Springing off of the “Would you left your nine year old wear this” thread, I decided to start my own thread.
Obviously it depends on the age of the people quite a bit (and the occasion). I wouldn’t think twice about wearing a sleeveless strapless tight dress that barely covers my ass–but then again, I’m not nine years old. Of course, I don’t think it’s just shortness alone. Because historically little girls have worn short skirts/dresses because they weren’t seen as sexual, and women would wear longer skirts. Now of course, a short skirt=sexy.
Is sleeveless/spaghetti strap attire automatically inappropriate on a kid? I mean, tank tops seem quite innocuous to me.
Are knee high boots inherently inappropriate? I never really thought of them that way but then again, I never wore them as a kid. I’m not really sure why.
I don’t think sleeveless/spaghetti strap attire is automatically inappropriate for a kid (although the outfit in the other thread was).
I think it comes down to the “intention” of the clothes… if the clothes are tight and designed to show off the curves of the body, then it becomes inappropriate for young girls. Here is a short, sleeveless dress totally appropriate for a nine year old. It was obviously designed to be fun and practical and innocent.
Unless we’re talking galoshes, knee-high boots are ridiculous on a young girl.
I’m not really sure why knee high boots are considered so inappropriate, though. People were referring to the ones in that thread as “fuck me boots.” I have a couple of pairs of boots that go up to my knees. One pair is very shiny, vinyl–really awesome in the rain. I mean, they’re kind of sexy in that go-go boot way but there’s no heel on them (the ones in the photo didn’t look like they had one either). I mean, they’re attractive but I’ve never seen them as inherently sexy. More like they’re sexy if the outfit I’m wearing with them is.
I think it’s related to age and the environment. I have some dresses, for instance, that are quite nice to go out with my hubby but are too flashy for work. I wouldn’t wear a baby doll nightie when I’m spending the night at my in-laws, and I don’t wear pajamas to go shopping.
Actually historically the very young [unhousebroken types] wore short skirts because they werent housebroken … so they could go to the potty and be cleaned up easily. They graduated to miniature adult clothing when they got housebroken. Diapers are city items for the nonpotty trained =)
The break between little girly clothing and miniature adult clothing subsequently became ‘when they could get dressed with minimal assistance’ and then they were expected to act like miniature adults. There was not much of a childhood throughout most of history. You had your chores just like an adult, just scaled down to what you could do as you learned … from babysitting, through taking care of the poultry, weeding the garden, helping to cook and clean, and so forth. Play was what happened if and when you got the chores done.
Too short, too tight, too revealing. Appropriate clothes to the time and place. Children should be dressed in relatively loose clothes made of a durable fabric, so if they wanted to run and play they could. They should look comfortable. Dress-up clothes can be more formal but still allow movement and cover the body appropriately. Shoes should be low-heeled and relatively comfortable. Basically, kids should be dressed so they can behave like kids.
Americans worry about this stuff way too much. Kids are kids. Sure, there’s the occasional 9-year-old on Sally Jessy Raphael that really is trying to look like a slut, but that’s not the norm.
Anyway, FS, I think you need to provide pictures of yourself in revealing outfits so we have a better idea of what we’re talking about. Deal?
Nah you have to content yourself with my brief but memorable mention in the thread about nakedness, about how I had pastries served off my nude body at a BDSM party.
As for the age I’m talking about–well, any age. I meant for people to respond about whatever ages they wanted to–whether it’s an older teen, younger teen, preteen, etc.
I agree with the first sentence. Conflating a 9 year old who’s trying to look sexy with Sally Jesse Raphael has me giggling and also scratching my head.
I thought you might have misread it or something but I figured you’d have re-read it. So I assumed you were confused 'cause SJR does classy topics or something.