The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

I mean, seriously, with the perfect roundness and the tassels in just the right place, what image besides big breasts is this image supposed to convey? Can the earliest sexualization of children be more obvious than clothing designed to resemble cartoonish 2-dimensional fake breasts?

The designer, Suzi Warren, told ParentDish via email that “The Nipple Tassel t-shirt was designed as a response to my own distaste at seeing mini versions of sexy clothes on young children. Five-year-olds wearing slashed mini skirts and boob tubes, little thumb-sucking Britneys.” I guess that’s like wearing blackface to protest racism?

Although this clothing is made in the UK, there are striking similarities between their culture and ours. I see their culture as what America is becoming if steps are not taken to prevent it, and cultural exchange is already underway. BBCAmerica features the series “Skins,” about 14-year-olds and 16-year-olds indulging in sex and drugs.
Marieke Hardy of The Age says:

I don’t know if teenagers in real life watch Skins. I don’t know if they should watch it. It’s a series for adults, particularly those who might have somewhat of a chequered moral past themselves.

She also described one episode as:

…opening with a close-up of a rather aggressively taut teenage boner, straining against a pair of tight underpants. Following not far behind this vaguely confronting shot was an ecstasy-fuelled party… an infant being dropped on its head, and an erection that had to be sellotaped to a poor gentleman’s leg “for safety reasons”.

The similarity between our culture and their culture is striking. Last year, Vanity Fair photographed nude the then-15-year-old Miley Cyrus. Janice Turner of The Times condemned the Vanity Fair shot, stating the photographer “the shock potential, the lip-smacking titillation, in posing a star known for her wholesome, girlish role in Disney’s Hannah Montana as if photographed by her deflowering first boyfriend.”

By portraying Miley in this manner, the photographer deflowered the wholesome image and role model that young girls need in this world. Michelle Malkin posted: “Vanity Fair didn’t see a 15-year-old girl. They saw magazine sale dollar signs. [They] saw skin, skin, skin and another notch in the belt.“ This sexualization of our teenage actresses is damaging to our youth and our society.

The gender flipside is equally damaging. For numerous episodes of Law&Order: SVU, many actors well-known for child and family-friendly roles chose to play rapists as if playing the rapist was a sign of maturity or something to admire. There is an appropriate time and place for sex both in real life and on television; however, our culture’s obsession with deflowering is the anti-thesis of healthy as this obsession destroys women‘s sexuality, making it not their own to enjoy but a tool to please men.

Again, quoting Janice Turner:

…the chief excitement surrounding girl-women such as Cyrus concerns their entry on to the sexual marketplace. Years ago a website even ticked off the days and hours until the moment Britney Spears was “legal”.”