Almost One-Third of Girls' Clothing is Deemed Sexy, Study Finds
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Fashion
One-third of girls' clothing is deemed sexy. Credit: Getty Images
Are stores to blame for sending sexual stereotypes being foisted on young girls?A new study finds up to 30 percent of clothes for young girls found online in the United States is deemed either sexy or sexualizing, ScienceDaily reports.
Researchers at Kenyon College in Ohio looked at the frequency and sexualizing of clothing for preteen girls on the websites of 15 popular U.S. stores, according to ScienceDaily, defining sexualizing as clothing that "reveals or emphasizes a sexualized body part, has characteristics associated with sexiness and/or carries sexually suggestive writing."
The team studied 5,666 clothing items, ScienceDaily reports; 69 percent only possessed childlike characteristics, while 4 percent "had only sexualized characteristics, 25 percent had both sexualizing and childlike features and 1 percent had neither sexualized nor childlike elements."
The website says sexualized items included shirts and dresses cut to create the look of a bosom or pockets that were embellished to emphasis a girl's rear end. Tween-specific stores were more apt to offer sexualized clothes than children's stores, the researchers add.
"Confused parents might be persuaded to buy the leopard-print miniskirt if it's bright pink," the authors of the study to be published in the journal Sex Roles write. "Clearly, sexiness is still visible beneath the bows or tie-dye colors. We propose that dressing girls in this way could contribute to socializing them into the narrow role of the sexually objectified woman."












ReaderComments (Page 1 of 3)
5-11-2011 @ 7:43PM
Kat said...this is so true!! I took my 11 year old daughter swim suit shopping and could not believe how revealing the swimsuits were for her age. We finally found one with the skirt bottom, but it took 4 different stores. SHAME on retailers!!
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5-11-2011 @ 11:35AM
Judy Gold said...Stores are to blame as well as parents who buy the trashy clothes! I have searched high and low to find dresses that look like a 12 year old should wear them. There is nothing out there! The same problem with shoes. Kittle girls should be girls, they no longer can be. So, I don't buy the garbage. How I wish I had listened when my mom tried to teach me to sew.
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5-11-2011 @ 12:08PM
Tracie Smith said...Just because the stores sell it...doesn't mean parents have to buy it OR allow their girls to either.
I don't have to worry about that, my three girls were raised to be Christian young women...they do NOT dress like hookers, EVER. I am VERY proud of my girls...and my son is quite the young gentleman...
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5-11-2011 @ 12:22PM
aurora said...you don't have to look online for trasht looking girls clothing.. just go to your nearrest wal mart. i was going to get my girls shorts there for the summer, but the shorts looked more like daisy dukes/pedophile attractors.
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5-11-2011 @ 12:32PM
cheryl said...that is why I buy plain boy's cotton pull up shorts for my 12 year old. they are long enough & loose enough for her to play in without flashing anyone.
5-11-2011 @ 1:49PM
cher2686 said...Thats because their designer is Miley Cirus!
5-11-2011 @ 7:09PM
nestmission said...You are so right about the Daisy Duke shorts for little girls. We go to the boys section to buy shorts and they look just fine. Ya know why they don't make boys shorts that show your tush everytime you move? Boys would never dress like that....but girls will show everything and more. If the parents that are responsible for how their young girls look would tell the stores they are not going to buy this trash, I think maybe things would change. Parents, we have to speak up to the right people. Parents, our little girls are not small versions of trash, they are precious little girls that need to be trained for the beginning what is proper and what is not, what is MODEST and what is not...it's up to you parents on the signals you want your little girls to send out!
5-11-2011 @ 12:22PM
aurora said...sorry for typos
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5-11-2011 @ 12:29PM
Cheryl said...I noticed when my girls were still in diapers that the clothes in the girls' sections were inclined to be a little too short or show a bit too much belly....and started planning then to NOT buy that stuff. I seek out stores that sell more classic clothes, like Lands End. I also started sewing and embroidering clothes for them....and now I have a small business, designing and making clothes for kids. I refer to them as "girly outfits for little girls who need to dress like little girls" (although my 12 year old loves them!). Its amazing how many parents agree that girls' clothes are too sexy or too old, yet they buy them anyway because they just can't find satisfactory alternatives.
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5-11-2011 @ 12:32PM
gail m. smith said...ALL I CAN THINK OF WHEN I READ THIS IS THAT SHOW "TODDLERS AND TIARAS"- TO SEE 5 YEAR OLDS WEARING THE STUFF THEY WEAR IS , TO ME, JUST FRIGHTENING. I HAVE A 6 YR. OLD NEICE THAT I AM A LITTLE WORRIED ABOUT. MAKE THEM FEEL LIKE A "DIVA" AT THAT AGE AND YOU ARE, IN MY OPINION, ASKING FOR TROUBLE DOWN THE ROAD
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5-11-2011 @ 12:38PM
carol collum said...It is hard to find anything out there stylish that isn't revealing. The jeans are so low on the waist and the sleeves on the tops are like bra straps. I hate seeing my granddaughters exposed like that and it's not that I'm old fashioned. Anything I pick out for them "is old fashion to them so I don't buy them clothes. I'll give something else as gifts or gift card.
