Every year we go shopping for clothes to wear for Resurrection Sunday, also known as Easter:)
I mean shopping, at a real life, brick and mortar, department store.
It’s kind of a big deal for our daughter.
Usually, we just wait on someone we know to pass us a whole bag full of clothes someone at their house has outgrown. But Easter Sunday is different.
We go buy something.
We pay retail.
We get ripped off.
We try to semi coordinate, and it’s fun for the girls in the house.
(The boys of course, don’t care much. Color coordinated is not even in their vocabularies.)
Every year though there is a running theme in our shopping trips:
DISAPPOINTMENT.
You see our daughter is not quite 12 years old yet. That means she is 11.
Eleven years old!
Now , if you have a daughter who is not a little girl (and not quite a big girl yet) you probably understand the challenge of choosing age appropriate (and stylish clothes) that you both feel good about.
Actually, if you have a daughter at all, you understand this dilemma.
This was not the first time I encountered this culture shock while shopping in the “girl's” section. I started noticing the difference about 4 years ago, when we had to move out of the little girls section to the in-between-girl's section (that's what I call it).
It’s always the same.
"This is too short."
“This is too tight.”
“This is too low.”
She has even suggested sewing things at home to make them more appropriate.
Can you imagine?
First you pay overpriced, retail prices, AND then have to take it home and alter it to make it wearable.
I don’t think so!
This always sends my mind whirling! What is going on with these stores; with our culture?
The department stores are only exhibiting symptoms of the disease our society is infested with.
Sexing up the people, but especially our children!
We have all witnessed this firsthand. A little girl (or not so little girl) at the park running around with sweats on that read “juicy” on the bottom, or “dancer” or “cheer” or some other message.
Photo Credit: blogging with class
Whatever they say, the end result is the same. It is drawing the attention of every man, woman, and child at the place.
Our brains see words, they read them.
You are doing it right now.
The written word is one of our main forms of communication.
WHY IN THE WORLD are we attracting attention to the rear ends of our children?
What good can come possibly come of this?!
It does not stop there, just like it did not begin there.
Shorts so short the pockets hang out, and they cost more! Ugh…
How about underwear for tweens and teens that read, “Flirt”, “Fun”, or “Party"?
I have passed EVERY one of these while shopping with my daughter.
It is beyond me how we became so numb to what is happening to our children!
What message are we giving our girls by buying them underwear (of all things!) with these words printed on them?
To say this is a BAD idea, is a drastic understatement!
Do you know why stores are selling this overpriced
They are making money.
It is profitable.
That’s how commerce works.
They sell what we buy!
When we buy these things for our girls it’s the equivalent of shooting them an email that says:
“Hey, we’re okay with you stripping the innocence of our daughters. Please, keep putting out clothing that does not cover what needs covering, draws attention to all the WRONG places, AND we’ll keep buying it!”
It is not only our girls who are being targeted. Our boys, after all, live in the same world as the girls.
It is a struggle (to say the least) for teenage boys/young men to control their thought lives.
Hormones are a real thing.
I can see how it is nearly impossible for boys not to view girls in a sexual way from an early age. Boys are already trying to swim the waters of puberty and adolescence, and everywhere they turn is SEX. It’s all over the television and computer screens.
TV shows and the internet are full of pornography.
It is difficult to have exact data on porn because so much of it is digital; free online. There was an estimation in 2012 that 8 billion dollars a year is being generated by the porn industry in the United States alone. This also happens to be the same amount being spent on bottled water in the U.S., 8 billion dollars.
Interesting, huh?
We need food, water, and....umm...porn?!
We have Victoria’s Secret models on prime time television, Super bowl halftime shows with so little clothing that body parts are popping out (that’s the last Super bowl halftime show I’ve seen).
16 and Pregnant.
Teen Mom.
It goes on and on.
WHY?!
Why do we allow this?
Why are we acting like it doesn’t matter what we watch or wear?
It obviously matters!
We have some serious sex issues in our society!
There are websites dedicated to helping you know if your neighbor is a sex offender. We are not living in the days of “I wonder what kind of pie I could bake for my new neighbor?”
No. Now its like, “I wonder if I should Google my neighbor to see if they are a sex offender.”
This is not normal!
HERE is one of those websites.
If you want to be depressed, check it out. I warn you, don’t be surprised to find a map lit up like a Christmas tree with known offenders in your neighborhood.
