Oh My Sweet Baby Je-bus... (*Attempting To Suppress Rage And Poke Out Inner Eye Simultaneously*)

[hsifeng]

You know, sometimes you read something and you can’t decide if you should laugh or cry…

…or possibly shoot the first marketing executive you run across.

This article is crazy making. However, I am glad I read it, because when I stand in front of the judge after mowing down the entire Abercrombie and Fitch product development team with an AK-47 I will have a clear and reasonable defense at my disposal.

And sure, we can go after the parents who buy these things for their daughters next. That sounds like a completely justifiable plan to me.

Comments

[love3angle.livejournal.com]

I would be delighted to share in your fury if I wasn't in a constant stage of it already. We bombard ourselves and our kids with sex and violence as entertainment from day one and wonder why we're all so fucked up.

Seriously.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I suppose some people (I’m looking at you major children’s product manufacturers) take any line in the sand regarding age appropriateness of products as a personal challenge.

Fuckers.

[love3angle.livejournal.com]

I don't know... I think some morons might by the dolls or something, but I can't imagine any moron buying a toy stripper pole. I can only imagine that is a joke product. The things that get me are the hooker dolls (bratz) and kids' thongs and stuff like that where we no longer have any perspective on modesty and childhood vs wanting our 6-year-olds to be our best pals.

I think the more damaging stuff is from letting kids watch inappropriate movies and tv, and children's programming (designed for tweens) being all about crushes and sex. I see my 8-year-old's innocence evaporating before my eyes no matter what we let her watch at home. She came back from a slumber party having watch Vampires Suck, which she now claims is her favorite movie, and it wildly inappropriate for her.

Every time I turn around I'm having to give her some kind of lecture to explain why everything she sees is bad. I must be such a downer to her, LOL!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

*sigh* An uphill battle for certain. I know some folks get tired of people blaming the media for society’s ills and instead insist that it’s all about the parents making the right choices and screening content (and I can their point, up to certain degree); but when Everything Out There Seems To Be Rated R it gets a little hard for parents to separate the wheat from the chafe.

Even in households where there is no TV (I have friends who are strictly anti-television, largely because of the amount of crap that comes across the airwaves and into their kids brains) there is unavoidable exposure that filters in via friends, relatives and school.

Sure, kids are going to see this stuff; they’re going to have to live in a world full of it. To some extent you want them to have awareness while being forewarned of the sort of issues this environment/behavior can bring about.* But knowing that thongs exist and that adults choose to wear them on occasion is totally different than strapping a pair on your seven year old and then sending her out to play with the neighbor kids.




*Yes, yes; I know that we’re all supposed to be so evolved that what someone wears doesn’t affect the way they are perceived by the people around them. Before someone jumps on me and starts trying to claim that I am attempting to relegate women to some sort of Madonna/Whore complex where they are non-sexual until their husband asks for it I’d like to point out - these are not women, these are children and YES there is a difference.

If a woman wants to wear a mini-skirt, spiked heels and a thong with their tramp stamp flying proud while they straddle a stripper pole; be my guest. One would hope that the age of consent brings a modicum of wisdom about personal choices and the ability to deal with whatever attention (negative or positive) that comes about as a result.

Kids don’t have that wiring.

Don’t make me take out my feminist stick and beat anyone with it.

[docryder.livejournal.com]

Okay, in your note you make the assumption that people suddenly gain wisdom upon reaching age of consent. You know better. :-)

Yeah, kids get exposed to sex WAY early now. A couple of years ago, Cam gets to telling me about how his friends showed him (at the friend's house) that if he just typed "girl porn" into Google, he'd get back these really interesting images. I just nodded and said something like "Well, that's not really something you and your friends should be doing," and didn't make a big deal of it, suddenly sweating bullets about when I'm going to discuss this with his parents. I let Rob and Kimiko know at a good time, and they dealt with it. But he was about five or six then.

So, yeah, they will get exposed, sooner than any of us would like.

On the other hand, most reasonable parents don't buy that shit for their kids. Sadly, there are a lot of unreasonable parents out there. :-\

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Not an assumption, only the hope. We all know that hope is a fragile, fragile thing...*sigh*

And yes, there are way too many unreasonable parents out there.

While I am sure fire will rain down on my head for expressing this opinion, I am all for the idea of chemical spaying and neutering to prevent folks from breeding until they take some sort of required coursework on How To Parent. It’s like getting a drivers license, it doesn’t mean you’ll be a great driver but it does mean that you have reached a certain age and have at least had to sit through the class (and should be less surprised when other parents take you to task for your horrible Parental Parallel Child Rearing).

Barring that, I may take to simply standing front of Abercrombie & Fitch and whacking mothers with sticks when they emerge with their tween daughters.

[corsetrasewing.livejournal.com]

This stuff isn't just at young girls, it goes all the way down to the baby outfits! and it isn't always just on the girl's clothes either.
I have personally seen infant shifts with slogans like "Who's your daddy," Pimp, and "sorry girls, I only date supper models"

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth...

*looks green*

Nice to know we're raising a generation of misogynists to go with that generation of over sexualized girls.

