I hate this for the obvious reason touched on here and here but I want you to read the last paragraph from that second link again:
“It doesn't matter much, these days, as to what the comments are surrounding what the fashion industry has decided our teeny-bopper sex tantalizers should adorn themselves in. I'm slapping the blame on moms for not seeing any further than their own breast implants when it comes to purchasing push-uppers for girls that don't, as yet, actually have any breasts,” said Shirlee Smith, CEO/Founder of “Talk About Parenting With Shirlee Smith.” “Who is paying for this sexy- kiddie marketing? Mom in the short run, sex object girls in the long run.”
That’s right, it’s not A&F’s responsibility not to contribute to the hypersexualization of young girls it’s, wait for it…..mom’s fault. Because it’s always mom’s fault. Because dad has no involvement in raising the kids. Because all little girls do exactly what their mothers tell them. Because kids aren’t affected by the message sent by the very existence of such a product. Because adults aren’t slowly absorbing and accepting the increasingly sexual images of and for our girls (see Miley Cyrus, Bratz Dolls, hell just read Cinderella At My Daughter by Peggy Orentstein).
Okay, sarcastic rant done.
But here is where I need to take it a step further. I few weeks ago the New York Times wrote an article about the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl by 18 men and boys, for more details read this article from Salon.com
Don’t worry, I’ll wait…..
To quote:
After all, as the Times helpfully points out, "Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands -- known as the Quarters -- said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months. They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said." Gosh, I wonder if she's pretty or you know, developed, because that's relevant too.The residents also wonder "how could their young men have been drawn into such an act" and lament that "These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives."
Did you get all of that? The implication is that because she was “dressed older than her age” these poor boys were “drawn into such an act”.
So this is where we are, on one hand Abercrombie & Fitch wants our young daughters to wear padded bikinis and thongs and on the other hand, if your little Wonder Woman gets assaulted while wearing these clothes she was asking for it.
But wait there’s more….
The Times quotes a neighbor lamenting, "Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking? How can you have an 11-year-old child missing down in the Quarters?"And…
The girl's mother, identified only as Maria, told the New York Daily news this week that the family has received several angry phone calls, and that the child has been moved to foster care for her protection. "These guys knew she was in middle school," she said. "You could tell whenever you talked to her. She still loves stuffed teddy bears." Where's that quote in the Times story?Well, we’ve come full circle now haven’t we because not only will it be your daughters fault if she gets raped while wearing these precocious clothes it will also be yours, you know, if you’re a mom. Dad’s are off the hook apparently (is anyone else wondering what happened to the stereotype of dad’s protecting their daughter’s virtue?)
It’s not the fault of the people who make the lingerie for girls if someone perceives her as a sexual object. It’s not the fault of the rapists if she ‘looked like a ho’. Stores are businesses after all and their only responsibility is to make lots of cash for their blessed shareholders. And men, well, they cant’ be held responsible for what their bodies do while their hearts aren’t looking.
And there you have it, capitalism and patriarchy in a nutshell.
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