Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - Would you buy these clothes for your kids?

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Would you buy these clothes for your kids?

I read this, yesterday and it completely makes me want to puke. I wouldn't even dress my child like this for HALLOWEEN much less as an "everyday" thing

(article can be found here..due to the restrictions here I am not posting the pictures in the post, but you can see them in the news article) Daily Mail

Quote:

So this is the end product - little girls dressed as sex bait. This is what the manufacturer of one of the most successful children's toys ever is really turning out.
It's an intelligent parent's nightmare - and a pervert's dream.

Bratz are childlike dolls - all big eyes and big heads - packaged as hookers. They have pouting lips, bare midriffs, plunging tops, tiny skirts and skimpy lingerie in black and pink.

The dolls look like tarts and you can buy the clothes to make your little girl look just the same at any number of High Street stores.

Who would want to do that? Well, apparently lots of people would: H&M, Bhs, Monsoon, Marks & Spencer and Peacocks aren't known for stocking stuff that no one will want to buy.

And our pictures show just how easy it is to find sexualised children's fashion in their stores.

What are they thinking of, these mothers who turn their little girls into sex kittens?

They're certainly not thinking of them as children. And they're not thinking of the danger - emotional and physical - to which they are exposing their daughters.

As for who would buy the dolls, well, Bratz outsells Barbie by two to one and has about 40 per cent of the £100 million-a-year UK doll market.

When my daughters (now 14 and 11) were at the doll stage, I loathed Barbie. She was vain and empty-headed - everything I didn't want my girls to be. Any Barbie that crossed our threshold came to an accidental but murderous end.

I didn't rage, because that would have made her more appealing, but I conspired with my daughters to mock her until the day she met her unlamented end - by chance melted on the Aga, thrown out with the rubbish, or abandoned somewhere.

I never realised what mild stuff she was until I came across the trash marketed by UK Bratz distributor Vivid Imagination. Frankly, Bratz dolls make Barbie look like a Brownie.

MGA Entertainment, the family-owned California firm that launched Bratz in June 2001, earns around £1.6 billion a year from the slapper dolls and their accessories.

And where one manufacturer fishes successfully, others will follow, no matter how dirty the water.

In 2005, Asda was condemned by child welfare groups for marketing black lacy underwear to nine-yearold girls. In 2003, Bhs was forced to withdraw its Little Miss Naughty range - which included thongs and padded bras and was aimed at under-tens - after campaigners called for a boycott of the store.

It beggars belief that such stuff - push-up bras and high heels - ever made the shelves. Who were these designers and marketeers who sat around the table cold-bloodedly sexualising little girls for profit?

Yet it is still happening, as our pictures show. All of the items of clothing these professional child models are wearing could be bought on the High Street in the past week.

The message sent out by Bratz and all the other porny paraphernalia is that little girls must look like this or be worthless.

The message it sends out to adolescent boys and perverted men is that these aren't children but knowing child-women, somehow up for it and dressed for it.

We live in an age that likes to appear cynical. It now seems naive to point out that the only thing that big business cares about is big bucks.

And if you object that certain products demean girls and women, well, you are considered a prude.

But it needs to be said, because simply saying 'So what?' is costing the childhood of a generation.

There's a five-year-old I see in the school playground at going-home time, clutching her book and her rabbit pencil case. Bugs Bunny or Peter Rabbit? No, Playboy.

Every day, this child carries her crayons and her felt tips in a case with the symbol of a pornography empire that has now become so entrenched in our society that you can buy it on the children's shelves at WH Smith.

Her big sister, who is just old enough to tell the time, has a Playboy watch.

So what? An unhappy childhood, that's what. These children can never be good enough because there's always another image to live up to - just as there's always another slut-doll to buy.

On any High Street on a Saturday, you can see children wearing make-up, children who have obviously spent ages straightening their hair, children wearing T-shirts with provocative slogans. Hardly signs of self-esteem and happiness.

Last week, the American Psychological Association issued a warning about Bratz dolls.

"It is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for four to eight-yearolds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality," said the APA.

