The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Editorial Notebook. Yesterday this space addressed a Bill Maher segment alleged hypocrisy surrounding the sexualization of children. Here’s a piece I wrote for The Ledger in Lakeland in 2000 on a related subject:

“With Britney Spears’ midriff buckling to “Hit me, baby, one more time,” AM Cosmetics selling 10-year-olds scented body oils called “Follow Me Boy,” and beauty pageants turning 6-year-olds into glamor objects, the sexualization of children in contemporary culture is as commonplace in marketing as it is condoned at home. (Last I checked, 10-year-olds didn’t have the jobs to actually pay for the $200 jacket and $60 platform shoes and kerchief-size designer miniskirts, preferably black, from Limited Too, the clothing chain targeting “tweeners.”)

 So it wasn’t entirely surprising when my 6-year-old daughter sang her mother and me a song she was learning at school in preparation for a year-ending performance. It went like this:

I’m the last of the Red Hot Romeos
Women, they are putty in my hands

 You know, I may be a dying breed,
But companionship is all I need!
There are some who have the magical touch,
From Cupid to Casanova
You may wonder why he talks about himself so much
If you ask, I’m sure he’ll show ya!
He’s the last of the Red Hot Romeos
Women, they are putty in his hands . . .

 The song is only marginally degrading by the standards of contemporary backstreet-boyish pop. But I wasn’t thrilled to see a child whose conception of wild things had been happily limited to Maurice Sendak suddenly shimmy to Romeo and Women, they are putty in his hands.

 I later learned at Cleveland Court Elementary in Lakeland that the song is part of a musical the kindergarten children are performing in a year-ending show. “Red Hot Romeo” was chosen because of its message: As they sing and dance on stage, children act out a rejection of Romeo’s swaggering. 

Message or no message, why would this song be chosen as opposed to something skirting suggestive themes altogether (as the musical’s other numbers do)? Nothing spoils a performance — a children’s performance especially — like a message anyway.

 The problem is that, as teachers at Cleveland Court pointed out, even elementary-age kids as young as kindergartners are adopting the look and behavior of teens and “tweens,” down to pairing off as boyfriends and girlfriends. A few are.

 That doesn’t mean the school should feel compelled to do more than discourage those wannabes — not inject everyone with a pre-emptive message, no matter how well-intentioned the injection may be: Snorting coke or downing six-packs every evening isn’t good, either, but 6-year-olds don’t need to be bombarded with drug-war doctrine yet either. They will be all too soon.

 It’s not as if there’s a lack of moral lessons to teach kindergartners that their teachers need to borrow themes more appropriate in middle school and beyond. Innocence is being eradicated quickly enough in places outside schools’ control. That’s no reason to capitulate and play along instead of preserving, in those early grades, room for childhood.

 Adult muck and pretension can wait.”

—P.T.

 

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From spaghetti straps for preschoolers to ultra-miniskirts on tweens, girls clothing is getting noticeably skimpier. Kid-magnet chains, including Limited Too and Abercrombie Kids, as well as discount stores such as Target are focusing their marketing efforts on a much younger demographic, luring young girls into ensembles that in years past had been reserved for their teenage sisters. GapKids recently featured a white, crocheted string bikini you’d likely see Anna Kournikova wearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. The bikini was for a 12-month-old. Racks at Target held several bathing suits perfect for a Hawaiian Tropic bikini competition. The crocheted and camouflage-designed suits started at Size 4 in the little girls’ section. […] There’s serious money at stake. From clothing to games to snacks, kids 12 to 19 spent $179 billion in 2006, according to Teen Research Unlimited. Retailers want a piece of that pie, and they are looking for lifelong shoppers. The younger they snag them, the longer they’ll have them, Leavy said. As if shopping for a teen or tween wasn’t difficult enough, there now is a new category: the pre-tween.

—From Lisa Nicita’s “Exasperation rises as suggestive clothes for girls spread from teens to toddlers,” Arizona Republic, June 28, 2007.

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