A rundown of the articles that made my eyes bug out of my head at least 4 inches, cartoon style:
From the NY daily news - The Sexualization of little girls' Halloween costumes. AY DIOS MIO.
Would you let your daughter wear this?
My fears of someday having a girl aside, this is absolutely one of the most ridiculos trends that has emerged lately. (I will save my rant about the toddler beauty pageants for another day, because then I will have an aneurysm and wont be able to write the rest of this article.) Even with my boys, I see the trend in the general media to have them grow up faster and be exposed to things that no little kid should be exposed to. I see movies targeted to kids that are better suited for adults, commercials on TV that are sexed up - even on the kids channels - and all of it pushing my little boys into a world that they aren't ready for. I want to keep them little boys - I want them to enjoy their childhood. Any parent that would consent to buying a costume like this for their little girls should really be charged with neglect.
Another story that caught my eye was one about Christian Louboutin, the famous shoe-designer who has been asked to create a new Barbie doll and who has stated that Barbie has "cankles" and is asking the toymaker to further alter their already unrealistic doll to give her slimmer legs and ankles. Yet another wonderful message to little girls of the world. Then we have Karl Lagerfeld who just a few years ago looked like this:
saying that "No one wants to see curvy women. You've got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly." Chips? Hell yes Karl! I looove chips. Fuck you, Karl.
The same article that featured those words of wisdom from that fan weilding weirdo and Christian Louboutin's exaggeration of Barbie's "cankles" also featured a picture of Lizzie Miller, an actress who weighs in at a healthy 180 lbs as shown in Glamour magazine photo shoot sans, well anything. God bless her, because she has the body so many of us have.
See that belly? I have that - as do so many others. She is a beautiful, healthy, normal woman and I applaud her and Glamour magazine for showing a real woman in its pages.
To that end I also applaud Dove for creating self-esteem workshops for girls to help little girls and teen girls realize that they can be so much more than what the media blitz tells them they can be. Check out the video below and to learn more about the program go to: http://campaignforrealbeauty.com/
After watching the video below, just think about this: The onslaught shown doesn't just affect young girls image of themselves, but also affects little boys like mine - and they grow up with an unrealistic idea of what a woman should look and act like.
/end rant