The week before last, a Unicef study concluded that British children were the unhappiest and unhealthiest of their age group in the developed world.

Only this week, the charity Child-Line reported that one in six of some 6,000 calls from youngsters to the helpline about mental health problems came from girls who talked about suicide. Some of them were only five years old.

It's ironic that our children, on whom we spend more than ever, should be feeling so sad. Children spend much more time alone - often isolated in their bedrooms - than they used to.

The space that parents once occupied in their lives is now filled with products and, of course, with those screens that link them to advertisers and other predators.

We need to get back into our children's lives and elbow the creeps out. All the cards are in our parental hands, just as the money is in our wallets. Parent power is bigger than pester power.

We can see Bratz off, just as we can see off all the sexy stuff that is appearing on hangers in the children's departments. All we have to do is not buy it.

"They represent all that little girls want to be," say the makers of the Bratz dolls.

No, they don't. It's up to us to tell our little girls that they can be much, much more than that.

We can do that by companionship and conversation, by having family meals and family outings that don't involve the shopping mall.

Happy children don't look like plastic slappers. Do your daughter a favour: bin her Bratz today.

Good going parents, like child molesters don't have enough temptation with a normal looking kid, tarting (I love that word) them up to draw attention to them is SUCH a good idea

They should change the name of Bratz too Skankz...then maybe parents wouldn't be so quick to buy them for their little girls....:lol:

the first two outfits weren't too bad, the second two were pretty skanky. the bare midriff on all of them is a bit much as are the high heels.

Super babe, tiny tops, and heels at 8? My mom would have had a heart attack if I'd asked to wear clothes like that.

Charlatan's right...some of the clothes wouldn't be too bad if the shirts fit properly and the girls were wearing different shoes. The sad thing is, even if girls don't wear these clothes, they are still exposed to it by classmates that wear it. It also can give young boys the idea that it's ok for young girls to dress like this.

My kid dresses like a respectable human being. No sleazy clothes, no goth crap, no shirts with sexual messages or swearing written on them, none of it. If he wants to dress like that, he can move out when he's 18. Once he's responsible for himself he can do whatever he wants, but as long as I'm supporting him, he dresses the way I consider appropriate.

Didn't Abercrombie & Fitch get into hotwater a little while ago for marketing a line of thongs for children? I seem to remember something in the campaign saying that "children as young as 9 (!!) care about visible panty lines."

It is true Lucifer, however almost all clothing stores carry thongs for that age range now. As long as parents allow their kids to buy it, the market will follow, and supply it. It is up to the PARENTS to take control of what their children wear. There was no liability against the clothing stores, because the courts saw no justification to hold them liable, stating that it was up to the parents to decide what they will buy their children, not the stores. Again, I hold the parents responsible for making the right decision, not the stores or manufacturers. If there was no demand for it, the suppliers would stop making it.

This is a big pet peeve of mine. It has been getting progressively worse ever since my oldest daughters (who are now grown) were little. Luckily, I haven't seen many girls around wearing clothes that quite that provocative. I wouldn't be surprised if most parents feel the same way about these kinds of clothes.

But what I do see a lot of is girls in tops that have sayings on them that make light of what shallow, superficial values they have. Might as well say, "Hi, I'm a selfish, obnoxious bitch in the making." lol

My daughter loved Bratz dolls and has several stored away(I don't throw out dolls). When I asked her about them yesterday, she said 'Yea, they're hooker dolls, but by the time I found out what a hooker was, I didn't care about the dolls any more'. I doubt that was the idea behind them, just someone's idea of what a brat would be.
There is NO freakin way I would have allowed her to dress like them; thankfully, she never gave that a thought. In fact, she wrote a pretty damn good essay in 8th grade about how girls immitate the looks of things like Bratz dolls, music video babes, etc. and how those girls were seen by others.
I allow Catherine to make her own choices regarding her appearance; generally, she dresses in black, likes skulls and macabre things on her shirts and straightens her currently-dyed-black hair Morticia Adams style. Thank the gods she's emo!!!!

