Who wears short-shorts?
Not my daughter, that’s who. But if the racks of summer shorts in children’s clothing stores are any indication, then she might be the only child in our neighbourhood who isn’t sporting short-shorts.
I’m frustrated. I’ve made several outings to several stores and have yet to locate a pair of shorts for my seven-year-old that would cover at least the top of her thighs.
And I’m angry. I see these short-shorts as just another item in a long list of items that contribute to the hypersexualization of young girls in our society.
Short-shorts were created to be sexually enticing. Children — be they boys or girls — should be allowed to be children. Not objectified for the pleasure of others.
Baffled, I reached out to my Twitter friends and questioned why any parent would put their child in short-shorts. One tweet replied back, “Oh, you mean slut shorts?” And another provided an answer: “They figure it’s okay to buy them because that’s all that’s in the store. And because if other girls are wearing them, then it’s okay.”
I can understand a herd mentality. Sure, we can all succumb to it. But one thing leads to another, and then you have little girls bumping and grinding on stage to cheering parents.
You think I’m exaggerating? Then you can just count yourself lucky that you have not seen a recent video, viewed by more than two million, on You Tube. It’s a dance performance by girls the same age as my daughter to Beyonce’s song “All the Single Ladies”. It’s shocking.
But mostly, it’s just plain sad. That a dance teacher thought it was a good idea to train these girls to perform these moves. That parents paid for this training; for these outfits. Drove them to countless practices. These are the adults that these girls are relying on for guidance in life.
Who knows? Maybe I’m just a prude. An exaggerating, over-analyzing prude. But I will keep searching for shorts that I think are a comfortable width and appropriate length for my daughter.
Now is her time to climb trees and swing on monkey bars. It’s a precious time that doesn’t last for that long.
If she dares to wear short-shorts when she’s older, that’s her choice. But for now, I need to make these choices for her.
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Brilliant comment! Well done good and righteous mama, you’re doing what a good mother SHOULD DO! Congratulations and keep up the good work! I don’t think any woman needs to wear short shorts , its just a lustful unnecessary way to dress.
Nope. You’re not a prude at all. Sounds like you’re a mom with her head on straight, and some solid family values. Good on ya!
Hi. I came across this page via a Google search. I am also disturbed by the current trend as well. I don’t understand how moms would allow their daughters to dress in such a way. I figured dads would know better, because they know how other men can be. In Boston, there is a serious problem with a group of perverted men photographing teenage girls in the area on a daily basis, especially in the summertime. Girls are drawing the wrong kind of attention to themselves with the way they dress. I blame it on our society and on the parents. Parents should be protecting their children and teaching them to value and respect themselves. I hope baggy clothes come into style soon for teenagers.
i like shorts…
I’ve seen the video and I’ve got to tell you – I’m shocked.
I am not a parent, nor am I an adult, I am a 15 year old boy, and clearly I can’t see this exactly how you do, I do however agree that young girls shouldn’t expose their bodies like that.
I have two adorable little nieces one at the age of 3 and one at the age of 5, They are cute to the bone and just imagining them whoring-out like the girls in the video makes me so angry. I am glad though that their father (my uncle) loves them so very much, He will never let them do such things, He will see that they have their own time to grow up.
If you have such a problem with the shorts section for girls, then why not shop in the boys’ section? Just get a plain pair of shorts, and who’s to know? Or, as Allison said, you could turn some of her old pants into cutoffs. That would work, and she would be comfortable in the hot weather without looking like a seven-year-old lingerie model. xD
Yeah, shorts with leggings is totally moronic. My daughter is also seven and this year for the first time she is wearing shorts that don’t come down to her knees, but she wears them with t-shirts or tank tops that cover a lot of them. When you say shorts that are in danger of showing their underwear, that’s a whole other thing. I have noticed that soon after the age of six, girls’ clothes tend to get extremely hoochie (as my sister says), and I find this dismaying and disgusting.
I completely agree.
I wore short shorts as a little girl and don’t at all remember them to be “sexy”. If worn with a fun t-shirt and sporty shoes I am not sure people would view this in a sexual light. Gosh don’t you remember the good ol’ 70’s with toob tops!
I think it is all how you interpret it!
Gah! The day my 7 year old daughter wears a boob tube is the day I die! 🙂
It really does depend on the style of short I guess … but I was in Gap Kids and asked why their jean shorts for girls were all so short and looked like they would barely cover the bum and the salesperson told me they are styling them with leggings this season and gee, how cute it looks. What the …? So, a child is supposed to wear leggings with shorts on top of them in the hot summer — it’s just all too ridiculous. Please just give us some comfortable options for girls that don’t show their underwear … is that too much to ask?
