Lolita's ClosetUnbearably trampy back-to-school clothes.

Remarks from the Fray:

I'm a 31 year-old woman, and I don't get what's so filthy about the Baby Phat shirt. I understand the repulsiveness of push-up bras and thongs and "juicy" on little girls' clothes. But that shirt has, what, a stylized cat? Is that cat too sexy? I must be out of touch.

--ThatWillBeAll

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Even if women's clothing is designed to be sexually suggestive, why shouldn't it be? What is so inherently wrong with sex? Puberty is hitting girls earlier - usually at this newly developed "tween" stage that we're all so busy lamenting. Has anyone stopped to consider the possibility that sexualized clothing for tweens is an expression of the fact that the tweens are hitting puberty and becoming sexual beings? We can't blame the clothes for what nature is doing. When a girl begins puberty, it is perfectly natural for her to begin to think of attracting a mate and to dress and act accordingly. If we don't like the age at which this is occurring, maybe we should be looking into the physiological causes for the new trend of early onset of puberty instead of railing against the fashion industry. The clothes don't cause girls to think of themselves as sexual beings; they merely reflect the fact that pubescent girls are, by their very nature, becoming sexual beings.

--Palabra

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The quandary we find ourselves in over disturbing fashion trends outlined in the article at least has the potential of inciting us to take another look at the very serious problem of pedophilia we have, as well as the question of how we deal with that problem as a society. It seems very likely that the extremely inappropriate direction fashion for young girls is headed in, on the one hand, and the unmentionable blight of pedophilia we have coupled with the extreme outrage we rightly feel over each instance, directed at each offender, on the other, is indicative of a deep neurotic split in our American psyches that demands to be addressed and requires healing if we are to progress as a culture.

--grantoe

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The only people who feel constricted are the ones who can't imagine shopping anywhere but brand name stores. Were I a boy that age, I'd prefer a girl wearing a Ramones t-shirt or something to either the 'princess' or the 'prude' look.

--achilleselbow

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Many years ago, I watched the then 5 year old daughter of friends playing Barbies with her father. What "Susie" played at was having Ken ask Barbie out on a date to a rock concert. That's when I realized what is probably obvious to more perceptive people, which is that boys and girls have different fantasies of adult power and control. Boys tend to play at violence and domination. Girls play at social relationships, in which the power comes from being attractive to boys while being envied by less attractive girls. Consummation has little or nothing to do with it; the longed for power and control come from being desired.

What defines tween girls is that they are pre-teen girls who are looking forward to being teenagers, and specifically to being socially active teenagers who have the power of sexual attraction. Bratz, High School Musical, the old Sweet Valley High series of paperback romances, and all the other fiction addressed to this audience is selling a more or less chaste version of this sexually based power to girls who haven't yet reached puberty. The clothes Yoffee is complaining about cater to the same fantasy of being a few years older and having all the boys on a string.

Boys look forward to killing the bad guy or scoring the winning goal, not to dating. That's why we don't hear much about tween boys as a separate category -- they're just boys. One consequence is that when middle school arrives, the girls, who have been thinking and dreaming about it since they were 8 or 9, are years ahead of the boys, who are completely clueless about their brand new desires.

Whether the difference is intrinsic or culturally determined, or in what proportions, I don't know, but it's there. George Goodman, who wrote the old "Adam Smith" stock market column, wrote 40 years ago: "Men play all kinds of games to give their lives meaning. The game women play is Men." Women have more options now than then, but playing Men is still very much one of them. The whole cultural/marketing concept of tween girls is based on looking forward to the game.

--jack_cerf

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Doesn't ANYONE remember? Satin hot pants and a satin jacket worn with Candie's slides? Tight, pegged jeans. Tight, girl-cut t-shirts with shiny glitter mottos on them? I remember one girl in the 7th grade who had a t-shirt with "knobs" over the breasts that said "Don't touch--I'm well-adjusted already!" Remember the big combs we all carried around in our back pockets--the bigger the better, and gee, what was THAT supposed to call attention to?

Everybody acts like this is all new stuff, when in fact I distinctly remember quite slutty fashions from my own girlhood, and pressure to wear them. I pretty much didn't--my parents would never buy me that stuff.

--Baci

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