too scared to confront their kids.
April 22nd, 2011 | 10:50 am
“It is disgusting. I think the parents are just too scared to confront their kids.”
That assumes that they find something to confront. In many cases, you’re right. But I think in more cases than most people realize, people just don’t see anything wrong with this kind of thing. It’s “cute.” It’s “fun.” It’s “what the kids want, and it’s only clothing.” Jack Perry’s last comment captures what I was thinking on this.
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