I had a friend email me a link to a great little article and video from Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. Essayist Jennifer Moses has written the piece, entitled “Why Do We Let Them Dress Like That?” It’s a very legitimate and timely question that has to be asked in this day and age of hurried children where just about everything (as we posit in our CPYU seminars) is sexualized. . . including stuff targeting the youngest of the young and even the youngest of the young themselves. Moses goes so far as to ask moms in the video interview (see below) if they might even be pimping out their daughters. This isn’t just something for the ladies to pay attention to. Dad, you should be checking this out as well as you consider the role you play in raising your sons and daughters with healthy attitudes towards sexuality.
A couple of weeks ago I was showing Miley Cyrus’s video for her song “Who Owns My Heart.” While I was watching, it dawned on me that all the talk we hear about sexual trafficking and young girls should carry over into the images we pump into the lives of, again, the youngest of the young. If Miley Cyrus was only 17 when she made that video, could that be considered trafficking?
I think you have every right to be concerned – some parents are sleep walking through life completely unaware of the messages being thrown at our children through music videos, tv ads, soaps – even kids TV! In the UK fairly recently we had a well known store selling lap dancing outfits for kids! Sure, we must be in the world but lets teach our kids not to be OF the world.
Thank you for these thoughts. Regarding Moses’ article, my thought is that girls are being groomed for dressing this provocatively from an extremely young age (i.e.-still in diapers). Kids are watching every time Mommy glances at herself in the mirror with uncertainty, and they are listening every time Mommy jokes about her not-so-hot looks. We are grooming them. Kids are watching every time Daddy looks at an underwear ad for just a little too long or seems a little to eager to see a scantily dressed young woman walk by. We are grooming them. We have a great responsibility as parents and need to be aware that our thoughts and actions are greatly influencing our children and teens.
Well, here’s some more fuel for this controversy of “pimping” out our daughters. Abercrombie & Fitch is currently marketing push-up bra bikinis for girls as young as 7 years old. I just saw this on the Today Show this morning. The sad thing is, as much as we tell parents not to buy this for their children, some will, wanting their kids to be popular, “grown-up”, and “sexy”.