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Original poster

What did you think of the recent statement made by David Cameron regarding young girls clothing??

113 replies

Helenemjay · 13/05/2006 16:15

It was David Cameron wasnt it? i have been talking to some friends about his 'creepy and wrong' opinions on some girls clothing, we agreed that to dress a 8/9 year old girl in a really short skirt with padded bra's etc IS really bad, my friend and i saw a very young girl recently with a very very short skirt on with 'im a very bad girl' written accross her chest!! Shock i personally would NEVER dress my daughter in anything like that but then some people might say im being a prude??! what do you think?

OP posts:
liquidclocks · 16/05/2006 14:29

So glad to find I'm not the only old (at 24!) prude out here!

I had an (almost) argument with DH last week when we were given some 'action man' clothes for 18 month old DS. I just don't want such a little one getting subtle messages that fighting and war etc is all manly and ok, I'm not allowing toy guns (except water pistols) in the house either.

Expecting second son soon and though I was a little sad to find out I'll not be having a girl I feel a lot beter having read this thread - all you mums of girls have such a hard job!

fransmom · 16/05/2006 18:00

hey! less of the old - i'm 31 ! Grin

cutekids · 16/05/2006 18:08

i didn't even like those black and red sandals that you can get with "Bratz" on!!! they made me shudder when i saw them for some reason...although dd then 7 loved them!

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maddiebean · 16/05/2006 21:41

Here, here! Couldn't agree more ladies, I find it soooo hard to find nice 'little' girl clothes for dd (3yrs in a few weeks) and I LOATHE all the tarty stuff (particular favourite was baby doll mule type slippers with high heels in woolworths last year....ARGH.) I love mini boden but dagnamit it's just too expensive. Anyway am posting to check that me and dd trying out every varnish in my nail varnish collection on our toes isn't deemed tarty... I agree with someone who said they hate to see nail varnish on little girls but thought it was ok on our toes!! 2006 is a scary time to be raising a daughter...

Maddie
x

ps I also HATE, HATE, HATE fcuk on anyone of any age.

JustMe1975 · 16/05/2006 22:16

I just stumbled across this posting and have found it very interesting. I am 31 and was out shopping the other day. From a distance i saw a top which i thought I would buy for a giggle to wear when my partner got home.....it was just a one sleeved t-shirt with... "stroke my pussy" across the chest...please realise i wouldn't wear this in the street but i thought what the hell we all need a laugh....only then i got closer and i didn't even bother to pick it up as it physically repulsed me when i realised it was for a 2-3yr old. Ok from a distance folded up it looked good...for an adult!!!!

I then went to a clothing store and was looking at the underwear....can someone tell me WHY DOES A 3-4 yr old NEED A THONG OR CAMISOLE????????? what are we living in a world of nonces designing clothes for little girls????

I thank god i have a son. I have to disagree with one poster who said about boys clothes with skulls on....My son has a gorgeous black shirt which looks like it has a fine row of white flowers around the chest but when you get close you realise it is a row of skulls and he looks lovely in it teamed up with his ripped jeans....mind you i am beginning to begrudge £20 for jeans with rips in them....i can do them myself.

JustMe1975 · 16/05/2006 22:28

Something i forgot to add....
my ds has many t-shirts with logos on...no combats or war zones here though. He has: "Butter wouldn't melt" "Whats in it for me" "I don't think so" and a pair of boxer shorts which say "I hear you i just aint listening" and i love them so does he and i am not a chav...but he looks cute in them. as for the boxers...he was going through an attitude stage and i bought them for him.

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 16/05/2006 23:18

justme1975 - where on earth were you? have never heard anything quite so bad as that. and thongs for 3-4 year olds????

JustMe1975 · 16/05/2006 23:24

thewoman, i was first in a local market and also if you look in primark i think it was you will see the hipster knickers...for girls as young as 5 i think.....underwear to cater for the low rise jeans ewwwwwwwwwww

mummyhill · 17/05/2006 08:01

I don't mind combat or camo trousers for either sex to be honest and some of the tops with clean logos on are great. I would rather see a little girl in a vest top than running round without a top in the summer even though we were allowed to run round the beach etc with less on as children.

BUT THONGS FOR CHILDREN EEEEWWWWWWWWW.

There has been a huge increase in children attracting the wrong kind of adult attention I only wonder why the parents are so supprised when they dress them or allow them to dress as little tarts.

PinkKerPlink · 17/05/2006 08:09

hhhmmmm boys are allowed to wear camo gear in this house

girls clothes are over sexualised I agree, its quite saddening:(

franca70 · 17/05/2006 10:10

I can't stand bikinis little girls

Rhubarb · 17/05/2006 10:17

No-one going to own up to buying these clothes then? Come on, I bet there are a few of you lurking out there, post, I dare you!

At the school fétes here in France, the little 5yo girls have their eyebrows plucked and are wearing make-up, they have their ears pierced and also wear rings and other jewellry.
For her 5th birthday dd got make-up from one of her friends, I put it away never to be seen again! She recently asked me why she didn't have her ears pierced - most of the other girls did.

