Kylie Minogue has added her name and star power to a
line of underwear that is really lingerie for 8- to 12-year olds who are really still kids. The
Love Kylie Princess
undies are cheeky (and when I say cheeky, I mean half-ass
hanging-outty), sexy, sassy, marketed to girls and sold at KMart, where
one night's babysitting money can get you multiple pairs.
I
clearly remember being twelve and begging my mother to let me wear
suntan pantyhose with my bobby socks and Keds. OK, so it was a
bezillion years ago and I was still secretly playing with Barbies. My
mother refused. No negotiations, no further discussion. And then she
saw a group of girls from my class, all boobs and boyfriends and, of
course, suntan panthose. She gave in. She probably knew that I wouldn't
be wearing a bra for years, so the nylons were one little step in the
direction of womanhood. While I may have jumped at the chance to put my
little skinny pre-pubescent booty into a pair of sassy panties back
then, I know my mom would have promptly tossed them from the laundry.
One little step was one thing for a girl. Frederick's for 'Tweens? I think not.
This
pre-breast bud sexualization of girls is disturbing and unecessary for
anything other than mass marketers making even more money. Of course,
the 'tween thing is normalized because girls have already amassed
enough images of how and why their (eventual) boobs, (bare) bellies and
(bumpin') booties are attention-getting in the form Bratz dolls and
other ridiculous products pushed from kindergarten on.
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