Bravo to LZ Granderson who writes a weekly column for cNN.com and is also a senior writer and columnist for ESPN The Magazine and eSPN.com for his excellent column which appeared at cNN.com on 19 April 2011 entitled, "Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps"
(source)If you haven't seen the piece, he uses a tiny bit of satire to address a growing concern related to the over-sexualization of children in the United States. In specific, he address products designed by clothing companies for pre-teens that seem wildly inappropriate such as a push-up bra originally designed for 8-year olds but moved to the 12-year old market after some outrage. 12-year olds? How about this is the kind of thing you might ever wear after high school?
Now Granderson places most of the blame for such products squarely on the shoulders of parents who buy the products – after all, if there's no market for such products, retailers won't stock them, and manufacturers won't be asked to make them. Clearly, parents and guardians own a lot of the blame. He suggests it may be their unwillingness to say "no" or they confuse the roles of friends vs. parents. It is also important, however, to place the blame on schools, the media, and society in general.
Schools get a share of the blame for not having dress codes. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say freedom of attire, and schools across the nation have found it easier to just let kids wear what ever they want then fight the constant battle over dress codes. Unfortunately, kids need an thrive in worlds with these kind of rules – rules that can be broken without severe consequences. Yes, it is an annoying nuisance to battle with students, but it's a necessary one. Schools need dress codes that create uniformity (uniforms? maybe), and refocus the attention on, hmm, learning.
The media gets to share the blame because 24-7 they blast children with shows where actors play roles 10 or even 15 years younger than they really are (this has been going on since the days of "90210"). Look up the actual ages of the cast of "Glee" for example – not that this is a program I would recommend for young children, but you'll be amazed at the ages of the people playing high schoolers. Then do the same for characters on popular Disney® shows and Nickelodeon® shows. Put this with writers who are writing for whom? Teenagers, pre-teens, advertisers, their company? Who knows, but if you watch a lot of these shows with your pre-teen or even teenagers, you've got to wonder. The plots are all about dating, getting a date, going to a dance, more dating, and then, of course, the holy grail of smooching. There used to be a time you could be guaranteed not to see any smooching on a Disney® show – well those days are over. As much as these shows have worked hard to empower young girls, they empower them into being sexy, super-model singers, and that's about all.
Finally, society in general is to blame. For years now, we've been turning the practice of objectifying people, men and women, into an art form. The
SI Swimsuit edition, the
People Magazine Sexiest Man Alive issue serve as but two examples. You're not all-American dad if you don't go with your son to buy the
SI issue together. The whole Barbie® phenomenon stands as another wrong-headed example. It's time to stop objectifying people and turning them all into little sex objects. There is a whole lot more out there that could be entertaining and interesting to kids.