ProWomanProLife

  • The Story
  • The Women
  • Notable Columns
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / All Posts / Creating mini adults

Creating mini adults

October 6, 2009 by Andrea Mrozek 9 Comments

The so-called tween years are starting as early as six.

Experts said that by age six, girls needed branded clothes, at seven they wanted styled hair, by eight they were beginning diets, at nine they were styling their hair and by early teens were engaging in sex or sending sexually explicit text messages.

I’m trying to avoid the standard rant here as we’ve heard of this before from books like So Sexy So Soon.  There are so many factors at play. Commercialization of childhood, consumerism, yes. But also a culture that worries incessantly about socialisation of children, even at the age of one or two and herds them off into daycare for hours that aren’t legal for many teachers. As I recently told a friend–I wouldn’t personally worry about the socialisation thing: Plenty of time for my child to succumb to peer pressure and pick up smoking/drugs/horrifying sexual ethics later.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailby feather

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: tweens

Comments

  1. Suricou Raven says

    October 6, 2009 at 9:37 am

    If you’re looking for someone to blame, I’d go for toy manufacturers and advertisers. They’ve been trying for years to milk more money from children, and determined that sexualisation is an effective way to achieve that aim.

    I expect it to get worse though, due to another factor – the increased use of broadcast media and online communication. For millenia children have been shielded from sex by a powerful social tabboo that causes adults to fall silent in their presence, but television has no such judgement, and it’s impossible to determine someone’s age on the internet. This’ll mean that the information children are exposed to (on all topics, not just sex) is going to become much more similar to that which adults are exposed to.

    Reply
  2. SUZANNE says

    October 6, 2009 at 9:44 am

    Who are these “experts”?

    My kids can’t tell the difference between a brand name or a downscale piece.

    Styling hair at age seven? Who does that?

    And girls were depressed about their popularity when *I* was in elementary school. This is nothing new.

    I’m just not buying it.

    Reply
  3. Bob Devine says

    October 6, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    “Experts said that by age six, girls needed branded clothes, at seven they wanted styled hair, by eight they were beginning diets, at nine they were styling their hair and by early teens were engaging in sex or sending sexually explicit text messages.”

    I would say this is the standard recipe for an out of control child that has caretakers afraid to offend them instead of real parents that know that freedom of choice does not exist if you want good and responsible children. There are to many these days that are afraid to be parents they want to be their kids best friend. You can be their best friend after they grow into adults. When they are small a benevolent dictatorship works best.

    Reply
  4. Michelle says

    October 7, 2009 at 8:40 am

    Yes, sexuality in the media influences teen sexual behavior- I can’t even just say sexually suggestive anymore: There’s actual sex scenes on tv now- Have you seen the New Stargate Universe series: Ist episode. Many people are upset cause a high number of children were watching
    We need to help make tighter restrictions on what can be shown on tv- there’s little that is truly so called family friendly any more.

    Reply
  5. Michelle says

    October 7, 2009 at 8:47 am

    Would some of you be interested in writing som posts here in the comment section in reference to parental content and abortion in general- I am one of the few prolife posters writing there and I could use some help.
    Thanks☺

    http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/compassion-in-the-face-of-parental-consent/

    Reply
  6. SarahB says

    October 7, 2009 at 10:03 am

    Hi Michelle, I posted a short note there under the screen name SfBf (Sarah B was taken). Very few people seem interested in discussing the actual law; it’s mostly just name-calling and generalizations.

    I think your arguments are well-made, well-supported and clear but unfortunately people like Sarah D there will simply continue to dismiss whatever facts and figures you come up with because they just don’t like them. I admire you for trying, though!

    Reply
  7. Suricou Raven says

    October 7, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    “Have you seen the New Stargate Universe series: Ist episode. Many people are upset cause a high number of children were watching”

    I really don’t care about the children who might see it, but I am annoyed for an unrelated reason: That scene was completly pointless. It has no importance to either plot or character development. It’s only purpose was just to give the audience something to stare at.

    In it’s defence, at least the scene was short.

    I notice the cast so far doesn’t include Seven – it needs a female character who serves primarily as sex appeal and fuel for the viewers’ fantasies. I am guessing they’ll be picking this one up on a later planet, to go for the ‘alien’ appeal… or the ‘she’s so weird, I can even imagine her accepting me’ appeal.

    Hmm… a group of people traveling across the universe, stopping at planets on their way to meet the locals, have an adventure, and continue on to the next system? This seems very voyagery to me.

    Reply
  8. El says

    October 8, 2009 at 10:56 am

    You can blame toy manufacturers but really, who buys that junk? I won’t buy my daughters pole dancing dolls or whatever wonderful thing comes next. If anyone else bought them they’d expect to be in the doghouse and the toy to be in the garbage where it belongs. Parents have to take some responsibility and stop blaming external things, however big a tide it is to fight. Nuts to letting it all wash in.

    I’m sure it gets harder the older kids get (mine are 6 and 4), but a lot my kids’ peers have been watching that junk for years already and they all have Hannah Montana everything. My 6-year-old recognizes Sarah Palin, George Washington and Obummer more readily than HM, for which I’m pretty happy.

    Of course, up until this year we’ve been homeschooling so it’s been a little easier to shield them from the crap that’s out there. I’ll get back to you after a year of public school. 😉

    Reply
  9. Suricou Raven says

    October 9, 2009 at 5:27 am

    So we’re up to blameing manufacturers, advertisers, parents… and I’d throw in a few TV studios, for making tween TV that glorifies shallow consumerism. Blame is getting spread thin.

    Something interesting to note: We *need* pointless materialism, wasteful turnover of fashion and needless consumption. It’s what drives the economy now. If not for people buying junk they don’t need, there would be a far more serious unemployment problem.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow Us

Facebooktwitterrssby feather

Notable Columns

  • A pro-woman budget wouldn't tell me how to live my life
  • Bad medicine
  • Birth control pills have side effects
  • Canada Summer Jobs debacle–Can Trudeau call abortion a right?
  • Celebrate these Jubilee jailbirds
  • China has laws against sex selection. But not Canada. Why?
  • Family love is not a contract
  • Freedom to discuss the “choice”
  • Gender quotas don't help business or women
  • Ghomeshi case a wake-up call
  • Hidden cost of choice
  • Life at the heart of the matter
  • Life issues and the media
  • Need for rational abortion debate
  • New face of the abortion debate
  • People vs. kidneys
  • PET-P press release
  • Pro-life work is making me sick
  • Prolife doesn't mean anti-woman
  • Settle down or "lean in"
  • Sex education is all about values
  • Thank you, Camille Paglia
  • The new face of feminism
  • Today’s law worth discussing
  • When debate is shut down in Canada’s highest places
  • Whither feminism?

Categories

  • All Posts
  • Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia
  • Charitable
  • Ethics
  • Featured Media
  • Featured Posts
  • Feminism
  • Free Expression
  • International
  • Motherhood
  • Other
  • Political
  • Pregnancy Care Centres
  • Reproductive Technologies

All Posts

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in