I saw this button on the sidebar of SFO Mom's Blog (see my sidebar), and I am encouraging you to read the full "Moms for Modesty" article by clicking on the button. Whether you have daughters or not, this is a disturbing trend in American retail, and one that has bothered me for a long time. As I've mentioned before, Older Girl is very tall and has always worn clothes that are a size or two ahead of her chronological age. She just turned 7 and is currently in at least a size 8, and my question has always been this: I'm all for a cute turn of phrase, but why do I want someone reading it off of my daughter's rear end!?!?!? I don't want Cute, Juicy, Angel, Sweetheart, or anything else printed on the butt of my kids' pants. And to take this even further, I am not a fan of those t-shirts with the "cute" phrases on the chest, either. I don't like the placement or the message implied by shirts that have princess, nasty, brat, spoiled, tease (saw this 2 days ago at Target!!!!) or things of that nature splashed across her pre-pubescent bosom. How about shirts that say, I Rock at Science or Math Genius. Why aren't those messages prized enough to be emblazoned in glittery letters?
And while we're at it, let's get rid of halter tops for baby girls, ultra low rise jeans, and underwear with words on them (!!!!!!!!!). I have seen all of these things in the children's department.
I used to think that maybe I was being too overprotective, but the more I talked to my friends and family, the more I realized that other people felt the same way. It seemed like as soon as Older Girl reached a certain size, the vast majority of clothing became very inappropriate -- it jumped from 4T to "prostitot" (we called it "kinderwhore" in our house).
So now I can see that I am not alone. I'm not talking burkas, people, I'm talking shirts that cover my 7 year old's midriff -- it's not that much fabric! I'm not the sew-my-own-clothes type, I'm the shopping type, and I will gladly spend my money on clothes that are cute, comfy, and have full coverage!
Who's with me?
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI just happened to come across your post, and I thought you might find it funny to know that we actually do sell glittery print shirts that have positive science and math sayings. Unfortunately, I think we're one of the few, and we sell mostly to actual scientists and not so much the general public. We have one shirt design which says "I'm too pretty not to do math" which was a parody on the "too pretty to do math" shirts, and I was surprised to see just how many of them we sell.
We usually sell kids clothing only as custom orders and not directly off the web, but your post got me to thinking. Do you think moms like you would be interested in kids versions of science and math designs like you describe?
Tela
I absolutely agree with you, Aim. As you know my girlie is big like yours and at 9 years old has to shop in the juniors dept which makes my job even HARDER as I'm sure you can imagine what I come across there. We can sometimes get away with a 16 in the girls dept, but I can't seem to find one shirt where either her bra or her tummy isn't showing. And forget about finding a nice dress. I'm lucky to have a youngin who doesn't like being so exposed no matter what her little hoochie friends might be wearing. She is a modest lil lady who likes long flowery skirts and couldn't give a rat's behind about fitting in with her friends in the clothes dept.
ReplyDelete