Here in NYC, every time a little girl, including my 7 yo, gets up and starts hanging off the subway stanchion it always provokes hysterical admonitions to stop it. All the men look uncomfortable and all the women completely commiserate. The only ones who have no idea what the big deal is all about is the little girls.

People we even use Rock’s line, “keep her off the pole”. Yeah, that pole is an atavistic flash point.

And I think Xeni’s concern in this regard is NO LESS valid than Corey’s issues with the anti-vaccine movement. It involves the insidious nature of the negligent decisions people make regarding (their) children. And foxtrot NO am I inviting a compare and contrast so just DON’T.

We have enough women on tv whose hook is, “Hey, look at me…” We need to promote some whose hook is, “Hey, check this out…” I dunno, what’s Bug Girl up to these days?

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/221275

Agreed on pretty much all other counts though.

Neither did I see any poses that were in any way sexual — although, okay, that pole is pretty scary.

Seriously, folks, go look at the actual pictures before you comment.

Guess he can probably find the photos of Miley’s sister and give the excuse “it’s an ad for Halloween ballerina costumes!” when he’s brought up on charges again, huh? This is just gross. How eager are these girls to let their father pimp them???

I’m gonna weigh in on some stuff noone has touched. It’s about the generalized American schizophrenia.
I’ve always had a thing for banned books and taboo lit. Anne Rampling’s ‘Belinda’ analyses an overtly sexualized young teenager and an older artist. America’s ‘schizophrenia,’ and I know I use the term in it’s popular connotation, worships youth and beauty and still hangs on to a sacredness of innocence or naivete. The best example I can give of this is my seven year old niece. She’s as cute as button. You wouldn’t think she could dissemble her way out of a wet paper bag. But very tactically she will, when I’m on the computer or, worse yet, trying take a nap hop on my lap or plop down next to me, give me a big hug and let out the biggest stinker you’d ever smell. Never underestimate kids.
In my time dealing with psychiatric patients I’ve come across some guys I’m pretty sure were recidivist pedophiles. They weren’t ghouls, they didn’t have horrible sallow skin, leprous hands, claws, or bulbous noses. They weren’t monsters. Mostly they were the most wretched individuals I’ve ever met.
America’s schizophrenia about immorality is never so apparent as with them. We practically worship Mafioso or gangsters, we barely acknowledge graft in public office vs. omg a peccadillo with a prosti-hooker, our own nation not only now condones torture, but continues to condemn people to death.
The pedophiles that I have encountered were not sociopathic. That is to say, they had regular emotion, they felt guilt and horror over their actions. Unfortunately they suffer similiar symptoms as addiction.
Once the pattern has been established, the pedophiles doesn’t start trolling the streets like a shark scooping up moppets in his van. From what I understand it goes in a series of small breaks. Show the child interest. Then the pedophile starts to rationalize. He or her starts to convince him or herself that this is okay, that the child wants this. Start moving in little incremental gaps till the bounds are passed. Then things spin out of control.
Pedophilia is a pathology. One with horrible consequences. Unfortunately, due do America’s schizophrenia, and maybe human nature. When we find something so polarizing to hate. We can hate the hell out of it. Thus… OMFGTHECHILDREN, burn the witches, etc.
I’m not arguing to give kittens to child molesters. The emotional reaction to hate is a very easy out, it is irresponsible. In the end it may cause more suffering.

Oh yes…eye bleach for the above photo sets. “Not only are they prurient, they’re in horrible taste!”

A. The focus groups.

+ I’m just sickened (link bait) by looking at these (link bait). Oh, I can’t bear this but I must post it (more link bait) on our blog.

Not all poles are “stripper poles”; see “vertical tango” on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVtTwP1xaaQ

Sex is too adult for kids…what of violence?
Or is war ok for kids to play at, while love is not?

I think they thought they weren’t selling sex, but rebellion. Which is very appealing to (some) kids, but the PR department misjudged how far to push it. And (I hope) they guessed wrong that parents would let their kids buy clothes with that image attached! Most 9-year-olds don’t have much disposable income and go shopping with their parents, after all. Hopefully this campaign will go the way of the Etam/A&F thong.

Whose responsibility? Every link in the chain could have said “no” on this one, anywhere from concept to photo negatives to proofs to publication. They all dropped the ball.

I feel for parents who raise their children in such an environment. Once lingerie for 2nd and 3rd graders becomes the new norm, what will the next must-have kiddie consumer item be?

Speaking as someone who suffers from schizophrenia, I don’t appreciate it, at all, and even less that you use it in a post about pedophilia.

Pretty hurtful, man.

Anyone who twitters about it, reads up on a blog and chats about it, watches the news broadcast… I mean, come on. The girl is responding to a very obvious social value being thrown her way. We value this shit- whether or not we are outraged or not, we eat it up, and this is our fault, like Michael Jackson’s life and death was our fault. The day we, as a society, stop paying attention to that shit is the day it goes away.

But that’s not going to happen soon, because we loooooove our telecommunications gadgets, and we don’t have better things to communicate with them, apparently. I like reading the interesting posts on boing boing, the ones that have some kind of genuine thing to teach me- but all these celebrity whatever posts are getting more and more annoying, since boing boing clearly loves the good gossip just as much as the rest of the world does. what’s so “wonderful” about this story?

But a lingerie line for children…..eewwww that is just twisted. Some pedophile creep must have thought that up.

In general, people ought to get their minds out of the gutter when it come to images of kids.

My point: kids are trying to become adults. There’s no reason at all for them to hurry (but try to tell them that!), or more importantly, for their parents to hurry them up. But people will raise their own kids their own way. I’m not Doctor Spock, nor his modern equivalent. Nor is it any of my business how people raise their kids, unless actual factual crime takes place: and even then, it’s my City’s police and social services whose business it then becomes. As a taxpayer, I don’t want them spending $$ – and interfering with people’s families – unless there really is crime or abuse taking place.

Perhaps the younger people reading this in a hurry may not appreciate this song, but some older ones might.
With appropriate changes, it could even apply to Miss Cyrus…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPAGxihE2Y

If there is anything disconcerting about this to me, it has more to do with our culture. It is just sad to think that there are kids grow up idolizing this crap. Instead of playing in the street/forest/whatever doing something mildly life threatening just for some cheap thrills, you have some kids getting dressed up in stripper outfits and practicing smiling like they are dead inside for a camera. Oh fun.

I’m not worried about their morality. Teenagers have been rutting like, well, teenagers, since the dawn of time. Birth control and condoms can solve 95% of the problem associated with that. I am far more worried about their brains and personality rotting away as they mindlessly chase vapid conceptions of success.

So, OMFGTHECHILDREN. Those poor little stupid boring bastards have my pity. Someone’s mommy or daddy needs to toss out the TV and bring out sharp things and fire for the kids to play with, because they are clearly bored as shit.

The crappy photographic quality is more disturbing than anything that’s on the picture … go to a beach and you’ll see 9yo girls in bikinis or even (OMG!!!) naked.

It warms my heart to think I may soon get to bundle up a list of Disney sites to put on the kiddie porn doomlist.