Rosa Brooks: No Escaping Sexualization of Young Girls

[carincross]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks25aug25,0,5718118.column?coll=la-opinion-center

In a culture in which the sexualization of childhood is big business — mainstream mega-corporations such as Disney earn billions by marketing sexy products to children too young to understand their significance — is it any wonder that pedophiles feel emboldened to claim that they shouldn't be ostracized for wanting sex with children? On an Internet bulletin board, one self-avowed "girl lover" offered a critique of this week's New York Times series on pedophilia: "They fail, of course, to mention the hypocrisy of Hollywood selling little girls to millions of people in a highly sexualized way." I hate to say it, but the pedophiles have a point here.

There are plenty of good reasons to worry about children and sex. But if we want to get to the heart of the problem, we should obsess a little less about whether the neighbor down the block is a dangerous pedophile — and we should worry a whole lot more about good old-fashioned American capitalism, which is busy serving our children up to pedophiles on a corporate platter.

(The article contains numerous examples of how our children, especially young girls, are being "sexualized" by the products that are being targeted for them by corporations and media.)

[radwriter0555]

1. YES, I DO blame the men who cannot control their compulsions.

This sounds as though it's blaming the victims for the men being unable to control themselves, oh horrors, due to the little girls being sexualized and therefore suitable targets for the affections of a grown man?

Go ahead and blame anyone you want, corporations, the media, the pageant culture, but in the end, the victims are not to blame for being raped and sodomized by grown men who, as grown men, DEFINITELY KNOW BETTER.

[emanymton]

2. Mixing Two Issues. Issue Of Capitalism Selling Sex And Girls ...

is not the same as the affects it has on those who see it.

Loss of self control should never be excused. I agree with your point "... the victims are not to blame for being raped and sodomized ..."

[NYC]

3. I read Nabokov's book,

Lolita. The pedophile was attracted by children, not by "sexualized" older looking girls. It was the childishness, the childlike qualities which attracted him.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Bingo! The author has it wrong...

Sexualizing little girls and pedophilia are two different issues and are not related at all.

Pedophiles have always been around, and probably aways will be no matter what the kids look like, and have to be dealt with as a problem in itself.

Tarting up little girls and young teenagers doesn't affect pedophilia at all, but just might attract normal men who like good-looking women and go after a 14-year-old because she looks 19. We could be creating a new class of "pseudo-pedophiles."

(Were the studs in porn flicks pedophiles because they did Traci Lords when she was underage?)

[Kickoutthejams23]

7. I agree wholeheartly....

And 14 year-olds dressing like they were in there twenties is hardly anew phenomenon. The two issues are unrelated.

[GeorgeGist]

6. And Lolita of course...

is the definitive work on pedophilia.

[NYC]

25. I'm not saying it is.

I am saying that what it is reported to be is quite different from what the book portrays.

[acmavm]

5. Of course the victims SHOULD NEVER be blamed. But what

interests me is the lack (so far) of agreement that the adults who are doing this to these children are doing it for one of the basest reasons there is, which of course is money.

Dressing 10 year olds up like 20 year olds is so uncalled for.

People on this board scream about events, occurrences, and people who 'rob kids of their childhood' and then have no problems with packaging these kids like full grown adults.

[Warpy]

8. The Brtney Spears ho look is everywhere

The clothing I bought before Stupid stole his way into office is turning to rags and the thrift shop has not been forthcoming. I've actually gone to a mall to see if I could pick up a few classic pieces, preferably on sale, to get me through the next dismal 3 years.

Well, there is nothing but the ho look, stuff encrusted with lace, glitter, ruffles; sleazy material that is see through and will last only a couple of washings before it decomposes, stretch material that clings to one's sweating form. It's that or jeans and t shirts, which one can still find.

I then went to the fabric store, checked out patterns, had already gotten some material online and had a stash from years gone by, ready to sew. The same thing is true in patterns, the same ho style with low jeans, bare midriffs, raggedy looking hemlines meant to look like draped scarves instead of clothing.

It's not just the little girls being sexualized by the Britney/Ho look. That trash has gone all through the clothing stores, no variation from store to store, just racks and racks of slut wear. There is no alternative out there, not really.

[azygous]

9. There is an alternative

Look at an LL Bean catalogue. All their women's clothing would pass muster at a Southern Baptist Sunday church service. Really conservative stuff. While I don't worry about presenting an overly sexual image, I like the LL Bean understated look, myself. Reasonable prices too.

[Warpy]

11. I'm not the church lady, either

I was just hoping to find some classic trousers, blazers and shirts.

