As the mother of two daughters, this topic is close to my heart. I regularly give my girls the “parental once over” to be sure they don’t head out the door looking like “hoochie coochie” girls. Sometimes my emphatic “upstairs…change!” is met with an “ahh, mom, but this is what all the girls are wearing!” but I pay that no mind.
In Ireland, however, it’s not so much what girls wear to school that is the problem: most students have to wear long skirts. The greater concern comes with what they wear to the local discos (dances) and in Dublin that means The Old Wesley Disco (Wezz). High heels, short-shorts or mini-skirts are de rigueur and what kids get up to makes the girl in the super market look positively tame.
In part, the problem is role models. Why are we letting the likes of Rhianna and the Kardashians show our daughters how to behave or rather mis-behave? And, since I’m on a roll, when was the last time we looked at our own behaviour? I can’t tell you how many times I see a “yummy mummy” flashing her thong when she bends over to pick something up.
I agree with Stephany (who commented on this post) that the ultimate goal is to raise daughters who feel empowered by their ability to be smart, funny, kind. Turning heads by baring it all cheapens not only the girls we love but girls and women the world over. I really like this blog post because it gets us talking and thinking about our daughters…and our sons…no matter where they are living.
Thanks for writing Campari and Sofa!
Related Articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/rihanna-goes-topless-shocks-farmer_n_982766.html
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/teen-disco-advice-769819-Apr2013/
I was standing in line at my local supermarket the other day when the man behind me gasped. I looked up from the mag I was browsing, to see what had got his goat.
At the check-out till ahead of us was a young girl – bending over her groceries. Her dress had hoiked up so far, we could see where her sun doth shine.
I just shook my head – thinking, “Seriously girlfriend – at the supermarket” but then I realised she was her school uniform – and she was definitely not wearing regulation panties.
The girl was gorgeous in a Jerry Hall kind of way. Long, lean legs, tousled blonde mane, heavily mascara’d eyes. She would have looked fantastic in a flour sack. Yet here she was a sliver of a school dress. Buying chips and dip and coca cola. And flashing the shoppers.
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In an Irish Home 