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This? Pisses me off like you wouldn't believe.
But what's pissing me off the most is the apologists for it, especially the ones who think it's "conservative" to complain about sexualizing a child.
Uhm. No. The problem here is not the sex itself. The problem is in taking away the child's choice about when and how to develop her own sexuality--a choice her brain won't be capable of understanding until she's a lot older.
I don't care if your six year old wants to dress up like a stripper. She probably also wants to live at Disneyland, grow fairy wings and devour her entire trick-or-treat haul in one sitting. She wants those things because she doesn't understand the potential pitfalls and consequences involved, because her brain isn't developed enough to do so. Little kids think Santa exists. They're not going to be able to understand the extreme complexity involved in adult-level sexual relationships. Hell, some adults struggle with this. There's no way a little kid can figure it out well enough to keep herself physically and emotionally safe.
I really wish every last one of the parents who see nothing wrong with doing this would take a step back and ask themselves: If you don't mind your daughter dressing like that, why aren't you also dressing your son like a go-go boy? If you're horrified at the idea of dressing boys in a costume that screams "sex" then why the blithering hell would you do that to girls? (Of course, there are other sexist issues here, too.*)
Yes, of course little kids are curious about sex and even have rudimentary levels of their own sexuality, but the point is that they don't fully understand it any more than they understand the complexity of driving, or drinking booze or differences between political candidates. Which, of course, is why we restrict those things to people who are older.
Sexually objectifying your child before she's old enough to make the choice to do that to herself is pretty much asking for several years of misery and therapy down the road when she's trying to navigate adult relationships. Why anyone would want to put their kid through that is beyond me.
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But what's pissing me off the most is the apologists for it, especially the ones who think it's "conservative" to complain about sexualizing a child.
Uhm. No. The problem here is not the sex itself. The problem is in taking away the child's choice about when and how to develop her own sexuality--a choice her brain won't be capable of understanding until she's a lot older.
I don't care if your six year old wants to dress up like a stripper. She probably also wants to live at Disneyland, grow fairy wings and devour her entire trick-or-treat haul in one sitting. She wants those things because she doesn't understand the potential pitfalls and consequences involved, because her brain isn't developed enough to do so. Little kids think Santa exists. They're not going to be able to understand the extreme complexity involved in adult-level sexual relationships. Hell, some adults struggle with this. There's no way a little kid can figure it out well enough to keep herself physically and emotionally safe.
I really wish every last one of the parents who see nothing wrong with doing this would take a step back and ask themselves: If you don't mind your daughter dressing like that, why aren't you also dressing your son like a go-go boy? If you're horrified at the idea of dressing boys in a costume that screams "sex" then why the blithering hell would you do that to girls? (Of course, there are other sexist issues here, too.*)
Yes, of course little kids are curious about sex and even have rudimentary levels of their own sexuality, but the point is that they don't fully understand it any more than they understand the complexity of driving, or drinking booze or differences between political candidates. Which, of course, is why we restrict those things to people who are older.
Sexually objectifying your child before she's old enough to make the choice to do that to herself is pretty much asking for several years of misery and therapy down the road when she's trying to navigate adult relationships. Why anyone would want to put their kid through that is beyond me.
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