Of course mothers have something to do with the sexualization of little girls! Haven’t they ever seen an episode of “Toddlers and Tiaras”? There are a lot of women who feel they haven’t made the “sexy” grade, but are determined that their daughters won’t fall short, by God. Oy.
I made a point of watching TV with my kids, especially when they were adolescents. The deal was, they got to pick whatever movie they wanted to rent on Friday nights (“rent” a movie – that sounds so old-fashioned now, doesn’t it?) but the deal was, they could only watch it with me. We ended up having some really interesting discussions, and I think it helped. I don’t think you could find two more educated media consumers than my kids — and they truly like women, which is nice.
If I’d had a daughter, there’s no way in hell I’d leave her to the mercy of the media wolves. Nope, no way.
Not just sexy. It’s whatever dream mom (or dad)didn’t fulfill. My X loved sports, but she grew up at a time when sports weren’t available for girls and young women. To this day she’s still pissed about that. My two sons HAD to participate in sports. From the time they were about six until they were threatening to run away from home at 17, there were the two and sometimes three practices a day; soccer, baseball, football, basketball, tae kwon do. On days without practice, there were games, tournaments, competitions etc etc etc. If I ever said a word about how they (and us) didn’t have a life other than never ending competition, I was lectured on how our kids were going to have the opportunities that were denied her. As a result, neither son has the slightest interest in sports of any kind today. Parents can be their kids worst enemy.