This issue came to my attention via Twitter and a link to The Illusionists, with this article on marketing bras to little girls, aged 4 and up – some of the bras, padded.
And no, you won’t find these worrisome wares at your local Macy’s, but you will find them in a number of French department stores, as well as on their online pages.
When you add this tidbit to the poor taste (to say the least) in using 10-year models for a sexy French Vogue spread a few months back, this France-loving maman is none too impressed.
Sexualize a 10-year old? Dreadful. A 4-year old?
Appalling.
Don’t we have enough challenges in raising daughters with a strong sense of self, and not allowing the body politic to govern their head space as well as their body space? Will we have to begin fighting these battles earlier than ever, to head off what occurs in the tween years?
Don’t we suffer enough body image issues – more worried about how we look than who we are? Tying our sexual marketability to appearance, and our self-esteem to sexual marketability? Must we encourage this tendency in preschoolers?
For me, the irony is that my own experience of French men and French women is one that honors sexuality, approaching it in both a playful and natural way. French women have long exercised both their brains and their femininity, in a rational fashion.
So what’s up with these latest trends in the fashion industry – younger and younger girls used as models? And blatantly sexualizing tiny little bodies? What possible justification could there be – other than money – for such absurdity?
Do pop over to The Illusionists and read the details. I’d like to know your reaction.
If you have daughters – or granddaughters – would you put them in baby-sized bras as if it’s normal?
Reminds me of Toddlers and Tiaras, or whatever that show is. Please please let them be little girls for as long as possible. Growing up happens too soon anyway.
I’m definitely not a fan of Toddlers and Tiaras, or pageants for little girls – for that matter. Yes – can’t we please let our children have their childhood???
When I first saw the title of this article and also that of the illusionists, I thought of my own experiences. As a child I am unable to recall the exact age, my sister and I often had underwear sets. I believe we were around the age of eight or nine and get panties and bras that matched. The bras were far from padded and looked very childlike. Much like those in the Suisses ad.
We never wore them as clothing, we wore them under our clothing. They were not advertised on television, the internet (which didn’t exist) and were in the children’s clothing section of the store.
I personally think that the padded versions hold absolutely no purpose other than teach young girls that ‘size is important’ and breasts are a fashion accessory.
I also think that those ads of children posing, in makeup and showing skin are inappropriate and child porn.
I think that little bra and panty sets are just fine for little girls to wear as underclothing that should not be shown. But definitely gone too far.
There are two culprits in this horrible and disgusting trend: 1) popular culture which idolizes small bodies with larger breasts and 2) parents who allow their children to be used in these types of modeling gigs.
I realize that you are very fond of French culture, but I think we have all seen the darker side of their laissez-faire approach to sexuality in recent months: Dominique Strauss Kahn’s attempted rape of one, if not two, women; parliament passing a law to ban the burka; and using young children to model clothes and the new ideal body type. I believe this type of backlash comes from any extreme and the French, like the rest of the world, has to face to consequences. Much like the US with many conservative states passing horrible laws trying to outlaw miscarriages and abortions by saying life begins at conception. Extremes will turn around and bite the country or state in the ass eventually.
I am fond of French culture, Amber. And fond of American culture as well. Or more specifically – I’m fond of specific aspects of each – and other cultures, too. As you say, extremes will exist. Pushing limits beyond what we – as individuals, members of various communities, and parents – will find unacceptable. Wherever they occur, I think we need to speak out.
Gross. Just gross.
I can’t believe this. I caught my daughter stuffing her t-shirt with kleenex when she was seven and told her in no uncertain terms that she was not supposed to have breasts at her age, and when she needed a bra, I’d get her one. I think it’s natural for young girls to look at women’s breasts and wonder when they’ll develop their own, but for adults to indulge that fantasy in a grotesque, accelerated way is appalling.
Why don’t more people believe that children shouldn’t be forced into becoming an adult too quickly? As you said, this is appalling on so many levels. But at the crux of it is the adults who somehow think this is appropriate. Children don’t know any better, but adults, one would assume, know the difference between right and wrong.