It Really Irks Me....
Is it just me, or has the age when girls are "allowed" to wear suggestive and revealing clothing taken a dramatic nosedive?
I have two jobs -- for one, I work in retail, for the other, I teach Kindergarten to Grade 8 students. So, while these two jobs are at opposite ends of the city and I interact with young people who are situated in various income brackets, it never fails to shock me that so many of these young girls (of every age and financial situation) are being permitted (by their parents, their schools, themselves.... whoever) to wear sexually suggestive and revealing articles of clothing.
For example, I was walking through the mall, during my break, today, when I glanced to my left and saw a small herd of young girls (they may have been related) ranging in ages from about 5 years to approximately 10 or 11 years old. Upon looking at these girls for a moment, I noticed that a girl around the age of 9 was wearing an incredibly short dress -- so short, in fact, that any and every passerby could see her undergarments, even when she was standing perfectly upright. I find this absolutely appalling.
Yet, I refuse to believe that most little girls "sneak out" of the house like this, going unnoticed by their parents or guardians. I say this because, also today, a young girl (around 10 years old) entered my store with adults whom I presume were her mother and father. Very upright and proper looking parents. Yet, this young girl was clad in a short short skirt, and a skintight white tank top. Also very inappropriate. To drive my "most-parents-are-not-UNaware" point home, so many young students arrive at school in short skirts and halter tops, that I've lost track.... Many of these girls are dropped off at school by their parent(s) and surely, their parents also pay for most of these scant and suggestive articles of clothing..... What has happened to society's values and morals?.... I remember being sent home in junior high school to change my shirt because when I reached WAY WAY up in the air, a few centimetres of my midriff showed for but a moment....
Why are parents and schools permitting -- and even encouraging -- young girls to become sexualized so very early? Why do they abhor the thought of child exploitation, and yet permit young girls to dress in such a manner as to, invariably, attract attention from the (presumably older) opposite sex, by the manner in which they allow their young charges to be viewed in public?
Frustrates me to no end, I tell ya.
Sometimes gives me this sick, sad feeling in both my stomach and heart....
P.S. I actually think that "irk" is a ridiculously odd sounding word.... but it works, I suppose.
7 Comments:
Honestly...I think it's the parent's fault. Children have NO CLUE what people can do. This is FAR MORE PREVELENT in the U.S. Children have no fear and no sense of mortality. It is also a value system in North America, more specifically in the U.S.
Keep up the writing!
Canopener,
Hahah.... thanks for pointing out the absurdities in my writing! Let me rephrase that.... "I am a teacher of students from Kindergarten to Grade 8". :)
-Rachel-
P.S. Don't fret too much.... just raise her right and do all you can to instill in her proper morals and values.
i worked at guess for 5 years... i saw all the lil skanks with there skankier moms. it was appaling in the beginning. but then.. i dunno. i became desensitized to all the skin. the song on ur home page always scares me coz i dont expect the loud harmonica. even though i know its coming.
first off, thanks for your wonderful comments on my blog! sometimes, i have to agree with you and think that healing is a much simpler process than we humans sometimes make it out to be...
as to youngin's wearing suggestive clothing, i don't know WHY they do it. I used to be an assistant youth pastor at my old church and worked with the jr high kids. I sometimes could just NOT believe what some of the girls would wear and that their parents would let them wear it. Then again, these were the kids that had parents who were not really authoritative parents, much less involved in their children's lives.
I know that if it were my girl, I would not let her even own those kind of clothes. But, i wouldnt take such a dictator role in her life. I would take a more gentle and loving approach in that aspect of parenting. I believe this way kids grow up confident enough in themselves to know that they don't have to dress a certain way to impress others.
Its really all quite complicated and yet, very easy at the same time. Easy because I don't have kids yet, but complicated because I know when I do, I'll appreciate my mother a lot more for her patience with me.
I'm waiting for someone to develop a game show called "Hooker or Slut?" in which contestants watch women walking around and guess by how they're dressed whether they're a hooker or just a slut. You could also have a male version called "Frat Brother or Homosexual?"
*sniff* where'd ya go?
It is nice to hear from a teacher about the Student's dress. Why can't they have uniform in school. It levels everyone and concentrate on studies.
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