Don’t dress your baby like a jerk
Consider, for example, the case of the sexy onesie. This week, the Mississippi department store Gordmans found itself the center of national attention when a concerned mom notified a local news team about a baby outfit embellished to look like a curvaceous, bikini-clad female trunk. As parent Laura Faulkner disgustedly told WMC-TV, It puts out a bad meaning about society for them to want to put something like that on an 18-month-old baby. And a local father chimed in that, I think it gives people the wrong idea.
The idea that maybe your not yet 2-year-old isnt just a baby but a babe? Trompe loeil baby clothes are a popular genre but others have played with illusion in a way that dont seem quite so blatantly suggestive. Its one thing to make a onesie look like a bikini; its another to make it look like a womans body. Baby in a real bathing suit? Logical. Baby with Kate Uptons dimensions? Creepy. But other Mississippi shoppers didnt see the big deal about it, calling it cute. MSNBC commenters were divided, some calling it in poor taste, others seeing harmless fun.
The battlefield of parenting is full of hills, and we all have to choose the ones wed die on. Thats why its easy to shrug off a goofy outfit as a lighthearted fashion statement, like those mustache pacifiers. Your daughter isnt automatically destined to be oppressed by the patriarchy because shes wearing a getup thatd be appropriate for the Sports Illustrated Jr. swimsuit issue. But the way we present our children to the world says an awful lot about how we see ourselves, and how we want others to see our sons and daughters. It matters. It matters because long before theyre fully aware of the roles in which we cast our children, the grown-ups and other kids in their lives will be responding to them based on the way they look and dress. So if your kid is wearing a Hooters onesie that announces hes Boob Man, or a Gymboree shirt that declares shes Pretty Like Mommy, that child will pick up the message long before he or she can read.
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If youre wondering if a bikini onesie is a fine example of how deeply institutionalized our cultural sexism is, how we objectify girls quite literally from the time theyre in the cradle, well, sure. But more than that, its just sad and desperate. As one parent summed it up to WMC, this stuff is just a little ridiculous. Your baby is not a chick magnet or a future Victorias Secret model or a fan of the Wu Tang Clan. Maybe you are. So if youre dying to make a hilarious, mass-produced statement, isnt that what your car bumper is for?
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/06/dont_dress_your_baby_like_a_jerk/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews