The Perils of Peekaboo America's teen peep show: Has 'slutware' gone too far?

SF Chronicle ^ | Sunday, July 27, 2003 | J.A. Getzlaff

[presidio9]

On a bustling Saturday afternoon a silent, generational war started at Abercrombie & Fitch, the teen retail clothing store in the San Francisco Shopping Centre, an urban mall at Market and Fifth streets.

A girl of maybe 15, wearing braces and hip-hugger jeans, fingered a shrunken, see-through T-shirt that coyly advertised "Hottie Brand Cocoa." Her mother, noting her daughter's interest, eyeballed the stack of shirts and grimaced. She moved purposefully on, but her daughter lingered, hope in her eyes. After a minute, she gave up.

[bedolido]

I have 3 grand-daughters, the oldest is 11. I pray for her daily to stand against friends that would make her want to be one of the gang.

[WellsFargo94]

Well it hasn't stopped at teens, just look at the clothes for elementary kids that are out there. It's very hard to dress a 6 year old in "normal" clothes anymore.

[End Times Sentinel]

I have a four year old daughter.  Does anyone know the minimum age for joining a convent?

 

Owl_Eagle

" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"

[Question_Assumptions]

Has sexy morphed into sleazy?

I think they are about 20 years too late for that question. Maybe 30 or more.

[apackof2]

"slutware" had gone to far about 10 years ago!

Tatoos, orifice piercing used to be the territory of the lowlife, now its mainstream
Just another indictation of the lack of a moral compass in the US

[Clara Lou]

"Slutware" has gone waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far, and these little girls are wearing it to school. Either Mom let's her, or she brings a bag and changes clothes at school in the restroom. It's sad.

[Petronski]

"Slutware" is accurate enough, I suppose, but I think the writer really means "slutwear."

[presidio9]

I corrected the spelling in my keyword.

[general_re]

I have a four year old daughter too - does anyone know if there's some sort of "Little Women" ready-to-wear catalog we can order from? Crushed velvet dresses, bonnets, high-button shoes, 40 pounds of undergarments....

C'mon folks - all we have to do is persuade the kids that it's "cool", or "da bomb", or whatever, and we'll have them dressing like the Amish in no time ;)

[wazoo1031]

Maybe its just me, but I prefer apprearing alluring and respectful rather than looking like a skanky slut-whore. Dressing (?) with your ass hanging out and your pubic area exposed just makes you look desperate. I almost gagged when I went to a department store recently and saw belly-shirts and low-rise LEATHER pants for 5 yr. olds! And skanky looking moms were happily purchasing these items! I shake my head in dismay...

[krb]

Slutware sounds like a new Linux distribution.

[lelio]

Underneath the grinning beast, scrawled in a cheery holiday font, were the words "Getty Up."

Cuz nothing is as sexy as good ole JP:

[Ed Straker]

The site boasted that Little Crackers are favored by such celebrities as Renee Zellweger and Winona Ryder.

So did Winona steal these, too?

[presidio9]

Intersting that this editorial appeared in the SF Chronicle.

[presidio9]

Marit Milien's patent application for "Little Crackers"

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week13/OG/html/1269-1/USD0472365-20030401.html

[weegee]

Helen Fisher, a research associate in anthropology at Rutgers University and author of several books, including "The Sex Contract: The Evolution of Human Behavior," isn't surprised by this fashion trend. She calls it "display behavior" and stresses that it is "completely natural."

It's called "exhibitionism" and it is a sexual kink.

"From a Darwinian perspective," she says, "the mating process is extremely important, and both sexes are advertising a great many things."

And we are talking about early teens here. I was unaware that early teens should be mating. Their breasts are too small to provide nurishment for a newborn and they are undergoing the hormonal changes to ready their bodies for childbearing. Just because they are "capable" of bringing a child into this world they are not ready to bring a child into the world. This is the purpose of mating and displays for mating.

Put whatever face you want on it lady, it is still the sexualizing of children.

[Moose4]

My wife and I sell her handmade jewelry at craft shows in the Southeast as a side job. Let me tell you, I see teenage girls walking around craft fairs wearing this A&F and American Eagle stuff and I'm just stunned--thirteen years old and they're walking around flaunting their nascent assets like they want some Kobe action "right damn now"!

When I was that age 20 years ago (slams some more Geritol) girls might wear a skintight pair of Calvins or Jordache jeans, but NOTHING like this stuff that's out here now. (If they had worn this slut gear back then, I'd have never gotten A's in high school. Would've been too hormonally distracted, y'know.) And these are girls in more conservative rural Southern towns, not big cities. I can only imagine how bad things are in the big-city suburbs.

Of course, Belly Girl (from the days of the live Iraq War threads) should be allowed to wear belly shirts and low-risers anytime she pleases...but she's an adult!

}:-)4

[bc2]

care to revise that statement about low-lifes? I'd show you a picture of my leg, but it's not finished yet:
from my ankle to my knee, a rattle snake wrapped around justice scales. One side of the scales is a scroll for the Constitution with 2 severed shaking hands, the other side are 2 exploding pistols. A giant eagle sits on top of my knee with it's wings wrapped around the back of my leg. The banner reads "LIBERTY OR DEATH - DON'T TREAD ON ME"

[cspackler]

My daughter is also 4. My wife picked up a little pair of jeans at the store that were on sale. Tried them on her when she got home, and we were shocked because they were actually hip-huggers... for a 4 year old. We couldn't believe it. They went back pretty quick, but every time she goes up a size, it gets harder to find clothes that aren't slutty-looking. Unbelievable...