Last week, an American clothing company began advertising padded push-up bikini tops to young girls for the upcoming summer season.
Can anyone see how this perpetuates sexualization of children?
We are supposed to teach our children to love their bodies and accept their bodies for what they are, but how are we ever going to accomplish this when companies - namely Abercrombie Kids - think it's appropriate to market padded push-up bikinis to a seven-year-old.
Granted, the smallest size for these push-up bikinis is for girls 56 to 58 inches tall with a 27.5 to 28.5 bust - the average girls won't hit 56 inches until she's 11 or 12. Therefore, the bikinis aren't really marketed to seven-year-olds unless they hit a growth spurt early or they are larger children.
Even so, when did it become appropriate to market padded bikinis to 11 or 12-year-olds? They are still young girls, after all.
The company has tried to shield itself from rapid fire this past week, as parent blog sites and many news sources have stated the girls are being sold a tale of "big boobies make you better." They changed the description of the bikini to say they are "lightly lined" instead of the previous "padded," but they are the exact same top, so nothing has really changed.
Of course, there are two arguments to every story, and there are some blog authors out there who argue there is nothing wrong with Abercrombie selling these bikinis, because the company is simply reacting to reality.
What reality, you ask. A reality where girls - tweens - are developing breasts at younger ages and are showing them off at beaches. Now, if that isn't sexualization of young girls, I don't know what is.
I can't help but wonder what parent will actually go out and buy one of these padded tops for her daughter. I can say without a doubt, if I had a daughter, she would not be wearing something on her chest that made her appear to have breasts prematurely. I don't care if a company says it will give her improved self-esteem.
As a young woman who has battled self-esteem issues my whole life, I can say with certainty, giving a young girl a padded push-up bikini does nothing to fix this issue. In fact, it perpetuates it. What if this young girl only develops small breasts into adulthood? Then giving her a padded bikini at 11 or 12 sets her up for desiring breast enhancements to defeat this ever-increasing feeling of inadequacy. I'll be the first to say, it's not fun.
Thinking back to when I was 12 or even 14 - I was a late developer - there was a definite feeling of inadequacy next to my taller, curvier peers. This one girl in particular stood a good eight inches taller than me. She had the body of a 16-year-old when we were in grade seven.
I felt self-conscious around her and I'm glad padded bikinis didn't exist because it would have created more problems when people found me out - and that is much more embarrassing.
When I was younger, some girls stuffed their bras with toilet paper to keep up with the developed girls.
At one point, a rumour spread that someone found out "Ashley" stuffed her bra and she was actually a member of the pancake club. This poor young girl was mortified. And for what? To feel as though she fit in with her more developed peers.
This type of pressure put on young girls to "fit in" is disturbing. They should not be worrying about their breast size or anything appearance wise, but they do.
I admit, it's tough being a so-called "underdeveloped girl," but push-up bikinis is not the answer. Education and support is.
So please, tell your daughter she is beautiful just the way she is. For mothers, aunties, older sisters and women who young girls look up to: don't ever put yourself or other women down in front of impressionable young girls. It sets them up for self-esteem issues.
For fathers, uncles, older brothers and men who are around young girls: don't ever - and I do mean ever - objectify women in front of young girls. And, if you have, tell them it was wrong.
