A recent Newsweek article states, “Little girls’ Halloween costumes are looking more like they were designed by Victoria’s Secret every year. Are we prudes or is this practically kiddie porn?” In another article, Skank-o-ween 2007: Costume Trend for Young Girls is All About Being Sexy by Kristen Fyfe, states, “It is no surprise, given the sexualized media messages that inundate them, that these same girls want to be “Midnight Fairy Rock Girl” or “Scar-let Pirate.” Folks handing out candy to trick-or-treaters tomorrow night can expect to see lots of young girls showing skin on their doorstep.” Unfortunately, this is not just teenagers. The Newsweek article states, It’s not just 10- and 12-year-olds who have gone Halloween trampy. Now 6- and 7-year-old models are featured in catalogs wearing child-sized versions of skimpy costumes that used to be reserved for adult boudoirs. If you think we’re exaggerating, note that they’re actually selling something called a “Child’s Chamber Maid Costume.” And, many of the tween girls in the photographs are wearing more make-up than Christina Aguilera on awards night. More disturbing may be their expressions–they look as if they’ve been told to give the camera their best “sexy” gaze.
The Newsweek article quotes an American Psychological Association report on the sexualization of girls. Their report, issued in February, declared that, “Throughout U.S. culture, and particularly in mainstream media, women and girls are depicted in a sexualized manner.” The APA task force’s team of psychologists linked oversexualization with three of the most common mental health problems for women 18 and older: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. And there is evidence that the effect is trickling down the age brackets. “Clinicians are reporting that younger and younger girls are presenting with eating disorders and are on diets,” says Dr. Eileen Zurbriggen, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who last year chaired the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls.
As a parent of 2 girls, we have always taught our kids about modesty. However, even on TV shows from Disney that are supposed to be for younger kids, I have found that the girls are becoming more and more sexy, getting to the point where they look like tramps. And that is in style! Last year one couple I know let their 13 year old dress up with black leather, fishnet stockings, revealing chest, and plenty of sexy makeup. Elvira would have been proud! But she was 13! What ever happened to modesty, and confidence based on who you are, not what you look like? Nowadays, even 12-13 year old girls, with plenty of help from their parents, are dressing up like skanks and going through the motions of looking for love. What happens when they find it?
Birth control pills in middle schools (Portland, Maine, among others), condoms in elementary schools through high schools, the sexualization of girl toys such as Bratz, girl role models on children’s and tween TV shows, and racy Halloween costumes are liked together. There is no grand conspiracy, but I think we need to look at the confluence of all of these trends and the results on our kids. They are all related. Kids that dress up and act like sluts, whose goal is to be sexy and be the object of worship of little boys, will eventually act out these desires in sexual activities at a younger and younger age. In teaching our girls that their goal should be the sexual attraction of boys, and teaching boys that their goal is to be sexually attracted to slutty girls, we are creating a huge problem for them now and in the future. In essence, we are teaching our children that sexual promiscuity is not only acceptable, but encouraged. We are feeding the insatiable appetite for desire, sex, and pleasure. The media has picked up on this and is using the power of marketing to mold and shape our kids’ attitudes and actions, and parents are going along with it.
The Bible has much to say about modesty and matters of the heart as opposed to superficialities. 1 Timothy 2:8-10 states, 8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness-with good works.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 states, 8 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. He was previously writing about sexual immorality with a prostitute, but the context is revealing. Note Paul equates sexual immorality as sins against our own bodies. Isn’t this exactly the opposite of what the world teaches? We dress up like sluts in order to feel good about ourselves and be sexy. Yet Paul is stating that sexual sins are against our own body. As Christians, our bodies are not our own. We normally take these verses and apply them against a number of other vices, but in context Paul is specifically addressing sexual sins. He admonishes us in his final sentence to glorify God in our bodies.
We can’t control the world nor judge the world for what it does. Those who don’t know Christ only do what their nature and desires drive them to do. When our nature is in rebellion against God, then we act that out in numerous ways, including skanky costumes. However, as Christians, we are no longer slaves of our flesh, but now we walk in the Spirit. Our actions, as well as our dress, should not be based on the desires of the flesh, but of the desires of the Spirit. We do not idiolize the body, or sex, or desires of the flesh, but we worship God and walk in His Spirit.
