Sexed Out 'Tweens and Pre-Pube 20somethings?

While shopping for Halloween Party decorations, some friends of mine and I stopped into Party City to get our fix of fantastic plastic. While cruising for fake blood, rubber bats, and decomposing skulls, we turned the corner and found ourselves in the midst of costuming frenzy. I'm from the way back when costumes were a makeshift of stuff you had, stuff you found, and stuff you scrounged at the thrift store (well, when my mom stopped sewing them for me). I was pretty surprised to see so many kids lined up to get their generic plastic costumes. But what really shocked me were the costumes themselves--at least the costumes for little girls. They were basically a smaller version of the grown-up girl costumes, which were all extremely trampy. Seriously, the one that I have yet to forget and that still incites my rage is Sponge Bath Betty. Why would any woman want to dress up as the nurse who gives sponge baths for Halloween? But that's just it, I reckon--these costumes aren't for women, they're for men.

No, there wasn't a 'tween version of the sponge bath costume, but there might as well have been. There were all the classics--fairy princesses, devils, witches, cats--but with a naughty twist. The twist generally involved miniskirts, exposed navels, and fishnets. The girls modeling the costumes were even sporting a pre-pubescent version of the sultry look. Keep in mind these costumes are for girls 8-12 or so. What the hell is going on here?!

The Washington Post ran a story on just this issue the day before Halloween, suggesting that "baby boomers" who can't let go of the holiday are to blame for the sexing up of little girl costumes. But boomers aren't wearing 9-year-old sizes.

I think this speaks to a larger troubling of sexuality that's going on at the moment. When 9-year-olds are being transformed into sexual objects by the retail industry (and I'm not just talking about Halloween costumes), can we really be shocked while watching Dateline's "To Catch a Predator"? I'm not making excuses for men who prey on little girls, but I do want to think about why men desiring young teens has become a moral gray zone. When as a culture we acquiesce to the sexual objectification of young girls, we cannot then be surprised if men begin to respond to them as sexual objects. Blaming and entrapping men is not the answer; in fact, it only makes things much worse. Rather than attempting to understand the issue in its social and cultural context, it merely rights it off as a failing of individual men.

This sexing up of 'tweens also has ramifications for mature hetero relations. Take the Brazilian phenomenon; this may sound like a reach, but the whole pube waxing thing seems to glorify pre-adolescence. Part of what signifies women are physically mature enough for sex is pubic hair; no hair down there means too young. As in way underage. As in cultural taboo. No, I'm also not blaming women. But this issues of course feeds into our culture's obsession with youth and fear of aging. We've reached a confused sexual crossroads where women masquerade as girls and girls impersonate women; let's hope we manage to find the better path.