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1-26-2012 @ 4:15PM
Sam said...I blame parents first then stores and society in general. Why does a 8 - 14 year old need to look sexy? Little girls should look like little girls NOT like little adults or little hoochie mamas! Childhood last
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5-11-2011 @ 12:56PM
nofootball said...This is something I've been talking about for YEARS. And of course, we as moms are not obligated to buy the clothes, but it's getting harder and harder to find AFFORDABLE clothes that are age appropriate and stylish without being suggestive. And, yes, I consider baby bathing suits with cut-outs on the side inappropriate as well. This is the type of issue that moms need to be proactive about and mobilize about. To help mandate guidelines about what stores should be marketing to our kids. Because I tell you, it's only going to get worse. Why is it that we can get legislatures to ban advertising of tobacco to our youngsters but selling sex in the form of provocative clothing, explicit scenes on TV shows "for teens," and even on the store displays like those for Abercrombie is still okay? Like that doesn't pose any risk to our kids?
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5-11-2011 @ 12:59PM
Becca said...What, we're supposed to be teaching girls to hate their bodies? Like, you have breasts and a bum, but it's important that no one notices that because it makes you trashy.
I remember my mom encouraging me to wear frilly little girl belly shirts when I was 7. Her thinking was don't be ashamed of your body while you've still got one w/o stretch marks. I'm glad she was that way, because it wasn't long before I hit puberty and was incredibly insecure about my body. I got over that phase too and I grew up just fine. Married, successful in my career path, about to have babies of my own... and I'm comfortable in a bikini. And my mom was raised strict, traditional Christian... she had to wear dresses all the time and hardly ever cut her hair. And she wasn't allowed to wear bathing suits. She hated it.
Why do girls always have to do this or that to be a "good girl?" If she's reasonably covered to adhere to society's laws, let her be a PERSON, wear what she wants, and don't make her feel ashamed for having a female body. I've been through the little girl section at wal mart plenty of times to get baby stuff for my friends' kids, and the clothes look fine to me.
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5-11-2011 @ 9:01PM
isisreptiles said...It's good to read a post from somebody who has an open mind and some common sense. I keep hearing about how inappropriate little girls' and tween clothes are but for the most part I don't see it. I see a few things being sold for that age group that I would consider age-inappropriate but those clothes are the exception and not the rule.
I hardly consider something like a two-piece swimsuit or a spaghetti-strap tank top to be "too sexy" or too revealing.
The kids' clothes now are sure a lot cuter than the stupid, babyish styles that were available when I was that age. Those styles would never sell these days because no one would wear them.
5-11-2011 @ 1:06PM
desib said...I have 5 daughters and I do not buy them items that I feel are not appropriate or too sexy. They have been taught, really from birth ,(at least by example) self-respect and what people can assume from the types of clothing a person wears. As they have gotten older they understand that they types of person they want to become needs to develop from who they are today and doors will close to them if they dont hold themselves a certain way and that includes clothing, the way one speaks and even their social networking skills
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5-11-2011 @ 1:10PM
Sally said...My granddaughters shop at Goodwill and other 2nd hand stores. At 11 and 13, both are quite modest. They might buy a spaghetti-strap tank top, but will layer a t-shirt under it. As homeschoolers, they aren't as affected by peer pressure and what's currently "in style". Many of their puglic-schooled friends have started dressig to copy my grandgirls style...and have also become great "recyclers" shopping at 2nd hand stores for unique and appropriate clothing.
If one is raised to think going with the crowd is the way to live life, then the current "style" is going to influence them. Thankfully, my grandgirls are secure enough in themselves that they are innovators instead of followers and don't get caught up in current style frenzy.
If too sexy clothing doesn't sell, the makers aren't going to create it next season and the stores aren't going to carry it and get stuck with unsaleable merchandise. Skip the "current" altogether and shop used, expressing your individuality and creativity! It's easier than you think for your child to have a superb wardrobe without turning them into Bratz-doll lookalikes!
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5-11-2011 @ 1:09PM
krs said...I'll risk assuming that by "girls" this article means those young consumers requiring parent or guardian to bankroll the pruchase. So what's the problem? Turn a kid loose in the mall with a wad of money and don't be surprised when they come home with items intended to get attention. Make the rules clear such crap is forbidden and let them know Mum will be accompanying them to the stores in the future if they dare pick anything even remotely risque'. Demand receipts too so they can't hide the contraband; they make 'em devious these days.
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5-11-2011 @ 1:18PM
mark said...i haven't read all the comments and somebody may have touched on the issue. what gets my goat is these jerk off moms who force these tiny little girls to dress up like little hookers with all that make up in these pageants. I've been to a few over the years to root for family that was entered and watch these beasts called moms being so demanding on these poor little girls and talk about rigged. i've seen allot of not so pretty girls win that were but ugly but...their mother was on the committee or some b.s. fin.
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5-11-2011 @ 1:15PM
Sally said...There is no mysterious "they" out there dumping deviousness on children. Devious children are products of their environment just as decent children are products of their. Any child who takes a "wad of cash" to the mall and comes home with inappropriate clothing has more problems than simply wearing inappropriate clothing. Sounds like parenting school is in order.
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