This one has me baffled. I am not sure if I find it disturbing that they are selling string bikinis for 2-year-olds or that we are even debating the issue.
I remember being on the beach as a child (my Yia-Yia used to pick me up from elementary school, I would change in the backseat, she would cover me in baby oil, and we would hang out on the beach until bed time) and I wore 2-piece bathing suits. My Yia-Yia would sing the "yellow polka dot bikini" song no matter what color the suit was. I didn't think anything of it, and no one worried that I was being sexualized.
So that is what I am having a hard time with. It is very scary now that these bikinis are actually the pre-cursor to poor body image, inappropriate tween clothing, and the sexualization of young women. I think most of us can go back to the 70s and we have some photo that our parents took in a cute 2-piece (certainly not a string bikini to be sure). But I remember my mom being damn sure that I was not wearing skin-tight jeans or short skirts or push-up bras in elementary school or middle school. Once I was in high-school I made my own decisions - some of them good .... some not so good.
I remember sneaking lace gloves and "Boy Toy" belt buckles in high school. I remember my mom would make me kneel on the ground and we would not purchase the skirt if it did not touch the floor. I remember pleading with my mom for Calvin Klein Jeans. I think this was the beginning of the end ... Brooke Shields.
I have talked with a lot of moms of daughters (I am fortunate to have 2 boys) who don't want their daughters wearing all this "sexed up" clothing. So I say .... ok, don't buy it. They responds with find me a store that doesn't sell it. They tell me it is really hard to find a clothing store (that they can afford) that sells age appropriate clothing. That is a shame. It is almost like society just kept going and going more sleazy and now can't turn the knob back.
Perhaps we can start an e-mail campaign to places like Target and Walmart .... we want our daughters back.
This brings me back to the Babykini. I have no answers ... in my gut it seems like it is just too much. I usually go with my gut.
I so agree with you. I scares me when I see 10 year old girls walking down the street with skirts up their butts, low-cut shirts, make-up and dangly earrings. I wonder what mother would let their daughter out of the house looking like that?? Kids don't take time to be kids anymore and, more improtantly, most of their parents are too busy to notice or care.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I have seen some young girls dressed like hookers and that scares me. Connee
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for having 2 boys!
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you one thing tho - I would like to think that my taste will rub off on them and they'll think girls that dress trashy aren't worth the time of day.
@Joanna ... I can't speak for today's parents. But I know that I would "borrow" clothes from the girls whose mothers let them wear that stuff and I would change at school, then change back into what I wore out of the house before I went home.
ReplyDeleteI was not always the little angel you see today ;)
@Cheryl - It worked with my oldest!