Questions for Us

This is a catch phrase of my husband’s, when he enters a room the girls and I are in. Makes me smile.

Anyhoo, I’ve been on a small beach holiday with my hubby and two girls (9 and 5)….and no internet connection! I’ve been itching to write but there’s SO much to say and (hoping to)  discuss with you all. It’s a bit daunting, actually. Where to start….

I could start with what I saw on my holiday; where a lot of my impressions about how things are, were reinforced.

What is it with the MAJORITY of girls wearing their ‘summer uniform’ these holidays? You know – shorter than short, shorts; singlet top with visible bra; sandals/havaianas. (Or the classic short shorts with ugg boots, bungalow bunny look….in summer….hmm). I haven’t got a problem with shorts, OR a visible bra, OR sandals/havaianas (I have both) – I do, however, have two problems with this outfit:

Firstly – IT’S A UNIFORM!! At my high school, many female (and male) students take up arms on the uniform front and verbalise that stale argument, “It’s just clothing, it won’t affect my learning” – and then go home, get changed and look, pretty much, like most other girls. (Boys do this too – but the way they dress is for a later discussion).

The irony of this kills me. They look like clones. To coin another phrase in the same blog – my good friend Lily recently went to a formalish party and commented on the ‘cookie cutter’ outfits – spray tans, short dresses, visible bust, platform shoes – does anyone else see Bratz Dolls?

No sense of individuality or of being unique – one in a million.

Secondly – The amount of girls using this outfit to express a tone of sexual availability, is not only on the increase, but being expressed by girls who are younger every time I look.

I passed a group of five women in the supermarket this week. The first two were girls in their early teens, looking particularly spicy in their ‘uniform’; flicking hair, chewing gum and showing big, doughy eyes behind heavy eye make-up. The next two were girls aged about seven or eight. They took my breath away a little, because they were as equally decked out but with no obvious make-up…..still…..as I continued on, a bit wide-eyed at the young ones, I look up to see the fifth woman – the mother. She may have been the mother to one or all four – but they were all a feast of visual candy.

And we’re supposed to look, right? Isn’t that the point?

Last year on Australia Day, in a similar beach town, I saw a teenaged girl – she looked about 18 – wearing a bikini top with short denim shorts. The zipper was half undone and on her stomach she had drawn an arrow pointing down to her crotch with the word, ‘Heaven’.

WHY???

But it’s not just at the beach. On a recent train trip to the city with my daughters, a loud, mid-teen girl sat in front of us. She was swearing and speaking quite loudly, which made you look at her. What did we see? She was basically wearing a bra, a cup size too small as she was spilling over, with a tight singlet top that covered a bit of the bottom of said bra.

WHY???

I mean, you have to understand that I’m not a prude – I’m not offended or going *tsk, tsk, tsk* – but I do truly wonder why SO MANY of these young girls are sending out such a strong (and dare I say, possibly dangerous) message, through their ‘choice’ of outfit. Has the term ‘self respect’ disappeared from these girls’ vocabulary?

So I’m wondering:

Question #4: Where’s the guidance?