Oh well. It's jeans and t shirts.

Thank goodness I live in the wild west where I can get away with it.

[Solo_in_MD]

15. +1 for LL Bean and Lands End as well

Quality, holds up to washing, looks good. Not just for women, their mens clothes, (esp dress shirts for me) are also much higher quality.

[Stuckinthebush]

10. I have three girls

9, 7 and 5....

I took them out to get clothes the other day, and I'll be damned if everything in department stores wasn't trashy crap! My 9 year old, bless her, kept saying, "I won't wear THAT!"

We did find some classic button up shirts and t-shirts at Old Navy...right next to the shorts that had "Cutie Pie" emblazoned on the bottom. Hello!!!!

Thank god my daughters look at that crap and walk away....for now.

I'll tell you what, this dad will be shopping with his girls for a LONG time!

[IrateCitizen]

17. As a friend of mine wrote recently on his blog concerning teen fashion...

"Everything out there seems to scream FUCK ME! FUCK ME! FUCK ME! at maximum volume."

But hey, this is what happens when you live in a culture where everything is commoditized. It's unavoidable.

[JoDog]

12. It's even worse

For plus-sized women. Rumors that a new supervisor is looking to update the office dress code recently sent me shopping. It was difficult to find anything that 1. Fit me (a size 16/18) and 2. Didn't make me look like the fattest ho in all of Vegas or resemble someone vainly hanging on to some scrap of a flirty adolescence.

I ended up at Lane Bryant, and even some of that stuff was a little questionable. Their more "classically styled" catalog imprint (lanebryantcatalog.com) was a goddess send. It has businesslike clothes in sizes I can wear for a great price. Same with LL Bean and the Just My Size catalog.

On a deeper path, I wonder if this need by clothing makers to encourage all women dress like trash is some kind of subconscious backlash to feminism. "Women may not have to be the accessories of men, but they should still a least dress like it", that sort of thing.

Although I am not a parent, I am disturbed by the trend of children's clothing being made to look like adult clothing. From about the 17th cen. on, the clothing of children and adults often differed (girls wore short dresses with their hair down, boys wore short pants), sometimes for practical reasons, other times for asthetics. Getting to wear "adult" clothing was a big thing. Like the other privileges of being an adult, it was something that had to be earned. A girl "putting her skirt low and her hair up" was a sign that she had crossed from being a child to being a woman, and was ready to accept suitors, go to school (in more progressive families) or run a household. Before the 17th cen., the clothing of children and adults often were similar, but bear in mind that in those times, the concept of "childhood" did not exsist as it does now. It was not seen as a separate, distinct phase of life...children were often expected to work as hard as their parents.

I guess I just think that children should dress like children. Maybe that makes me old-fashioned, but so be it.

[Briar]

13. Yes, maybe, but it isn't just the clothing makers

there are plenty of women who claim that pimping themselves is liberating and the trendiest kind of feminism!

[Syncronaut Seven]

14. Um... I'm a pretty hard core feminist

I'm not aware of any serious feminists promoting this view. Do you have a reference I could quote?

I think any thinking person could see what a load of crap that is. Of course, there is a segment of our population that will buy anything, sadly.

[Solo_in_MD]

16. There are "new school feminists" who claim if the woman/girl is choosing

to play the ho, do porn, etc that it is fine since it is her free choice to express themselves and their sexuality that way. Same argument is being made for the well education women staying home to be soccer moms.

[Syncronaut Seven]

18. I've seen that, Perhaps I mis-interpreted

As faux culture thrust upon us by greedy capitalists. I wasn't aware the phenomenon had feminist underpinnings.

I am interested in any SERIOUS dialog occurring in the feminist community regarding this topic.

I'm a hybrid of second wave and third wave feminist. Third wave, sometimes called Anarcho-feminism, a label I can largely identify with.

I do think that third wavers tend to be less grounded in history, however, most AF's I've met are less than half my age so it could be simple life experience. Sadly, I think third wavers have allowed themselves to be dominated by a relentless media and consumer culture.

My god, I just realized how old I am. I think I'm going back to bed.

[Briar]

20. Have you read

Ariel Levy about Raunch Culture? It's attracted a lot of criticism, from feminists amongst others.

[Syncronaut Seven]

21. Goody! I hope my library has it!

Looks like a good read!

