Student questions the sexuality of youth fashion
Stephen Sharper
Senior
Sociology Major
Guest Columnist
I
think there’s an all too familiar story that many guys my age can tell.
You’re walking somewhere and your eye just happens to catch a nice pair
of legs. As you look up, your attention is maintained by what seems to
be the figure of a healthy, full grown woman.
Finally, you’re
in for an unsettling shock when your eyes meet the face of the young
lady you’ve been checking out. You’re shocked because upon seeing the
girl’s face, you realize that she is just that — a little girl.
When
I say little, I’m generally talking anyone under 18 years old which,
for me and many of my peers at Oakland University, is too young.
Specifically for the purposes of this topic, I’m talking about girls
who look like they could very well be 13 or 14 years old. Now that is
disturbing.
What I’ve come to notice over the past four years
or so, maybe even longer, is that there is an overall increase in the
sexual nature of dress that adolescent and now preadolescent girls seem
to favor.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but when I was in
junior high school I don’t exactly remember every girl showing up to
school as if they were going to the club after class.
Granted,
it was a trend that definitely started by the time I was in junior
high, which was around the turn of the millennium, but it definitely
seems more prevalent now.
I take a lot of interest in the
social sciences, especially topics of gender and sexuality, and have
taken a lot of classes related to that interest. I’ve learned in my
Women Across Cultures class that first menstruation among native
peoples generally takes place at around 17 years of age. In industrial
countries, especially the United States, we have girls starting their
periods as young as 11.
Hormones in our foods seem to be the
most likely cause but what are some of the implications of this
phenomenon? Young girls are starting to reach sexual maturity sooner
and at an age where I believe they should be worrying about high school
placement tests and having fun with their friends instead of asking
their moms to take them to Victoria Secret.
I may be all about
freedom, especially women’s freedom, in a time where the media is ripe
with ideas about what it means to be a true woman. I just think that 12
and 13 years old is a little too early to be exploring one’s sexuality
in that particular way.
There are a number of problems with
this trend, some trivial and some potentially quite serious. First, I’m
simply tired of looking at attractive, seemingly college aged women
and finding that they are freshmen in high school. It’s not just me
either. I’ve talked to a number of my male friends who have had the
same experience.
On a more serious note, I have also taken
notice of what seems to be the increase in sexual activity of young
women from ages 12 to 14. Now, I don’t want to condemn anyone’s sexual
history, but I think 12 is a little too early to be having sex. I’ve
heard this from classmates who knew people in junior high school who
did it; talk shows have eaten up this topic in recent years and there
have been articles online about this phenomenon.
America’s
kids may be maturing faster on a physical level, but mentally and
emotionally I think 12 is far too young for anyone to know the full
implications of sexual activity. This doesn’t even begin to take into
account the possibility that this age group may see increases in
attempted and perpetrated sexual assaults.
I’m a firm believer
in the idea that women should be able to dress however they wish and be
free from harassment, discrimination and, most especially, assault. In
reality, however, people often use women’s clothing choices as excuses
for why such heinous crimes are committed.
At the end of the
day, media images about sex, the fashion industry’s desire and obvious
success at marketing sexier clothing to a younger audience, combined
with parental consent and complacency has combined to create this new
dilemma. I guess only time and social science research will reveal the
problems that will emerge from this new trend, and how serious the
implications are for our young ones.