You see what I’m getting at?
You don’t send your daughter around with “juicy” on her bum when you know there are CONVICTED sex offenders all around you.
They are convicted; they obviously struggle with preying on children. There are A LOT of predators in this world. They don’t need the added temptation of seeing young girls dressed this way.
We are always hearing about something damaging to us. We are alerted to the dangers of too much fat in our food, too much cholesterol, stay off the sugar you’ll get diabetes, get off the caffeine. They may as well label aspartame with skulls and cross bones ! (You know that stuff will kill you, right?)
WHAT do we hear about the dangers of sexualizing our children (and adults)?
NOTHING!
Instead, we celebrate it.
We pay for it in the form of clothing.
We exploit it in the name of entertainment.
Remember that little box office hit, 50 Shades of Grey? It was one of the most pirated movies of ALL time! That wasn’t even DVD quality. It was a copy made by someone with a shaky camcorder at the movie theatre!
We are obsessed with sex, or more accurately, what the media has told us sex is.
Harmless?
Well, that seems to be a flawed theory.
Sex is very dangerous when it is taken out of the context of a monogamous, dare I even say it, marital relationship?
I don’t know about where you stand in your belief in God. I will tell you plainly where I’m at. I am sold out! 100% standing on the Word of God. He gives us good advice in His Word, the Bible.
Even if you are not living your life by God’s standards, surely you must still acknowledge the many consequences that come of sex outside of a faithful marriage.
A few not so fun facts:
In 2009 an estimated 8,300 young people (young people being people between the ages of 13 and 24) reported to the CDC that they had been diagnosed with HIV.
Nearly fifty percent of the 19 MILLION new STDs each year are among young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
Chlamydia and gonorrhea cases are highest in Americans between 15 and 24.
Does talking about this stuff make you uncomfortable?
Me too!
Uncomfortable, sad, nervous for my children (they have to marry someone), angry…..
The CDC also reports that in 2013 there were 273,105 births to teens between the ages of 15 and 19 years old, and those rates are down.
I wonder how many teen pregnancies are ending in abortion, chemically and surgically.
An estimated total of 35% of pregnant teens have an abortion. Those are the ones that are actually reported. Abortion not only KILLS a child, it damages these young mothers for the rest of their lives. Yes, I called them mothers. They are mothers, their babies just happen to be dead (and they have to live with the knowledge that they helped kill them for the rest of their lives.)
Post abortion statistics are NOT pretty.
Abortion doesn’t only end one life, it forever changes another.
I have stood outside an abortion "clinic” on a day the “doctor” was “terminating” pregnancies. The parking lot became so full at one point that the girls had to park on the street and walk in.
Does THIS indicate we may have a sex problem?
But after all, we do live in the land of “Don’t be so judgmental.” I can already hear the "Don't judge me!" comments.
We will forewarn people that McDonald’s French fries have 17 ingredients in them and the dangers of aspartame, BUT we mustn't talk of things that are killing us mentally, emotionally, and spiritually; that would be too judgmental.
If we are going to warn people of the dangers of diabetes , (to the point that we ban sugary drinks in our public schools) should we not also warn them of the dangers of sexing up our society, our children, and teens?
What does it say about us as a society, that we celebrate and profit off of these behaviors? Behaviors that are proven to rob people, especially young people, of their innocence, health, and happiness.
This is not love.
If you are standing on a train track with a train rushing at you, but I don’t tell you to step off the track, do I love you?
OR
Am I judging you for standing on the track in the first place?
We have become so afraid of offending anyone that we will not speak truth.
I don’t know about you, but I will NOT be buying any clothes for my girl that tote words on the seat of the pants; nor will her underclothing have inappropriate and ridiculous messages written on them.
We will NOT be watching the soft porn that is everywhere on the TV screen for many of the same reasons we don’t drink out of our toilet.
It is dirty and will make you ill.
Whew!
I feel (a bit) better getting that out.
Let’s protect our children. Let's protect their bodies, and their minds.
Once it’s in there, you don’t get to take it out. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” It is so applicable.
As for us, we better stick with shopping at the thrift stores ;)
I appreciate you taking the time to read The Modern Mayflower Blog. We are all living this life together. Please pass my words along, if you feel they are worth sharing.
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Thanks for reading,
Susan