A quote from the first reviewer:

In so doing, Levy makes some depressing discoveries about what the ideal of the "empowered" woman has been reduced to, and why strippers and "adult actresses" -- porn stars -- have been adopted as role models. The key conclusion is that it doesn't really have anything to do with sex, per se. Levy quotes Paris Hilton's remark, "my boyfriends say I'm sexy but not sexual." In other words, "being hot" is a pose, an act, a tool, and entirely divorced from either physical pleasure or romantic love. Levy quotes one adult woman who cannot understand why she cannot bring herself to have sex with a man to whom she's not attracted, and a teenaged girl who can't grasp how a woman can "get the guy" without dressing (and acting) like a "ho."

<Snip>

I've seen the phenomenon. I have an 11 year old daughter. We discuss it.
I never tied it to feminism, I can't imagine. It seems more like raw exploitation to me.

I'm also a semanticist, I fear the term "feminism" is being redefined by its most violent foes.

PS: If you can keep your kids away from TV until they posses the skills for critical thought and reasoning, you've won half the battle. We've been cable free for more than 20 years. When we do watch these days, my daughter and I dissect both programs and advertising. She's pretty savvy, She will do well.

Edit: Link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743249895/sr=8-1/qid=1156523127/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9838314-3583225?ie=UTF8

[Briar]

22. I think you are right

feminism is being redefined by its most violent foes. I'm afraid it is working, too.

[ismnotwasm]

27. "Sex positive" feminism

Which by the very title reinforces that old idea that feminist don't have, or enjoy sex. (The hairy, no-bra wearing, "ugly" feminist) The sex worker industry does a lot to promote the idea that women empower themselves through sexuality, as do certain libertarian feminists.

I was talking to a young heroin addict the other day. She says she getting out of the sex worker industry to stay away from drugs. She misses the money, the perceived power. As I was talking to her, I noticed that her body gently swayed, her movements always sensual. I thought, "Oh oh" She was on stage and didn't realize it had become very much a part of her.

She told me her litany of woes very common to sex workers, raped, ripped off, abused and in her case addiction. Interestingly, when I brought up feminism via the documentary on unionizing exotic dancers, she was very aware of it, and said she was involved in trying to get the local "4 foot" rule abolished. (No lap dances) She had well thought out reasoning. In her view, some of the dancers HAD no other way to make money, no other resources, no community or family support, no way "to go to school or make a living any other way" Lap dances brought in revenue these particular women needed in her view.

She was about 22, and very attractive, and evidently didn't consider herself in the class of dancer that "needed" lap dances to make money. Probably doesn't. But the future for most of these young women is not bright, and for every one that makes a living there must be at least 10 that fall by the wayside, beaten, drug addicted, murdered, diseased, lost, forgotten, defeated.

And it all comes down to providing continual sexual access to males, as it always has. I find nothing positive about it.

[Syncronaut Seven]

19. Try also, Plus size re-sale.

Portland Or, has several good stores where you can find well made, often designer cloths for cheap! I don't know about your neighborhood.

16/18 is plus size? Doesn't your boss pay you enough to eat? ;-)

Yes, there is a backlash. Nearly every popular movement for justice and equality suffers one. The backlash against feminism is profound and far reaching.

"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

Frederick Douglass, 1857

[JoDog]

23. Strangely, my local resale stores

have a shortage of larger sizes for women. It's not for lack of larger people, I'm sure.

Syncronaut, you're a dear! Yes, in most size scales 16/18 falls under "plus size". I'm actually the small one among the women in my extented family. My sister is a 26/28, and I think mom is a 22. The upside of that is that we will never ask our significant others that dreaded "does my butt look big" question. We long ago accepted that our butts look big in almost everything, and try to make that work for us. One can change many things in her life...diet, exercise...but she cannot change her DNA.

I'd also like to say something about the concept of "choice" that has been brought up in this thread. Yes, women can be empowered and choose provacative clothing as an expression of that (I've done that). But what about the young girls who don't totally understand what their clothing is expressing? And remember, we can only choose from the alternatives presented to us. If the only choices available in Target, Old Navy and the like are suggestive clothing, and the person or a parent has neither the time nor skill to sew (although someone pointed out upthread that even sewing patterns are getting a bit questionable these days, an opinion I share), they are pretty much left to make due with what they can find.

Maybe it's time for a backlash against the backlash....

[Syncronaut Seven]

24. But what about?

"But what about the young girls who don't totally understand what their clothing is expressing?"

Have to share, Last month I had an interesting conversation with my wife and daughter about the appropriateness of my daughter wearing a studded dog collar.

A few minutes with my wife privately, researching submission/domination on the internet, changed her opinion quite quickly. Neither had any idea. Dad however, has been around.

:evilgrin:

[bemildred]

26. We are all encouraged to think of ourselves as economic products.

To be marketed for the highest price we can fetch.