Jason S. sent in this clip of a convention for (parents of) infants, toddlers, and tweens called Baby and Tweens Celebration L.A. It’s an example of the hyper-consumerist mentality that now surrounds child-raising, at least for the upper-middle classes and higher. It’s also an example of the way that young children, especially young girls, are encouraged by some forces to think of themselves as “princesses.” Many parents (literally) buy into this idea of what a (girl) child should be like. It has not been this way throughout history and is not this way across cultures.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR6DpbDoyuc[/youtube]
Related posts: baby couture magazine, babies are born 2 shop, future trophy wife and milf t-shirts, boob job piggy bank, Strawberry Shortcake in the City, bangs for baby, beauty spending over a lifetime, modernizing the fairy tale, and girl culture.
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 14
John — June 2, 2009
I started to get hopeful when the woman said she was tired of cupcakes and princesses, then she revealed that her response was to design clothing with leopard print...
Rosemary — June 2, 2009
That is unspeakably creepy. If people want things to accessorize to themselves they should get a poodle. My mother saw a bit of this and commented that when I was little she never did that to me. *shiver*
Kheret — June 2, 2009
When I think about the children who don't have healthy food to eat or clothes to keep them warm, this sort of thing makes me physically ill.
opminded — June 2, 2009
That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Most of those folks are small businesspeople trying to catch on and grow their companies. I'm not one to spend much on kids clothes, but for those folks who are into clothing I'd imagine high-end clothes for their kids aren't much of a stretch. Also I'd rather see them spend it with small companies like those featured here rather than at larger luxury corporations.
Maggie — June 2, 2009
lol John. I thought the same thing.
Kawaikunai — June 2, 2009
The thing with children is that one day they grow up to be fully-functional adults. To these parents, fashion is obviously important, and it does have societal benefits (in the workplace, in finding a mate, etc.). So, aren't these parents simply trying to instill those values in their children from a (very) young age?
Ellen — June 3, 2009
those are very good values to instill. Buy more crap that you don't need.
StephenW — June 3, 2009
I continually talk to my daughter about what defines her as a valuable individual. She is bombarded with messages from games, advertising, "friends", tv, that strive to define her for their purposes - like the businesses in this vid. Age 9, she's told how to attract boys and begins to think she understands relationships and sex. She'd objectified by others and ultimately may view herself according to such performance. It saddens me to see individuality and purpose forgotten to this meaningless conformity, "conventional wisdom" as the vid called it.
lucy — June 4, 2009
I thought tweens were close to teenagers. What happened to just kids?
Redhead Metalhead — June 5, 2009
My parents tried to get me to wear "pretty" clothes when I was little. Thanks to influence from my girlfriend and her parents, I'd grown to dislike that stuff. Now I've gone my own path: black, skulls, flames, leather jackets, etc.
Regardless, they did buy me way too many pairs of clothes. I didn't even get to wear everything they got for me.
Teresa — June 5, 2009
Anyone read "So Sexy So Soon" or had a look at the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood at www.commercialfreechildhood.org?
Kawaikunai, you might find these shed some light on the issues with turning our children into mini adult consumers obsessed with being objects of desire.
Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood » Sociological Images — September 12, 2009
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