Are todays kids being forced into dressing sexy? Many agree that we have taken a major shift in what is appropriate versus, what is not appropriate. Barbie was introduced in the ’50s, and left many over time to complain that she gave girls an unrealistic image of body type. Barbie's with her obvious disproportionate curves and limbs, which in real life would have left Barbie to fall flat on her face. However is seems Barbie is tame in comparison to new toys such as Bratz dolls, who seem to have taken sexy dressing to a new level.
A friend of mine and I took her three kids to McDonald's for their monthly Happy Meal treat, and while she is never that fond of the little plastic toys, this time she wasn't worried about small parts getting into her youngest child's mouth, but the shear appropriateness of the toy given in the Happy Meal for her 3 year old daughter. The toy was a little Bratz doll, who was daunting a mini skirt to defy all mini skirts, paired with a top that was no more coving than a bra.
We quickly did diversion tactics to get the toy away, but the incident left my friend to question how we got to this point. She asked me, “Does the creation of such toy's cause more children to be objectified, and in anyway contribute to pedophilia and child trafficking?” The truth is unknown, but I venture to say it is not a positive step in the right direction, when we are desperately fighting to end the enslavement of millions of children caught in sex trafficking and pedophilia. The outfits surely cannot be helpful in curbing a pedophiles urges to sexualise children.
This brings me into Halloween costumes for children, which are not the innocent fun of the past, so many of them now are sex inspired…sexy is now the norm for our children. When you look at the costumes, I know that if I where to where them, it would be seen as sexy. Therefore if it is a sexy costume for a grown woman, then it would appear obvious that is too sexy for a child, and therefore highly inappropriate. However there appears to be a plethora of sexy styled children's Halloween costumes, including a line by Bratz.
Meredith O’Brien, who is the author of A Suburban Mom: Notes from the Asylum, ask the question, “When did little girls costumes, have to be sexy?” (Walking the Streets on All Hallow's Eve). Creativity seems to be replaced by skimpy, when it comes to costumes today. And many argue that these costumes only serve to objectify girls, and leave them more vulnerable to predictors.
At what point do we put our food down and just say, no, this is not appropriate for children? And who is to blame, the parents, entertainment industry, or toy manufactures? The blame is to be jointly shared, while the corporate and entertainment industry, do have to take responsibility, it is ultimately up to you the parents. The hard truth is if parents don't let their children watch shows, buy toys, etc. then there would be no real demand for production. But the reality is we are inundated such shows, idols and toys. However many parents allow their children to watch shows where the characters are dressed in a way they feel is inappropriate, or a show that is not age appropriate. The truth is I find the children watching the so-call teen or tween shows, are by far much younger. Children aged 5-9 are watching shows where the characters are 13-15, and of course they want to emulate them. Then there are the toys, which are far easier to regulate than TV, therefore just don't buy them. The sexualisation of children, has reached a point in which we must make a concerted effort as an international community to end, otherwise children will face a future in which there is a lot less childhood, and that is something we should all be worried about.
