Any time someone writes an article where children and sexuality intersect, there’s sure to be fireworks.
ESPN columnist LZ Granderson is the latest to stir up this virtual hornets’ nest. He has used his platform on ESPN to discuss various social issues as they relate to sports and recently moved into a position as a CNN contributor, writing on a variety of topics.
A few weeks ago, Granderson stumbled into the realm of absurdity with a column posted on CNN.com entitled “Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps.”
Granderson began the column by describing a person he’d seen at the airport.
“Her beautiful, long blond hair was braided back a la Bo Derek in the movie ‘10′ (or for the younger set, Christina Aguilera during her ‘Xtina’ phase),” Granderson recounted. “Her lips were pink and shiny from the gloss, and her earrings dangled playfully from her lobes.”
A little innocent airport ogling transposed into purple-prose-infused erotic literature never hurt anyone, but the big reveal was more than a little disconcerting.
“Yeah, that 8-year-old girl was something to see alright. … I hope her parents are proud.”
Many questions arise from such a revelation, but Granderson uses this oddball anecdote to discuss the trend of retailers offering “sexier” clothing for younger audiences.
He questions the motives and judgment of parents who buy this apparel for their children, using the en vogue distinction between parent as friend and parent as parent to illustrate what he considers bad parenting.
Though it is an uncomfortable topic to broach, children in the United States today probably know more about sexuality than some of their parents could ever hope to teach them. Whether this is a problem or not is up for debate, but Granderson’s declaration that so-called “sexier” apparel for young girls is synonymous with a prostitute’s ensemble is borderline offensive.
Granderson “didn’t realize there’s been an ongoing stampede of 10-year-old girls driving to the mall with their tiny fists full of cash demanding sexier apparel,” which there obviously has not, but he glosses over the fact that many girls are beginning puberty at the age of 10 or 11. This is not an anomaly but rather close to the norm.
That’s not to say Granderson’s concerns are completely unfounded. If there is one constant among 10-year-old girls, it’s a lack of cultivated taste in clothing and essentially everything else. Parents should have a hand in the clothing their young children wear, simply because some children wear the most absurd thing they can find if given their own choice.
That being said, to refer to push-up bras and thongs as a prostitute’s clothing creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Shaming women of any age for wearing these types of clothing stigmatizes the women themselves, and applying these labels to young girls can be harmful.
As for the sexualization of young children in America, Granderson cites some undesirable effects, like increased instances of eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. However, does early sexualization really result from this clothing, or is the clothing a side effect of the increasing pressure to measure up?
Luckily, this recent increase in sexy clothing is not accounting for increases in all undesirable statistics. Teen pregnancy in America has decreased to its lowest point in two decades, according to CNN.
Perhaps Granderson had good intentions when this column was bouncing around his head, but manufacturing the problem of just-too-sexy clothing detracts from many of the real problems young adolescents face.
Or maybe Granderson doesn’t realize that no type of clothing can truly sexualize the proverbial 8-year-old at the airport. Only we can.
Chris Seemann is a 20-year-old mass communication senior from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_CSeemann.
 
 
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Contact Chris Seemann at [email protected]