Thursday, August 25, 2011

Enough is Enough-protect not objectify your little girls

I have to speak up on this, bras for 4-12 yr. old girls???? Why would anyone even conceive that idea? I've always though two piece bathing suits were just silly because they really aren't practical for little kids...the tops never seem to stay where they're meant to be, but really, bras???

This sexualization of our girls is gone on too long and people, men, women, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, everyone MUST stand up and say "ENOUGH!" Let our children be children, they are not little adults...that thought was debunked in the late 19th Century. At least back then children were either ignored or put to work in factories or the family farm, not wholesaled off as mini-porn stars.

CRIN-the Child's Rights Information Network has an article about the sexualization of children that is well worth reading:
http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=
25916

This isn't just about girls either, little boys are exposed to little girls and become conditioned to seeing provocative clothing and it becomes their "normal".

" Gail Dines, a sociology professor at Wheelock College in Boston, similarly slammed the top, saying it would encourage girls to think about themselves in a sexual way before they are ready.
"It (also) sends out really bad signals to adult men about young firls being appropriate sexual objects," she told CNN affiliate WHDH. (http://edition.cnn .com/2011/BUSINESS/03/26/abercrombie.bikini.controversy/index.html)

Abercrombie & Fitch this year brought out padded & push-up bikini tops for little girls...why would someone even THINK that a 7 year old needs a padded swimsuit??? They also have sold thongs to this age group-and I'm not talking footwear either.

Another company created onesies with "MILF" printed on the front--for those babies as young as 3mos.! Some mothers on an online bulletin board actually defended this by stating that they saw it as a compliment!

What is really disturbing is that these items are not being created by only men, but women see nothing wrong with dressing little girls like hookers or porn stars. Somehow selling your body either via internet or in person has become something to aspire to. So much for all the work we've done trying to be recognized as thinking people.

Feminist say that this tolerance of sexualization is a misconstrued belief that being overtly sexual is part of being free of stereotypes. Unfortunately, it is only confining them into another stereotype, and a very dangerous one at that. What those who seen nothing wrong with being sexually objectified do not understand is that they are advertising themselves and/or their little girls as fodder for sexual predators. Which then starts (or continues) the destructive cycle of sexual abuse, which is a very difficult emotional prison to be freed from.

Considering this era of 'helicopter' parenting, it seems contradictory to encourage your girl to be an open advertisement for sexual adulation.

So sad that tolerance includes acceptance of emotionally destructive behaviours.
Lets keep our children...ALL of our children be their ours, neighbours or in another country... lets work to keep all of them safe from sexual predators.


Monday, August 15, 2011

Summer is finally here and now almost over

Summer 2011 throughout North America...from British Columbia to Washington D.C.

Private Campground near Prince George, B.C.


Canada Day 2011 in Hinton, Alberta:




It was a cool wet July with bursts of sun but the kids still were able to get out and play at a play yard built by the city of Spruce Grove, Alberta.


Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Families came to view and contemplate. And preserve memories of the visit.




Albert Einstein...a great man who as a child struggled to learn traditionally and then became a great scientist.


Make the most of what is left before formal schooling starts again (or continues for those who are doing a modified school calendar).