.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Some Parents Still Letting Their Kids
Dress Up As Sluts For Halloween

I find the current trend of dressing up pre-teen, tween and teen girls as sluts for Halloween just disgusting. It doesn't stop with Halloween, though. We all know someone who has a tween daughter in dance class or other similar type of extra-curricular activity, and the costumes border on being little more than dental floss.

From The WaPo:

    Gabby Cirenza wanted to be a referee for Halloween. The outfit she liked had a micro-mini black skirt and a form-fitting black and white-striped spandex top held together with black laces running up the flesh-exposing sides. She looked admiringly at the thigh-high black go-go boots that could be bought as an accessory. And she thought the little bunny on the chest was cute.

    "Absolutely not," said her mother, Cheryl. "That is so not happening."

    Gabby is 11.

    And the Playboy Racy Referee costume was only the latest that her mother had vetoed one pre-Halloween-crazed afternoon at Party City in Baileys Crossroads as too skimpy, too revealing, too suggestive .

    Bawdy Halloween costumes, however, have become the season's hottest sellers in recent years. Not just for women, but for girls, too. And parents such as Cirenza don't like it.

    [...]

    Cheryl Cirenza shook her head in exasperated disbelief. "This is all so inappropriate. It's really disturbing," she said, eyeing a wall of such girl and preteen costumes as Major Flirt in army green, the bellybutton-baring Devilicious and a sassy, miniskirted French Maid, pink feather duster included. She'd just turned down her 13-year-old daughter's request for a Sexy Cop outfit. "When I was their age, I was a bunch of grapes."

    But that was back in the days when Halloween was still a homemade kind of holiday, when an old sheet with eyeholes was a perfectly acceptable ghost and clumsily carved pumpkins on the front porch were about as elaborate as the decorations got. Now, Halloween is big business. Americans are expected to spend upwards of $5 billion this year on candy, ghoulish decorations and costumes. And the hottest trend in costumes, retailers say, is sexy. And young.

    Fishnet tights, once associated with smoky cabarets or strip joints, now come in girls' sizes and cost $3.99.

    [...]

    Even little girl costumes show more leg and tummy than they used to. "They're just good sellers," [said
    Joe Thaler, head of TransWorld Exhibits Inc., runs the annual Halloween Expo for big-box retailers.]

    [...]

    The Halloween costume trend is not only leading to tense mother-daughter standoffs, but it is also part of a far larger worry that young girls are becoming sexualized. Task forces of psychologists study the trend. Books and academic articles are being produced with such titles as the upcoming "So Sexy So Soon" and "From Barbie to Britney: The Sexualization of Childhood." And yet the costumes sell.

    "Youth isn't being lived through anymore. It's being rushed through," Stephanie Terrazas, 20, said as she watched her 11-year-old sister pick out a "deluxe" sequined Dorothy dress that, unlike the chaste, high-necked one in the little girl size, was lower cut and had two strategically placed poofs of fabric.

    Megan Smith, 16, perused the costumes at Party City with her father, Dan. She first tried on the Prisoner, a slinky spandex number with a little button at the throat and open chest like a '70s disco halter dress.

    [...]

    On another aisle, a frazzled Kathy Rafferty was doing her best to fend off her 6-year-old daughter Grace's choices. Grace liked the Mega Star costume, with a tiny bandeau top, bare midriff and low-slung sparkle pants. And she thought the Runway Diva in leopard skin, big sunglasses and knee-high boots was cool.

    "Some of these are just incredibly sleazy. Nothing in here except Tinkerbell is innocent," Rafferty said. "Last year, Grace was a snow princess. Now, this is what she likes. I don't know what's happened."

    [...]

    Meanwhile, Shawn Bailey was trying not to lose it as her 11-year-old daughter Da'Nesha Holmes picked out a costume. Her son had found his Darth Vader costume, and her baby had her Baby Bratz pink kitty outfit. But Da'Nesha was too tall for most of the girl costumes, and her mother was having none of the rest. Bar Wench. Cocktail Hunny. The half-angel, half-devil Naughty Nice..

    Da'Nesha pointed to Costume 529, Hot Flash, a nurse with thigh-high garters.

    "No. You need something for you," Bailey said, sighing. "You're a little girl."

Well - some parents still have their sanity and their sense, I applaud them for not giving in to their children who want to select the slut outfits.

The rest of you, you parents who let your little girls dress up as Bar Wench, Cocktail Hunny or "Sally Slut" - just WTF are you thinking? Can't you let your kids be kids? Why the rush to push them into the Jon Benet routine? Are you afraid your child will "not like you" for letting them dress up like a slut? Well - you're the parent, you're supposed to be THE BOSS. So your kid is angry with you for making them dress up as a bunch of grapes instead of Dancing 'Ho - they'll get over it.


If you really want to achieve maximum shock-value, dress your kid up as a Cigarette! Oh, the nasty looks and comments you will get!

©2007

Comments:
Hey David...

This isn't really a comment for this post, so you may not want to publish it.

I am considering creating a site (I already have an address) where I can list links to blogs that are from different ideas (not just coservative).

Because you have been doing this for a while, I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the success of such a site... or in other words... do you think bloggers would want to be listed there knowing that there are both conservative and liberal blogs to choose from.

My thought was that I know I personally have a hard time locating blogs without taking tons of time doing it. In this way... they would be located on one site (or at least many would). There would be no fee for this... but eventually I may add advertising to help pay for it.

Just looking for thoughts. If you like, you may email me at jillstar@gmail.com. Have a great day!
 
Yeah, I don't see why that wouldn't be a good site. It's all up to you. I suppose some on both sides will have their little fits that "their political outlook" is listed along side those "on the opposite side", but so what?

Go for it! (If you list me, list me as David Drake - thanks!)

Love the newest photos of Ellie. What a darling!
 
Thanks David. I wonder if I need to advertise in some way because I'm guessing people would want to give permission to be listed rather than just suddenly being there.
 
sure Bug. I usually - not all the time - but usually get an "okay" from a blogger before I add them to my blogroll, but not all the time. Sometimes I'll add a comment to a post on their blog and say something like, "I like your blog and added you to my blogroll" and figure if they don't want me doing that they will let me know.

I think you are fine adding whomever and whatever links you want. This is not to be considered legal advice, or any other sort of advice. I will opt - for one of the few times in my life for the Liberal mantra of - "I am not responsible." heh! Good luck! Lemme know when its up and running.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

eXTReMe Tracker



Web Site Traffic Counters
Alabama Internet

Listed on BlogShares

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

This site uses photographs and material from other sources in strict
accordance and compliance with Fair Use Section 107 U.S. Copyright Code.
All other images and content © 2005-2009 David Drake.
Not responsible for content contained at linked sites.

Policy on commenting:
- Anonymous comments have little chance of being published.
- Comments made on posts 60 days old or older have little chance of being published.
- Published comments do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog author.
- Discretion of publishing or rejecting submitted comments rests solely with the owner and creator of this blog.
- Comments that egregiously "plug" (i.e. advertise or promote) another site or blog will be rejected. This doesn't mean you cannot include a link to your story, blog or to another site, but don't go overboard.
- Profanity is not a disqualifying factor, but profane rants solely for purposes of profanity are unlikely to be published.
- The owner and creator of this blog is not liable or responsible for the opinions of those who comment.