My mother just got an email from a friend with this article attached. Please, Don't Dress Your Girls Like Tramps (<--CLICK ME)
Push-up bras for 7 year olds? Is this where we have ended up? Really. I feel like the man from Brave New World; lost. Why is it that I find this disturbing and people who buy it find it cute?!? Or trendy? Or sweet? Or even...dare I say it...INNOCENT??? Not only push-up bras, but thongs and tight sweat pants with "juice" written on the backside. Like the article said, this is not the fault of the producer. Someone has to be buying these things because they're still in the (I want to say horrible things) store!
The plain and simple truth is that parents who dress their children up like this are not raising any kind of woman with character. They are raising prostitutes. The truth is hard to swallow, but sometimes it takes a mighty slap in the face to make them wake up and realize they are wrong.
Sometimes I read these article and think, the girl in the pew next to me in church dresses like that. And look at her daughter...
Why is it that I don't feel like I have to look like that?! What is so wrong with looking like I do? With dressing the way I do? Why is modesty so awkward to people? What are they afraid of? That they'll blend in? That no one will notice them? That no one will comment on how cute their ass is?
I'm pretty sure that's the point.
Maybe it's just because you were home schooled that you feel this strongly about it. Is that what you want to say? Please don't. I'll only want to argue with you.
Yes, at times I feel insecure. But it's not because I feel like I'm missing something. Sometimes, I just do. Sometimes, there is no reason. I just am.
I'm a girl.
I'm Savanah.
I'm young and am not use to feeling insecure.
Life is hard.
Parents who think you're lacking physically...that's harder.
Thank you dear God, for not giving me parents like that!
Oh but now I'm just like the pharisee praying in the temple, aren't I?
I will say, that this only makes me feel more alone. Is there anyone at all (other than my own family) who thinks this just a little bit odd? Am I really the only one who wants to shake these people? I have so much to say. But if I say much more, I might just wake up ranting about it still. And I kind of want to just write about it here and let it go.
God, please help me hold my tongue,
help me to not want to call child services,
help me to remember to pray for my own heart,
please help me to remember that you love them too
often times I notice that when I get worked up in other people issues...I completely miss mine own.
April 19, 2011 at 8:48 PM
I'm going to comment on this whole issue as someone who is attracted to women. Usually I would go the intellectual route or the moral route, but this, I think calls for me just being a man.
I hate when grown women dress like tramps. I don't find it sexy at all. In fact, I find it, frankly, disgusting. Even if you have the body to wear it, if I can see most of that body, you're not going to get my attention. You're repulsing me and you're embarrassing yourself. I know I'm not the only guy who feels like this. There are a lot of us out there who prefer women to dress well. That doesn't mean that the occasional low-cut top doesn't look nice. But miniskirts and halter tops and anything that's skin tight just doesn't look appealing at all.
That having been said, children should never, under any circumstances dress like this. It goes beyond disgusting into immoral. Parents who think that it's okay to put their little girls into tiny bikinis and booty shorts should not be considered parents--they should be considered pimps.
When I was a kid, the girls that I was friends with dressed in jean shorts and t-shirts. Maybe the occasional frilly dress when they were going to church. The clothes that they wore reflected the fact that they could climb a tree or ride a bike just as well as the boys. I think one of the issues is that kids aren't getting out and playing as much as they used to. They aren't getting dirty anymore. Parents are so afraid of letting their kids be kids and they are, instead, letting them grow up way too fast. Now, granted, another reason for this is the fact that parental common sense seems to be crumbling into dust, but I think that the lack of constructive kids' activities like neighborhood baseball games, rolling down hills, and finding out that you can't fly by jumping off your porch and skinning your knee is contributing to the destruction of childhood and the construction of a generation of what Humbert Humbert from Lolita would call "nymphettes."
In short, no one should be dressing like a prostitute, but children *definitely* shouldn't.
April 20, 2011 at 7:49 PM
Wow. I have so much to say but I don't want to make this page go on forever so I shall force myself to keep it brief. :)
First of all, I don't think wearing this junk or acting this way is any worse at 7 than it is at 17. It does prove how horrible this world has gotten, though, that even young children are being permitted and encouraged to dress this way.
Secondly, what really befuddles me is that these children's fathers allow them, if not encourage them, to dress this way. I can't even imagine what my dad would say if I walked out in something like that! It's completely ridiculous! I can't believe that so many parents approve of this but later blame them as teenagers for their stupid decisions. Many parents take way too little responsibility for their kids.
And to stretch this a little further, fathers themselves need to become more responsible for the daughters. As the head of the family, he is liable for his daughter's behavior. Also, daughters need to be more respectful and honoring towards their dads. It's the way things were meant to be, and if people would just remember that we wouldn't be in the broken state we are.
So anyway...
It's nuts. And completely ridiculous.
April 20, 2011 at 8:00 PM
Gabriel: I don't know necessarily if it has anything to do with getting "dirty" but I totally agree. Kids should be kids. Sometimes I think even adults should be more like kids. Their innocents are almost totally gone before 16. That shouldn't be the case.
Jane: I love you! Sometimes you just complete my thoughts. Okay, most of the time you complete my thoughts. That's just one of the reasons I love you.
Okay...moving on.
Yes. Like I was telling you earlier. That book I'm reading, Her Hand in Marriage, talks about all of that. I love it so far. It talks all about the relationship a father should have with their daughters and in what way this can set a young woman up for success in life. Which is also why I like that documentary, Return of the Daughters. Btw, are you going to that convention in Atlanta? Oh, well maybe you should say so here. But write me and tell me if you are or are not.