QotD: Prostitots

We've apparently moved beyond the age of the tarted up 'tween and into the era of the prostitot, the epoch of the kinderwhore. The hallowed thong, "an item of clothing based on what a stripper might wear," now comes in kid sizes. "Pudgy, cuddly, and asexual troll dolls" have been traded for "trollz," apparently highly gendered. Even the American Girl dolls, who might as well come packaged with promise rings on their porcelain figures, are not immune. "American Girl's recent co-branding with Bath & Body Works," we learn, "may lead to product tie-ins that will encourage girls to develop a precocious body consciousness and one associated with narrowly sexual attractiveness." And let's not even get started on Bratz.

The report is short on numbers, heavy on anecdote. But it's easy to be persuaded that 8-year-olds are dressing more like 'tweens, 'tweens more like teens, and teens more like 20-somethings. Which means — what, exactly? Kids ape their older peers, and they've never had more access to images of underdressed celebutants. A sixth-grader in a short skirt could well be a sign of a sexually dysfunctional society, a pie-eyed Paris in the making. Or she could simply suggest that 11-year-olds pick an outfit the same way they long have, hoping to find acceptance within a social group and signal mastery over a shared culture. Fashion can suggest sexual availability, or it can imply inclusion. Are they dressing for men, or for one another?

Kerry Howley, "Invasion of the Prostitots: Cultural warriors decry the sexualization of girls. But where's the proof there's a problem?", Reason, 2007-03-06