PART II Young Girls and Sexually Provocative Clothing: Not Just Harmless Self Expression

Along with the various provocative styles of clothing are the slogans written across t-shirts, on underwear, and across the seat of pants. These sayings send negative messages about body image and self image, promote the objectification of women, and also reinforce negative stereotypes of women. Some common slogans are “angel,” “spoiled,” and “princess.” Even these seemingly harmless slogans are promoting stereotypical images of females. There are many slogans that are much worse than these. Rue 21, a store at Prime Outlets in Oshkosh, sells shirts that have messages such as “Voted most flexible by your boyfriend,” “I had a nightmare that I was brunette,” and “Looking for Mr. Right Now.” At Hot Topic, a store in the Fox River Mall, there was a shirt with a picture of a rubber duck on it saying, “Wanna get lucky with this ducky?” That is a prime example of the combination of cute, childish, and sexual. At Kohl’s Department store there are shirts that say “You better make more than I can spend,” Silly blondes, brains are for brunettes,” and “Your boyfriend and I make a cute couple.” While walking around the UW Oshkosh campus, I observed a girl in sweatpants with the word “Juicy” written across her backside. How about a nice pair of underwear with the word “Bootylicious” or “Ready to go” written across the seat? Or underwear in the “Girls” department at Kohl’s with a picture of cherries on them? These are examples of the hundreds of slogans that are out there. These slogans enforce stereotypes of women, they tell us that blondes are more attractive than brunettes, blondes are unintelligent, and that women are “gold-diggers” who love to spend men’s money. Some promote the stereotype that women are manipulative and backstabbing, willing to “steal” another’s boyfriend. This further promotes the idea that a woman needs a man and should do anything to get one. Other slogans seem to tell young girls that not only is sexual promiscuity acceptable, it is actually “cool.” Messages like “bootylicious” worn by a girl seem to make it acceptable to objectify her, almost as if she wants to be objectified. With girls wearing and desiring these clothes, they are in some ways turning themselves into sex objects.

To be continued. . . PART III- Body image and self image