Abercrombie & Fitch had marketed a thong underwear for pre-teens. In schools, administrators perform "checks" to assure that females comply with dress codes that ensure that no one will show "breasts, belly, bottom, or back". What happens when you emulate the celebrities that surround you?
You get called a prostitot!

"They're called 'prostitots,'" said Anna Miressi, a Kingston, N.Y., high school freshman who claims the term is commonly used among her peers. "It's those girls at the mall with the tight jeans and belly shirts. They're in between the age group of 10 to 13 or 14."

Spears, Aguilara, the recording industry, and the fashion industry have put pre-teens into peculiar place in our culture. Do prepubescent girls have a way to express their sexuality without people crying out "lolita"? Are emulating pop icons a healthy way to do so? Can a twelve-year-old "own" their sexuality with the same confidence and informed conviction as a seventeen-year-old?
Nabokov knows, I think. We are constantly struggling with the notion that young children are sexual beings, that we still remember what it was like to be enraptured by pre-coital lust.

But ten -year-olds?

FallFromGrace

Seattle, WA

March 2004

APR 23, 2004 02:50 PM

I have a hard time with this. I have a niece who's been drawn into this stuff. she's nine, and she's aleady going after boys and starting to develop (In part I think in response to her boy craziness). I think I was much the same way; I was looking and interested in girls at 8 started puberty around then as well. I know though why she behaves like this though: She feels abandoned at home. She's got a Dad who works his ass off, a Mom who works her ass off, and two younger sisters. as early as six, she would walk up to anyone she knew remotely and incessantly tell them "I love you", I think she just didn't feel loved at home.

There's nothing wrong with sexuality, but when sexuality robs a child of his or her childhood, it's tragic. There's pedophiles out there, and people are allowing their children to get trussed up as bait. I think it's a terrible mistake. The media isn't always the most healthy thing for a child to be babysat by; and in America, I think that people abandon their children to the TV and other media far more than they should.

Bad_Scott

Madison, WI

February 2004

APR 23, 2004 02:59 PM

Ooh that's hot

Seriously though, young children are sexual beings, even though our culture keeps trying to tell us they're not. I don't know whether this particular trend is healty, but I think we need to understand that it's natural for kids to show sexuality.

Also, I don't know if kids dressing like adults is going to get the pedophiles all hot. I think pedophiles like kids because they're kids, not because they look like adults. If anything, I have a feeling that a lot of pedophiles might actually be turned off by kids dressing this way.

Morgan

SUICIDEGIRL

Illinois, USA

APR 23, 2004 03:06 PM

It's true that kids are sexual beings, but we're not preparing them for understanding sexuality before we send them out dressed like that. We're allowing them to ACT "grown up" without really understanding all the grownup things that come along with that. My problem is with parents who buy those clothes for their kids, but then refuse to teach them about sex, and be HONEST about. The ones who expect our system of sex education in schools to take care of it for them. That puts kids in a dangerous situation where they have grown up feelings but only know immature and unhealthy ways to use them.

When I was 10, my parents just sat me down and gave me an honest talk about sex, and gave me a great book that had lots of details and answered almost all of my questions. They also talked to me about responsibilty and healthy sexuality, and how ensure that I didn't get taken advantage of. And yeah, sometimes I wore little shorts or a teeny shirt...but it was fine for me because I knew how to deal with my sexual feelings in a healthy way.

Velvetone_Fusion

Owings Mills, MD

November 2003

APR 23, 2004 03:10 PM

Yay, I'm not the only one who uses the term "prostitots"!

[Edited on Apr 23, 2004 3:16PM]

Ada

SUICIDEGIRL

Maryland, USA

APR 23, 2004 03:14 PM

Bad_Scott said:
Seriously though, young children are sexual beings, even though our culture keeps trying to tell us they're not. I don't know whether this particular trend is healty, but I think we need to understand that it's natural for kids to show sexuality.

Also, I don't know if kids dressing like adults is going to get the pedophiles all hot. I think pedophiles like kids because they're kids, not because they look like adults. If anything, I have a feeling that a lot of pedophiles might actually be turned off by kids dressing this way.

You said exactly what I was going to say, both points.

However-- I think the problem with acknowledging children's sexuality (and maybe one of the main reasons it's still a taboo subject) is that it becomes more difficult to say why pedophilia is wrong. Obviously it IS, but can you say specifically why? Usually the argument is "because children are innocent and non-sexual." But it's clearly much more complicated than that. Some people hear "children are sexual beings" and think it means "children are sexual in the same way as adults" (which no one would really argue, I think) and get all outraged by it. It's certainly a subject that deserves more study/discussion.

That said, I don't think that most children who wear provocative clothing are doing it as an expression of their sexuality. I think the very essence of children's sexuality is that it's not a conscious deliberate thing, or something they're even necessarily aware of. Kids who wear thongs and tight jeans are imitating older people (as kids like to do) and desiring attention (which it certainly gets them). Neither of which are inherently bad things. But the context makes a lot of adults uncomfortable because they cannnot separate these things from what they mean when worn by adults.

That was a bit rambling, sorry.