I agree it is hard to find shorts for girls that are long. I was shocked shopping for my Daughter since I had only shopped for a boy before and had a long list of choices for knee or longer length shorts. I have had to purchase quite a bit larger sizes for my daughter and get them with draw strings, or resort to “Skorts” which sometimes are longer ( again in larger sizes)! So agreed! I find it so limiting so tend to stick to dresses ( which thankfully she loves)
It would be nice to offer us at least both types — shorter and longer! No just short. I followed up on some tips from readers and found some great ones at Old Navy though. Maybe you can try there too!
Oh my, I just watched that ‘Single Ladies’ video. It was 10x worse than I was expecting… It’s shocking to me that parents are OK with that….
susie 😉
Yes, it’s enough to make you want to thrown up a little in your own mouth!
I guess I’m lucky that I haven’t had to buy shorts yet this year. My girls have enough leftover from last year, plus I bought some things for them in the States in the winter. The shorts they have are almost to the knee, Bermuda shorts I guess…I think my girls look stunning in them.
It seems so silly to make them grow up so quickly.
Yes, just because little girls may feel keen to be grownups doesn’t mean we should encourage them. Gawd knows there is plenty of time for grownup-hood in life!
I completely agree. You could check a few of the second hand stores for shorts. I also think I saw a couple of longer shorts at Old Navy. I hope you find some.
A shopping tip from the lovely ShopHaven! I will check it out … thanks!
For the most part I do not have a problem with short shorts. I wore them as a kid. I do not think that they should show the crack of someones butt or be so short that I’m afraid of seeing something else. I also think that the shorts look sexier if you are wearing a sexy top. My daughter wears hers with a t-shirt. To me it is more about comfort in the heat and humidity. I do agree that it is hard to find longer shorts. I have had a very hard time finding them which really sucks because they need them for school. No short shorts allowed.
Hi Karen – I completely agree — it should be about comfort. I’d happily dress my daughter in shorter shorts if they were more of a jersey material or something more “sporty” but I just can’t find any anywhere this season! Let me know if you have any shopping tips for me on this ….
I’m really not sure where I fall on this one. On the one hand, I agree that sexualization of young girls is shocking and outrageous and wrong, and is something that society seems to be pushing to a disturbing degree. On the other hand, I’m not sure that high-cut shorts are necessarily something that I see as sexualizing. I mean, the kind of shorts that leave a woman’s butt cheeks hanging out certainly would be inappropriate for young girls, but I can’t recall ever seeing a young girl wearing anything like that. (Teens, yes, but while there’s definitely a conversation to be had about teen girls and revealing clothes, I think it’s a different conversation than this one.)
I suppose I may just be oblivious or naive, especially since I don’t have a daughter and therefore don’t go into the girls’ department in clothing stores. But I have seen girls wearing shorts of a length that probably would be considered “sexy” on a woman, and my reaction to that has always been kind of like when I see a baby wearing nothing but a diaper. Below a certain age, it just reads as “cute” to me, not sexual.
I’m certainly willing to concede that I might be wrong-headed in this, though.
But I’m totally with you on the “writing on the butt” thing. That’s right out.
Hi Mike … thanks for stopping in to my little corner here at LAAH!
I think the problem is that girls are increasingly being dressed as women. Short-shorts may not be something that bothers everyone, but on the more extreme end of this trend is selling G-strings for girls (I know you don’t go into girls stores, so trust me – it’s really actually true!).
A twitter friend shared this piece with me by Andrew Bartlett and his words may be more articulate than mine: “I think there is a real risk that we are not allowing children, and particularly young girls, to be children. Marketers are forcing girls into an adult mould before some even learn how to read, interact with older people or to think critically. We are pushing them into a corner where they become obsessed with how their bodies look in clothing that is not suitable for their age group, and whether we like it or not we are forcing on them an adult sexuality which is unnecessary and potentially quite harmful.” (link: http://ht.ly/2295l)
When my daughter was younger, I could easily just shop from the boys’ side of the store where the shorts were designed for active play — very functional and long-wearing. But now that she is older, the boys’ shorts just don’t fit any more around the waist. Grrrr ….
Thanks for the link; it was interesting reading.
This seems like a terribly complicated issue to me. Of course the extremes of any issue are easy to process, and in this case, things like the padded bras and g-strings that Bartlett mentions are clearly way over the line. It boggles the mind how anyone could think that’s a good idea. (I absolutely believe you and Bartlett, though, that such things exist.)
Short shorts–to a certain point of shortness–seem to fall somewhere in between those examples and “obviously OK,” at least to me. Because there is some degree of utility to smaller clothes in hot weather, plus, as I mentioned before, there’s some room to interpret short shorts on girls as innocent and not sexualized.