That's pretty terrible. It's amazing that some people are embracing this bullshit.

Side-note: That's some really hideous writing in that article.

Wow that column doesn't even attempt to have objectivity. It's clear in the first paragraph that the author has a strong agenda, and doesn't even hint at the opposing opinions.

The sign of a solid opinion is the ability to denote, acknowledge, and even partially agree with a dissenting opinion.

I also don't believe, as the author notes, that the dolls are the source of this problem. Barbie has dressed like that for as long as I can remember. It's changing societal expectations and parenting that allow their children to wear clothes like their dolls.

Twenty years ago, I didn't hear an outcry that barbie dolls were influencing bad clothing choices because their children were dressing up like Malibu Barbie. Instead, parents let the dolls wear the doll clothes and made their children wear clothes suitable for a child.

I just went back and read that over....a Playboy symbol is going to result in an unhappy childhood???:eek: I can see taking issue with some dolls dressed slutty, but come on.....
One of my daughter's t-shirts is called 'til death do us part' and shows a bloodied bride and groom....guess she's gonna be a 'black widow', killing off spouses.:rolleyes:

Cold day in christian hell that I would allow any child of mine to wear any of it!

Oh, god, I hated those Bratz dolls the moment they came out. I have an almost-8 year old cousin who is obsessed with them- and her mom sees them as harmless. I make sure to give her gifts that promote good qualities in a person, not dolls that promote being a hooker.

Then again, Barbie dolls are almost as bad, but most parents wouldn't think twice about buying one for their daughter.

the little hooker line? jesus this is getting out of control, why cant we worship fat, lazy smart people.

Yes, worship me! :D

I saw the new Barbie line recently and my friends 4 yearold daughter wants her belly button pierced so she can look like her Barbie. :(

Are parents actually buying this crap? There is no way, no way in hell my kids would be allowed to dress like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by analog

Side-note: That's some really hideous writing in that article.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JinnKai

It's from the Daily Mail - the tabloid that likes to pretend it's a grown-up's paper.

Okay, I have a 10 year old. No I wouldn't want her to dress like that (and she's waaaaaay to modest to anyway), but.... I don't think any of those outfits were too bad. I'm going to take some heat for this I'm sure, but having been around girls in gym leotards, and short shorts at the gym/dance center, I don't find these too bad. But on the side that says, these would be for play only, not going out in public, period. Too many pedophiles would love to see girls in these little outfits.

It's the Daily Mail.

ust so you are aware, the Daily Mail sees itself as a campaigning paper. They campaign against everything.

According to their orthodoxy, children were happiest in the 1950s, the country is run best when the Conservative party is in power, the Americans will soon realise that their experiment with demcracy was mistaken and beg the English (not British) throne to take them back, the country (the UK) is being over-run by illegal imigrants, anyone who loks at a child in the stret is a pervert who will kidnap tem, have sex with them (photographing and videoing it for the pedopile internet sex gang), and then kill them (in a snuff movie).

The paper uses a horrifically one-sided exagerated level f hyperbole that is astonishing.

It is worth noting that the Mail flies in the face of avaialble evidence - most imigrants to this country contribute more in tax than they take in benefit, sex crime (including that against children) is at it's lowest recorded level EVER and so on.

Looking at the pictures, it is clear that in at least to of the cases they have pulled the shirts up to the armpits of the models to make out that they are crop tops. They really aren't.

If anyone is sexuallising children it's the journalist that chose these pictures.

I regularly shop in several of the chains mentioned with our daughter (7) and have not seen any clothes presented in those stores in the manner that they are written about in this article.

Consider this: most shops sell kids knickers. they sell rain hats. They sell scarves and handbags.

That does not mean that they are encouraging me to send my daughter to school in only knickers a rain hat and a scarf, clutching a handbag.

Whether a shirt is pulled up or not...no child of mine that young is going to wear a shirt that says "super babe"

OK - I agree with that; although in it's defence (if that is possible) it does say "super CUTE babe"; for me the use of the word cute wouldn't tend to make me assume sexuality, more soem kind of innocence.

