Wendy Shalit has written another book encouraging girls (and parents) to buck the trend of sexualizing virtually everything to do with girls of almost any age. Here is an excerpt of Mona Charen's review:
Her skepticism about the bacchanal we call modern sex is undiminished. The book opens with a discussion of Bratz dolls (sold by MGA Entertainment), apparently aimed at ages "four-plus." "Bratz Babyz makes a 'Babyz Nite Out' doll garbed in fishnet stockings, a hot-pink micromini, and a black leather belt . . . . the baby also sports a tummy-flaunting black tank paired with a hot-pink cap. 'These Babyz demand to be lookin' good on the street, at the beach, or chillin' in the crib.'" Another of the dolls wears heavy red lipstick and bright toenail polish to match red panties. One is almost reduced to sputtering.
For the slightly older set, the "tweens" (girls between 9 and 12), Target markets thong underwear. Apparently you can find "Care Bear" thongs at some retailers and "push-up" bras at Kohl's for the first-time bra purchaser.
American popular culture seems determined to obliterate innocence — even in the crib! But Shalit's critique is not so much prudish as pitying. Her deepest insights concern the new repression that has been imposed on young women. Repression? In this "liberated" age? Read on.
Click on the title to read more....
I read parts of Wendy's previous book and I am glad to see a young woman writing to encourage other young women to bypass the hookup scene and to be comfortable about not wearing the fashionable styles that put everything on display (I am *so* glad that shirt styles are getting longer...). I really don't understand why parents are in such a hurry for their girls to have boyfriends and why they accept what the culture tells them is appropriate for their children. This book sounds like a good read - I'll have to add it to my list.
---Katie
1 comment:
Katie:
I have a daughter. She is the love of my life, right after her mother.
I and other dads here are terrified at what the culture is doing to innocence. So much so that we have a plan for when boys decide to date our daughters (at age 35 we hope)
Two of the dads are hunters. We will invite the boys into a fairly large room where they we see two deer heads mounted on the wall with a very large space between them.
The dads will be cleaning their guns while visiting with the boys. My job is to play "good cop." I will take the boys to myself and "reason" with them. My line is as follows: "You see that space between them two deer heads. Those old boys want to mount something there. DON'T LET IT BE YOU!"
We need some fathers to be fathers and put an end to some of this cultural nonsense.
Peace in the Lord!
Rob Buechler
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