BUT having said all of that, the teenagers here do know how to dress appropriately. It is all fashion labels, but they DO cover up, they manage to look funky and fashionable without looking slutty. Perhaps that's because they learn about fashion from an early age? I don't know but they are obviously doing something right with the teens.

My dd will stay a little girl for as long as I can keep her that way!

christie1 · 17/05/2006 10:54

very sad but obviously someone is buying them or the stores wouldn't sell them, so if we parents said no there would nto be a problem. My dd is 9 and a good number of girls in school have their hair highlighted and dyed. I have a "no belly button" rule, if the shirt is above the bellybutton, she can't have it. I am apalled at the messages on girls clothes. Let them be kids. On the one hand we worry about pedaphiles them dress our children like women and think it is "cute". Well, it isn't. I agree with whoever said it's parents who can't so no. Some clothes are just inappropriate for kids. I was at a festival yesterday and their was a highschool choir and the beautiful singer had a t-shirt with the playboy bunny symbol on it! What! and it was a catholic school.

Bugsy2 · 17/05/2006 11:08

I think there is a big difference in blatently "sexy" clothes & an outfit that is badly put together which ends up looking a bit slutty.
So, I disapprove of girls clothes that are sexualised: t-shirts with "hot date" written on them & inappropriate material & cuts of clothing.
However, my dd wears cowboy boots with a long swirly skirt & definitely doesn't look tarty. So cowboy boots in themselves are not inappropriate but putting them together with a tiny lycra skirt & skin tight t-shirt gives an entirely different impression to long swirly skirt with big roses on it!
My ds also wears a bikini but it is not slutty, it is nicely cut & very pretty.
So, while I think you can ask manufacturers to be more careful about the clothes they market to children, I don't think you will ever prevent some children's parents from allowing them to dress inappropriately.
I would suggest it is way more important to teach children about having self-esteem and self-respect than making a big hoohaa about cheap, nasty clothing.

mummydoc · 17/05/2006 11:51

new to mumsnet and i am so glad to find like minded parents, my DDs ( 6 1/2 and 19 months) look like little girls and at a recent party they both wore smocked dresses and hand knitted cardi's complete with gingham hair ribbons. Lots of people commented on how nice they looked , I wanted to ask then why they let their daughters dress so badly, but i will admit i spend a fortune on their clothes . also i think ear pieceing for under 12's is child abuse.

JustMe1975 · 17/05/2006 12:31

I can't agree on the ear piercing front as i was 3 yrs old when i asked for mine to be done. I was 16 when i had 2nd holes, 21 when i had 3rd, 22 when i had 4th and at 23 i had one more done at top of ear. i also had belly button pierced. now i only wear one pair of earrings and the one at top of my ear. i recently took belly bar out as well.....However in saying that my ds has been asking me since he was 3 1/2 to have his ear pierced and i am adamant i won't have it done....but i did promise him i would think about it for his 8th birthday....why did i do that??? its only a few months away ooppss

Bozza · 17/05/2006 12:37

I would definitely NOT allow my 8yo to have his ear pierced. Fortunately DS (5) would think it "girly".

JustMe1975 · 17/05/2006 12:56

Bozza, to some extent i allow him to make his own choices...for example he choses his own clothes and has done since he was 2///at the end of the day i am not wearing them so it doesn't matter if i like them as much as if he does. He knows it is going to hurt for a short while and knows there is a risk of infection if not cared for correctly but hell he is not a baby and can decide for himself if he really wants it done. I am not too sure i want him to have it done but ultimatly he is capable of deciding for himself if this is what he wants. Of course some things i don't allow him to decide for himself....

2ManyPimms · 17/05/2006 12:59

An ear piercing for a boy at 8???

Different strokes, I guess....

Bozza · 17/05/2006 13:02

Yes I allow my DS to choose what he wears after school. He generally comes down looking a mess. If he is going out somewhere with me we "negotiate". A piercing would be non-negotiable. I imagine it will be more of an issue with DD though.

mummydoc · 17/05/2006 16:52

Not sure that an 8 year old could really be expected to understand the consequences of a medical procedure - which after all is what a pieceing is - i am sure he is a bright child but i cannot imagine anybody accepting that an 8 year old really understands the implications of infection / septaceamia etc , isn't it the parents job to realise these things and just say NO you are not having this ??? rather different about choosing clothes after all he isn't going to come to nay harm with a few mismatched clothes...

figroll · 17/05/2006 17:08

May be I will be criticized here, but I can't bear to see little boys dressed in football kits. They look like little yobs, particularly with the highlights or bald head - OMG. Loads of boys at my dds school have highlights at the age of about 6 or 7. What is it with the fake tan on 4 year olds too? I must be getting old!

Fake tan, tram lines above the ear, earrings for boys, thongs for 4 year olds(!!!!! a paedophile's delight) - chavvy that's what I call it!

figroll · 17/05/2006 17:09

By the way - I had my ears pierced when I was 4 - so may be I am a chavette.

2ManyPimms · 17/05/2006 18:07

Personally, and I am sure I am going to take some flack for this, I think that little boys with pierced ears look like wee thugs.

sparklemagic · 17/05/2006 18:20

agree figroll and 2many - my 2 yr old nephew was brought into his birthday party wearing full england kit, with his hair in a mullet and gelled into spikes at the top........Shock