- checking login information
The Women's Rights Cause
395,870 people care about Women's Rights
Loading...Stop Slutting Up Our Girls (Says this Digital Dad)
Last week I attended my first dance competition with my daughter. It was a lot of fun to see girls of all ages strut their stuff on the stage and do an amazing job at it. The talent in these young ladies was amazing to see.
What I wasn’t ready for was seeing young girls in fishnets, tight boy shorts and thigh high leather boots. The teased hair, fake eye lashes and gyrating bodies on stage. I talked about this on Digital Dads and was glad to hear that the other dads were equally upset by it.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am the farthest thing from an uptight prude. But, as I sat there in the audience and watched the 6 & 7 year old teams shake things they didn’t have and perform moves that were more appropriate for a stripper pole then a school stage I had to stop and wonder. Why are we letting our kids do this? Worse yet, why were there parents in the audience hooting and hollering every time they did an extra sexy move? How is it that suddenly slutting up our girls is ok with parents?
If you need a visual to make this real for you, take a look at this video below. It hit the web yesterday and after Jessica Gottlieb wrote about it, I knew I had to share my thoughts. Keep in mind that the girls in this video are seven and eight years old.
I can appreciate the girls dancing skills (they are super talented in that video) and I’ve heard the arguments of “they are just costumes”, but all of it still pisses me off. If you can’t handle watching the whole thing, the last 20 seconds or so will be enough to make you scream.
I have a daughter. I see the way she is marketed to. I’ve taken her shopping and seen the outfits that hang on display. Most of it is fine, but so much of it is far from that. Sure, sex sells, but do we need to be selling it to girls so young that they haven’t even developed yet? There is no reason for that.
This is not going to be one of those scream at society pieces, because I firmly believe that it is the job of the parent to not let this happen to their own kids. It is up to you to say, “no you can’t wear that” and explain why something is inappropriate. We can scream all we want, but when I heard those other parents cheering on the girls on stage (just listen to the video) it made me shake my head in shame. I wanted to stand up and turn around and ask point blank, “what the hell are you doing?”
One thing, that this personal experience has taught me is that I’ve got to be more involved if Emily is going to continue doing dance. I had never seen the routines she was working on, until they were on stage. I had seen the costumes ahead of time and they were fine. But, if she had come home with some of the outfits that I saw other girls in what would I have done? I’ve been thinking a lot about that and I know for sure I wouldn’t have allowed her to do it. That would not have been easy as I know dance is turning into a bit of a passion for her, but I would have needed to do it.
My daughter is growing up with a deep rooted self confidence. I want her to know that whatever she ends up looking like that she is her own person. That she is beautiful, smart, awesome and unique. There is nothing wrong with being sexy and flirtatious. That is part of the fun of being a human and while I’m scared to death of when she figures that out, I know it is part of growing up.
Parents, you are the last line of defense here. The old saying that sex sells is a fact and we all know it. That is never going to change, but does sex have to sell in your house? No, it doesn’t. This is a problem that parents are allowing to happen. Complain all you want about what is happening in our world, but the more active you are as a parent and not allow things like this to happen the better we all will be.
This post by CC Chapman first appeared on Digital Dads.
Read more: girls, grown-up clothing, little girls, sex, sexualized children, womens rights
PamelsVWhite via Flickr/Creative Commons
by C.C. Chapman of Digital Dads
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Recent Comments from Causes
It seems that 9% of those voting in the attendant poll have some explaining to do.
The responsibility for dealing with the incident should have rested solely with the Department of Fish…
If the test subjects are adults, I'd say this study demonstrates social/cultural conditioning. If you…
meet our writers
632 comments
+ add your ownI think it's obscene. It's not 'just' costumes, you're selling the message that your child must compete against other girls about who is prettiest. What kind of message does that send? There's no reason those little girls can't wear nice clothes and no make-up and do their dance acts. (It's the make-up I find most objectionable) That all goes far beyond playing dress up. I've even heard of at least one parent wanting to have cosmetic surgery on their child.
Those kids are wearing BRAS. Tell me that isn't sexualizing. I always wish I could tell those parents that they're a pedophiles wet dream. They should think about the fact that every time their daughter is on stage in front of a camera gyrating like a little strip tease, that there are eyes out there watching her, and that isn't love in their eyes.
Well said.
I totally agree and it is the parents who need to take control and say NO.
I agree completely!
This is a great article. I have seen the show "Toddlers & Tiaras" once -- I was shocked at how much make-up these little girls wore and some of the clothing was very inappropriate.
Good article. I don't even have kids and I completely agree with this Dad. Too much too young!
i agree let them wear clothes apropriate for children
The fact that you used he word "slut" in the title of your post shows how sexualized even our language has become! This was a bad word when I was in elementary school. I also remember girls in my Scout troop calling other girls this and one of the leaders confronting us on the use of the word: "What does that REALLY mean?" This kind of language used amongst girls and women just keeps them down; rather than supporting each other and lifting everyone up, we stomp women down when we casually use words like "B***H" and "Wh*RE" and "slut." Thank you for sharing your opinions, Digital Dad.
The arts societies seem to be just an excuse parents are now using to get their "ten minutes of fame" by potentially harming their little girls.
Why do children at the age of nine need to be wearing thigh-high boots and artificial eyelashes at all???
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment
20