But where this becomes especially difficult for me is that I think there is a natural tendency in children toward wanting to imitate adults in general and their parents in particular. Now, I’ve expressed concern before (elsewhere) about adult women’s fashion trending toward the hypersexual and what the implications are for the self-image, self-value, and self-esteem of women, and how this plays with respect to the place of women in society and the attitudes of men toward women. And this must play into the development and marketing of children’s fashions. After all, I’m sure that marketing types will defend themselves by saying that they make these clothes because that’s what people want to buy, and part of that desire on the part of the consumer probably does have to do with girls wanting to look like the women they see.
But I’m uncomfortable, too, with being too critical of an adult woman’s choice in how to dress herself, not least because of the fact that I’m a man, and the last thing I want is to feel like I’m perpetuating the patriarchal mindset. But, I think here the balance between the healthy, free expression of confident female sexuality and the desire for women not to have to define themselves by and derive value from their sexuality is probably beyond the scope of this discussion. Also the question of whether hypersexualized women’s fashion is more a product of male expectations or female empowerment. Though both questions touch on this one in ways that I think are important.
Where does this leave me with respect to girls’ clothes? I’m not sure. I do think that it goes beyond the sort of sinister marketing push that Bartlett may be implying, and here I think parents in general need to be asking themselves what the effects their choices for their kids may have. I certainly have seen kids wearing things that seemed very inappropriate to me.
It’s a lot to think about. But thanks for giving me the opportunity and perspective to do that thinking.
You bring up a really interesting facet to this issue … that children naturally want to imitate and dress-up like the adults around them. Although it sounds obvious, I must admit I hadn’t even considered it in relation to this issue. Our society’s constant focus women’s “looks” or image directly plays into how clothes are marketed and designed differently for boys than for girls. And if a girl grows up with role models who focus on this, then they will naturally absorb it as well.
As for the sinister marketing push that Barlett discusses, I do think that there is a great deal of validity to what he is saying. But I don’t like the blanket blaming of “media” that is so common. Because who is the “media”? — well, it’s us, of course.
Anyhow Mike, you have given me so many more ways to look at this issue. It’s been really interesting and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Thanks again!
If you’re really concerned, you can turn her old pants into cut offs.
I wear short shorts and I don’t see any problem with young girls wearing them as long as they don’t say “slut” or something on the back. They are definitely preferable to the recent teen trend of wearing long shirts with no pants at all.
Now if a 7 year old were to pair the short shorts with a bikini top and high heels, that would be too much…
Hi Allison! Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts. When your wrote “a 7 year old were to pair the short shorts with a bikini top and high heels, that would be too much” made me immediately think of Toddlers and Tiaras! I suppose to each her own in some ways, but I am very irked that the choice is literally not available for longer shorts for girls. Boys, on the other hand, have great functional shorts to choose from.
I was just complaining about this to DH last week. Thank goodness we have a few hand-me-down shorts our daughter can wear that are an appropriate length. Most of the shorts I see in stores are rudiculously short. It’s just creepy to have short shorts for a six-year-old.
Hi Mary Lynn – So, we’re in the same boat, eh? I’ve been relying on hand-me-downs and the consignment stores too! Also, I’ve found that “skorts” are pretty common in the consignment shops and they tend to come to a nice mid-thigh and aren’t tight. You know what else I think it creepy for six-year-olds? Shorts with writing across the bum! Why would you want people staring at your child’s bum??
Huh. This one never crossed my radar screen — mom to boys and all. I have to say, though, I do spend a lot of time around schoolage kids, and haven’t noticed a particularly troubling trend to revealing shorts. To me, short shorts are just more comfortable — I grew up wearing them, and would still wear them if my thighs were just a tad less, um, mother of three.
You’re completely right though — at that age, you make the call based on your comfort level.
Hi Dani –
I suppose it depends on the style of short, doesn’t it? Most of the shorts in stores this season seem to be styled like a cut-off short that has been rolled-up high. It doesn’t look like a child’s style and they don’t even cover the top of the thigh. They’re not practical because any type of climbing/biking/crouching activity would reveal your underwear. I’m sure you wouldn’t want your boys walking around with their underwear showing either, it’s just that they don’t market these styles for boys because of the very fact that women’s legs are a “sexy” part of the body.
But just this morning, I learned of an ad campaign where a male toddler is being oogled by women as he struts down the street wearing his “denim” diapers. It’s just wrong in so many ways. (You can read about it here: http://mommymaria.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/hate-commercial/)
YES. Agreed.
Yah! Glad I’m not the only one in this corner. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment nova. I checked out your blog and some of the groovy tattoo links too. Nice to make your acquaintance!