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.

[splach78]

Girls learn that the only acceptable way to get the attention of the opposite sex is through looks, not internally.

You got that right. Sad really.

[presidio9]

I always have enjoyed Larchmont Race Week. We didn't sail it this year, but there was some nice wind for a change. My daughter sailed the first weekend, and was there during Junior Race Week as a sailing instructor.

Tell the truth: That was you in the Speedo, wasn't it?

[presidio9]

I remembered the whole damn song.

Why am I not suprised?

[wazoo1031]

That's disgusting! Especially with all the pedo-pervs out there...I wonder if the parents are going to buy her baby breast implants for her 4th birthday! Geeez, what is this society coming to?

[Xenalyte]

What's even worse is that I know the lyrics to any Adam and the Ants song - and Adam's solo work too.

Pity he's gone loony. He was quite a little hottie back in the day.

[presidio9]

I got you beat: I went as Adam for Holloween when I was 14.

[Xenalyte]

Oh, my Lord, that's great! Kings of the Wild Frontier Adam or Prince Charming Adam?

[presidio9]

OK, this is getting sort of embarassing...

It was an amalgam, but I actually bought Dirk Wears White Sox before Kings.

[Xenalyte]

That's just plain cool. Car trouble, oh yeah!

[Ayn Rand wannabe]

That reminds me exactly of my AP History teacher and one of my earlier history teachers that eventually became another AP history teacher. *Sorry if that is confusing...it sounds like it!* I honestly think that he (the first one) was the best teacher I've ever had. To this day I still cannot figure out if he was a Dem or a Rep, which is how history should be taught, IMHO.

[CatoRenasci]

Sorry to disappoint you. I was in upstate New York on Saturday and the wife wouldn't let me wear the Speedo on Sunday. Tells me to save it for Club Med and the Riviera. And after I lose those nagging pounds she always complians about. Maybe next year.

[Darksheare]

I have been told by some that it's good to have opposing points of view in house to keep things tipped more towards balance.
I've also been told that it would be better to bring MORE Republicans into art.

But, I do understand what you're saying about academia.
I have had some look at me like I was there to steal their souls and consume their skins or something like that.

But the ones that actually like having me arond are honest good people, maybe a little delusional, but art itself is delusion put down on paper, canvas, or stone anyway.

Last part you mentioned, it's probably a mixture of both.

[Darksheare]

Yes.

[John Robertson]

Exactly.

[battousai]

"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... "

There is the reason in a nutshell, parents provide the moral compass for their children, but what can you do if your parents don't have enough sense to guide the kids on what to wear, or worse yet, if dear mum is already dressing sleazier than her kids... tough break for the kids.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

great song. I felt old and out of touch to find out recently that Patty Donahue died several years ago.

[tom h]

"Thank you. Tattoos are certainly not indicative of low lifes or people of low moral standing."

Excuse me. I work in an industry where if you were tatooed or pierced you would never get past the first interview. Stop believing Hollywood and MTV and use your head. Tattoos and piercing are mutiliations of the body and are a reflection of a person's character. You don't put them on and off like clothing.

[PurVirgo]

what do you expect when you see mags like Cosmo, Elle, and so on? And in entertainment, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and the like?

I guess that's why I've always liked the underdogs - also the REAL talent - Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, also, real women who are successful - Condi Rice, yes, even Oprah.

Why aren't these women the "role models" for today's girls?

Oh, yeah... sex sells... =(

[foreverfree]

bump

[tom h]

"NO spray on purple or some other hair color (washes out). NO tattoos. NO nail polish. She looked at me like I was an alien so I told her, she might as well get used to it now ... since she will NOT be allowed to conform to the slut or shock look. She has a higher bar and I don't want her desensitized to things we disapprove of. "

Bravo to you nmh. We've done the same with our three kids and have loved them fiercely through it all and they are with the program. We are opposed to all tattoos because they are tattoos, even if they are applied and removable with soap. We told our kids that their bodies are a temple of the Lord's, and why would someone go throw paint onto a beautiful temple?

Several months later, my oldest daughter, then 8, goes to a birthday party - a swim party. The birthday girl is, shall we say, someone we don't prefer but why deny the party to my daughter. When we arrived to pick her up we saw all the children leaving with their parents covered, from head to toe, with applique tattoos. COVERED. I grimaced because I knew that whatever choice my daughter made would have been a difficult one, and I regretted the fact that I would have to punish her if she even put on one because our rule is firm. But after passing about a dozen kids there she was, without a single tattoo, running down to me telling me to take the sheets of tattoos away from her so they wouldn't tempt her anymore. She was the only child of 25 to not participate.

I held back my tears and kissed her. What a girl! To this day she is obedient not because she always agrees with us but because she loves us. And this is the way it should be, I suppose.