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Monday, March 28, 2011

A&F mistake. BIG mistake.

Wow, okay, so it's been a long time since I've blogged (over a month.....yikes!!), but I finally have something for inspiration....the newest "trend" from Abercrombie and Fitch....padded, push-up bikinis for girls as young as 7 years old!!

First, here's the article link:

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12003880493293/abercrombie-fitch-sells-padded-bikini-tops-to-young-girls/

There are so many things wrong with this article...where to start??

I think I'll start by saying A&F is in the wrong because they are objectifying SEVEN YEAR OLDS.  They are sending the message to LITTLE GIRLS that they need to be sexualized in order to be accepted.  They are telling SEVEN YEAR OLD GIRLS that their bodies are not good as they are.  Also, no seven year olds I know need a bra, which would mean the "push-up" part of this bikini would serve no purpose.  Even if these were designed for teens, though, I would still find fault in them because they would still be spreading the MYTH that a girl's/woman's body is only acceptable when she alters it with an outside force.

But we're NOT talking about teenagers or women.  Padded, push-up bathing suits have been sold to teenagers for decades.  Trying to change that would be little more than a futile effort.  But listen to me....we HAVE to change the sexualized image A&F is promoting to these young girls.

How can we expect young girls to refrain from dieting if they are told they are not "good enough" by any standard??  How can we expect young girls (maybe this applies more starting in the teens) to not "sell" their body by trying to make it look like what society deems appealing (which objectifies them to the extreme).

I don't know what Abercrombie and Fitch is smoking to think that this would be a good idea.  They obviously know seven year old girls don't buy their own clothes, and that causes me to wonder....what kind of parents would buy such a thing for their little girl??  Obviously there are some who would, but that doesn't make it right.  Not at all.

Sorry this was more of a rant than anything....I just needed to make my opinion known.

-Becca

1 comment:

  1. right on bex! we need to just let little girls be little girls... they should be playing and reading the boxcar children series, not picking out pushup bras to look sexy. not only am i appalled that A&F believes there is a market for children's lingerie--let's be real, like you said most normal 7yr olds don't need bras, let alone pushup bras to "accentuate"-- but that there is some creep in their boardroom who thought of this idea and wants to see it come to fruition.

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