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

Not only do these clothes send out negative messages about women, but they also have the potential to be harmful to a girl’s body image. The clothes that are sold to young girls are often revealing and extremely form-fitting. Not every girl is built the same way. Many of these clothes are made to look best on incredibly thin girls. If a girl does not feel comfortable with how she looks in these clothes, what are her options? There are not many. The girls that model the clothes in catalogues, ads, and magazines are not average sized girls, they are smaller than average, some underweight. Those tiny girl models are what companies are telling girls the image of attractiveness is. Many girls cannot live up to that image, and some suffer greatly because of it. Failure to live up to the beauty “standard” that these girls see everyday can definitely be a contributing factor for depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, not to mention the negative effects it can have on self-esteem. Very small sizes are offered such as 00, 0, 1, 2, 3 . . . and so on, but not many sizes above 9 or 11 are offered. There seems to be the occasional size 13 and the rare 15.

So what about the plus-sized girl? Are these companies saying it is better to be underweight than overweight? That one extreme is better than the other? In a country where over half the population is overweight, one would think that someone would be catering to the majority. The statistics for overweight children are not as high as for adults, but it is still a large portion of the population. According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 15% of children from 6-18 are overweight, and another 15% at risk for becoming overweight (Palo Alto Medical Foundation). So where do these girls go when they need clothes? In all the stores I went to research, only one had a section for plus size juniors, Gordman’s in Grand Chute. The section consisted of 2 racks of a very small selection of clothes. The plus-sized girl is left with very few options of clothing that are in style for her age group. Not only overweight girls have problems finding clothes that are stylish yet not revealing. What about for the girl who wants a pair of jeans that cover her backside, or the preteen who’s parents don’t want her to dress provocatively? At the risk of sounding redundant, there are not many options.

To Be continued. . . PART IV Advertising