Is it possible that Target is just responding to the market demographics? If 40% of people like clothes at the current size, 30% want them shorter and 30% want them longer, it makes sense for Target to cater to the largest market.
I have pretty limited exposure to young girls - I have employees with two pre-teen girls and overheard some discussions regarding my wife’s grand-daughter… but in all three cases, the argument was often the parents saying “More modest” and the girls saying “But this is what I want!” (In one recent story, a girl decided not to buy new softball pants because she felt like her pants from two years ago still fit. Obviously, the parents disagreed about the definition of “still fit.” They made her buy new ones.)
So, I’m not necessarily going to argue with the blogger on one issue: Girls are probably being sexualized at young ages. But to blame Target for it is just silly. Target is a for-profit corporation and not the morality police. As long as Target is operating ethically, I see nothing wrong with them selling what people are buying.
I understand the concerns, but I’m looking at the Target website right now, and I’m really not seeing it. I see a piece here or there that seems iffy, but 90% of it looks like ordinary kids clothing. The dresses are short, but I assume that’s realized to the triumph of the legging. There are bootcut jeans, but there are straight jeans as well.
I am all for parents being able to buy the clothes they like, but IMHO this looks to me like just another way to establish ones place on the mommy hierarchy.
And FWIW, it was my daughter who drove this. Until she was in high school she was didn’t like short-shorts etc. She was asking for those alternative choices.
I don’t know if you read the piece, but she actually apologizes to Target halfway in because she realizes that they aren’t nearly as “bad” as other retailers.
In my mind, there’s a question of who’s really wagging the tail here. Are retailers responding to consumer demand? Or are they creating the demand? Seems to me that children’s tastes are heavily influenced by what their peers are doing and wearing. If all the five-year-old girls in the class are wearing booty Juicy shorts, then it will be hard to tell your little girl that’s not what she wants too. And if there are only booty shorts wherever you go, your job is made even more difficult to exercise “choice”.
I mean, if I can go into Target today and buy a closet full of reasonably priced and appropriate clothes, it does take the wind out of this particular argument.
You may object to the clothes being available in general, and that’s an argument you can make. But normal clothes are available.
So who are young pre-teen girls in the age target cohort we are discussing looking to as their fashion leaders? Singers, actresses, peers? Miley Cyrus and Iggy Azeala?
Because economics doesn’t work in the real world like it does in textbooks. In the textbook, if Target doesn’t have the style of clothes that I want, I can drive to Amish R Us and get her some nice long sleeved dresses and bonnets. In the real world, I don’t have time for that, or the patience for that, or the money for that. If I’m at Target, I’m getting something at Target. It might not be my ideal, but it’s there, and we can always throw some leggings under it. (Come to think of it, maybe this is all a conspiracy of legging manufacturers…)
NOW there are reasonable options because Bermuda length shorts are in, and so are leggings. But even two summers ago it was hell trying to find affordable shorts and skirts for my elementary school aged daughter. Even worse she is very tall and has a booty - we were forced to buy extra large clothes to get some length and then start rocking suspenders to keep them up.
(Oh how painful it is to be a single mom and not buy attention getting clothes!)
I agree that there is waaay too much sexualization of little girls.
Minor Hijack-
I’m so happy that my girl is out of elementary school, although I don’t think we had much trouble getting her tasteful clothes. If I had to sit through a Christmas recital watching the lower grade girls sing “Santa Baby” one more time, I think I’d explode. I think it was how all the girls’ parents thought the little girls looked sooooo cute singing an ‘adult song’ that pissed me off.
You’re being sarcastic, but they kinda are. I live in an area where the cost of living is very high. It is difficult to find affordable clothes that are also modest. Keep in mind these are kids whose sizes change several times a year - there is no such thing as investing in a quality garment that might cost more but fit well for a long time.
In my experience they fit different once on compared to how they look on a hanger or online. I’ve ordered stuff that looked good in the catalog or online and the material ended up skimpy or cut small.
But hell, what do I (or any of the others posting the same experiences, including the woman who wrote the article) know. I guess we’re just all jockeying for position.