The point I was really trying to make was that this paper has a history of iresponsible sensation making; I think that they have chosen to write this story in a way that magnifies the worst points of it.

There is some clothing in stores that is not perfectly age appropriate. There are also some girls who want sexy clothes in tiny sizes because they are sixteen (the age od sexual consent in this country) but small.

I have the oposite issue, as our daughter is seven years old, but wearing clothes from the "age 12-14" aisle. This means that some of the smaller sizes in adult style clothing might fit her, but is certainly not going to be bought for her by me.

As ever, parents have a responsibility to look out for their kids.

I've seen worse. Much worse.

I've seen the question raised;"Are parents actually buying this crap?". Short answer...yes, they obviously are. If there weren't parents out there that are buying it, stores wouldn't sell it. Seems simple enough, on the surface.

I'm 44 years old. Somewhat older than the majority of the TFP base. So, maybe it comes as no surprise that I find some pre teen "fashion" to be over the top. I am, after all, the old fuddy duddy here, so I should be expected to complain about "these kids today"...right? But, why, I ask, should I be made to feel...perverted, because my eyes were drawn to the behind of a 14 year old girl, because she has "Angel", or "Hot Stuff" on the butt of her pink sport pants?

I also feel, at least on a base level, that parents that dress thier kids up as little tartlets, lose the right to be aghast that a registered sex offender is living within 6 blocks of said tartlets Junior High School. It seems a bit incongruous, to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill O'Rights

I also feel, at least on a base level, that parents that dress thier kids up as little tartlets, lose the right to be aghast that a registered sex offender is living within 6 blocks of said tartlets Junior High School. It seems a bit incongruous, to me.

Frankly I think the parents that are dressing their kids this way should be looked at rather suspiciously- I mean, who would think its cute or pretty to dress their children like hookers?

There was a guy I dated in high school whose mom bought his 8 year old daughter a bikini so she would "Be motivated to do crunches". When she told him I was a keeper, the fact that "She's got a great body" was one of the reasons behind it. Some parents just... don't see what most of us do.

I had tons of Barbies as a kid. You know what they wore? Evening gowns, ballerina costumes, pedal pushers and tank tops... I didn't have the Barbie clothes that were super revealing- they were available, Mom didn't buy them.

No, no way in HELL would my child leave the house looking like a little hooker. No, my eight or ten year old will not be wearing thongs and/or high heels (unless the high heels are for some kind of performance-dance or something).

Am I going to freak like my parents did if a little bit of midriff shows? Also, no. I will also not "disallow" my kid from wearing something that expresses his/her personality, so long as the foul language, violence, whatever is not involved. Wear black, I don't care. I had goth friends in high school-coolest people I've met, and some of the best friends I had. No, I wasn't wearing the same clothes as them. I figure as long as it fits within the school's dress code, it's fair game (mostly).

Oh, hell no. No daughter of mine would be leaving the house dressed like that, especially not at that age.

Heck, I on occasion vetoed my sister's outfits when I thought her shirt was too short or low cut, or her skirt was too short to be appropriate for school or a situation.

These girls seem to be dressed less revealing than the recording artists they see on TV and probably admire. I wonder what music they listen to nowadays and who their role models are?

I went to gradeschool when girls skirts had to be 2 inches below the knees and boys hair had to be above the collar and I am completely out of step with the newest trends.

I recently listened to most of the top songs from 2006/2007 in order to see what music the kids like today and am amazed at some of the X-rated lyrics and themes.

Personally, I don't support Bratz, and I do it the best way I know how by not buying their stuff for my daughter. There are plenty of people who do though, and that's their choice, fine by me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Sage

I saw the new Barbie line recently and my friends 4 yearold daughter wants her belly button pierced so she can look like her Barbie. :(

My daughter does too, she also wants tatoos to go with it, but in her case its because mommy has them. I told her the only reasonable thing I could, 'When you're old enough we'll see.'

I have two daughters and ,apart from maybe the jeans, I wouldn't let them wear those clothes.

the sad thing is I will probably see my neice in them pretty soon.