While it’s become almost normal to occasionally mistake a 13 year old girl for an 18 year old, the sexing up of tweens continues to spiral even younger as kids discover sex appeal earlier – and marketers capitalize on it. It’s become so common to see stripper-esque tweens it’s likely, in a few years, we’ll soon see a babies pop out wearing thongs.
In a CBC News interview, Wendy Mesley asks media expert and author, Shari Graydon, “Why are [retailers] selling bras for little girls?” Graydon, not so subtly lays partial blame on marketers answering, “Well, I suspect that the advertisers would tell you ‘we’re doing this because theres a demand for it.’ And they sort of escape –or avoid– acknowledging that they have created the demand.”
From Bratz Dolls to padded bras to Ashlee Simpson to sex bracelets, tween girls are being taught, at a very early age, that sex appeal is very powerful. Explaining the reason she buys sexy clothes, twelve year old Amanda says, like it’s a good thing, “You get more attention. And strange guys come up to you and try and get you to go to nightclubs.”
Amanda’s friend, Natasha adds, “A lot of guys stare.” That stare, perhaps, comes from rectifying the sensations that occur when seeing a sexy “woman” with the stunning realization the girl is just twelve.
It’s creepy.
In today’s culture, your daughter isn’t your mother’s daughter anymore.
She’s more like a Maxim model without knowing what that imagery connotes.