*eye roll*

*flail*

[sstormwatch.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to say... as I'm sure you've said or thought it already.

Parents have to keep their eyes open for this crap, and teach their kids, both sexes, what is appropriate and what isn't and why.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

As you say; but I am sometimes flabbergasted at the things that parents have to look out for. I mean, a Stripper Pole For Children?

Really?

*face palm*

[love3angle.livejournal.com]

LOL, you don't have to keep your eyes open for it, it's EVERYWHERE and CONSTANT. The real danger is becoming so desensitized to it that it doesn't really seem weird to have the word JUICY across your pre-teen's ass in public.

[sstormwatch.livejournal.com]

I dont get the Juicy ass thing. Believe me, it won't be on my daughter's ass until she's an adult making her own decisions. I'm also not a believer in putting on other people's names just for the status of it, whereever it may be located.

[evil-fionn.livejournal.com]

This is going to come out cranky. (Forgive me, I'm trying to quit smoking, and I don't like it. Nicotine reinforces my naturally weak filters so I'm not a curmudgeon. Usually.)
Manufacturers wouldn't sell it if there wasn't a large percentage of so-called "women" who think this crap is cute and buy it.
Seriously. When was the last time you saw dear ol' dad taking his girl clothes shopping? Shopping for toys? Hell, how many dads even know what the hell a Bratz doll IS?
No. This trend is coming from mothers who are trying to relive their sadly disappointing teen years vicariously through their tween daughters, thinking that if they start them early enough trying to sell their looks rather than intellect, young Susie will have the happy, happy adolescence that Mom was denied because HER mother wouldn't spring for the botox and plastic surgery. I mean, seriously, look at t.v. programming like "Real Housewives of BFE" and tell me that those aren't the kind of females that are instilling these values into their daughters.
Except for the stripper pole. I pray to God that's a gag gift.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Hence, “ And sure, we can go after the parents who buy these things for their daughters next. That sounds like a completely justifiable plan to me.”.

Don’t worry about wearing your ranty pants here, it is that sort of thread.

This trend is coming from mothers who are trying to relive their sadly disappointing teen years vicariously through their tween daughters, thinking that if they start them early enough trying to sell their looks rather than intellect, young Susie will have the happy, happy adolescence that Mom was denied because HER mother wouldn't spring for the botox and plastic surgery.

Sadly, I agree completely that these items are marketed to the mom more than the daughters. I think it is a combination of mom’s attempting to recapture some lost opportunity of childhood (and one has to ask *WHAT* lost opportunity they are envisioning when they are slapping a tramp stamp – or ‘ass hat’ as my husband calls them - on their daughters lower back), and the desire to be their child’s Kool Bestest Friend 4-Evah.
*eye roll*

At the risk of starting to shout Hey You Kids Get Off Of My Lawn; my mom was not my best friend and she certainly wasn’t attempting to relive her childhood vicariously by youngster number five (me). In the end I think I got a pretty solid childhood, one where I enjoyed being a KID and respected my parents as people to be emulated instead of manipulated.

As a result, I am the kind of adult that my mom is happy to be friends with NOW. I think it’s a much better deal this way.


PS: “Gag Gift” is right when describing the stripper pole – in that thinking about someone buying this for a young girl makes me want to vomit…

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

..."Virgin waxing." Virgin waxing. Maybe it's because it's actual body modification that that's the one that seriously got to me, but omgwtf. I've had Brazilians before, but it kind of makes you feel like a little kid again and it's all sorts of creepy. I know some people prefer it on women, but I know just as many men (and women) who prefer at least some hair on their partner so they don't feel like they're fucking a little girl.

Oh wait.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Yeah. My mind simply boggles at this crap.

*shakes head in pain*

And heaven forefend that the little girl in question grow up to WANT hair-down-there;

"Not only do I get to look like a pedophiles dream for life, I get the agonizing memories of having my pubic hair ripped out repeatedly as a child. I am sure my therapist is very appreciative of all the billable hours those experiences racked up. Thanks Mom."

*face palm*

[fiberferret.livejournal.com]

I'm really wishing I still had my paid account and 'splody icon for this one.

One of the creepiest things I've ever seen was a show on the legal prostitution houses in Vegas most of it was okay (I'm fine with prostitution, I think a person owns their own body, and can make their choices about it, and I'd love for it to be safer) but the sick thing was this poor girl who had just become legal and her stepfather had pushed her all her life into becoming a prostitute as a career. He was waxing her in preparation for her first day. It was just plain SICK and I was so sad for her. There is no way you can convince me that man didn't have a sick mind!

The rest of this stuff makes me livid too. Most pedophiles will say they believe children are sexual and enjoy it. They are that deluded. If we do things like this to kids, how can we really expect to convince them that is not the case? And the things it teaches kids about society and their roles and sexuality are so wrong as well. I'm so glad I have no desire to have children. I have enough trouble resisting doing violence just on the behalf of those of my friends. oO

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

This whole article is worthy of 'splody icons. The, "Ha ha ha! They can't be SERIOUS!" factor gave way to fuming rage pretty quickly.

Is it any wonder I want to buy an island somewhere and people it only with my closest friends and NEVER leave it unless I have to?

*sigh*