Abercrombie Selling Push-up Bikini Tops for Young Girls

[Pearl]

No stranger to controversy, U.S. retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has come under fire for offering a push-up bikini top to young girls.

Its "Ashley" bikini -- described as "padded" and a "push-up" -- was posted on the Abercrombie Kids website earlier this week.

The company declined to comment Saturday but noted it has since updated the description of its bikini online.

The product is now being offered as a padded, "striped triangle." Bottoms are sold separately.

"How is this okay for a second-grader?" asked Rebecca Odes in a recent post on the Babble parenting blog.

"Playing at sexy is an inevitable and important part of growing up. But there's a difference between exploring these ideas on your own and having them sold to you in a children's catalog," she wrote.

Gail Dines, a sociology professor at Wheelock College in Boston, similarly slammed the top, saying it would encourage girls to think about themselves in a sexual way before they are ready.

Abercrombie criticized for selling push-up tops to little girls - CNN.com


I think its atrocious to sell such an item for young girls. And what is sad, is that somewhere out there, some dumb parent will buy the bikini top for their little girl.

Isn't odd that our society is so focused on battling pedophilia yet creates a culture where sexualizing young girls is even considered?

As for this line:

"It (also) sends out really bad signals to adult men about young girls being appropriate sexual objects," she told CNN affiliate WHDH.

This woman makes it sound like all adult men are capable of looking at young girls as sex objects. I think a mentally healthy adult male wouldn't for a second think of sex if he sees an 8 year old dressed all sexed up. If he does, then he is not mentally healthy; he's a monster.

 

[Caleb8844]

I agree with this post 100%

Out of curiosity, what do you think about the child beauty pageants that involve them getting all made up like adults?

 

[corianderstem]

Ambercrombie & Fitch has done some rather icky stuff over the past years. This is just another one for the Pile Of Ick.

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

This woman makes it sound like all adult men are capable of looking at young girls as sex objects. I think a mentally healthy adult male wouldn't for a second think of sex if he sees an 8 year old dressed all sexed up. If he does, then he is not mentally healthy; he's a monster.

True, but it could certainly make someone quite uncomfortable.

 

[kramwest1]

I saw the CNN coverage on this, and I'm not sure why there isn't more emphasis on the parents' role. Lots of crappy stuff is for sale. Plenty of things to sexualize your child (clothes/make up) or to make them fat (fast food/snacks). It's the parents' choice to do this to their kid, isn't it? Let's focus on these potentially unfit parents.

And, as Cori said, Abercrombie doing something provocative? I'm shocked. Shocked! Shocked, I say.

 

[yolland]

^ Because children's self-image isn't just affected by what you as a parent will buy for them; it's also affected by what's marketed to them through cool stores and by what other, cooler kids are wearing. The mere fact that they're perceiving hypersexualized fashions as cool means they're already thinking about themselves in ways many parents will be unhappy with, whether you personally agree to buy your kid this or that goodie or not. That would be the thinking behind protesting the availability and marketing of this.

That said, frankly I'm having trouble seeing how this bathing suit (catalog page here) represents some sort of shocking break from girls' beachwear as it already is. There are about a hundred things I see tween girls wearing to school all the time that I'd be concerned about before I'd be concerned about this. It's a bikini, and the whole point of a bikini, which is hardly a serious swimmer's suit, is to say "Check out my body!" Anyone who thinks that aspect is lost on tween girls doesn't understand girls that age very well. There's nothing notably racy or oo-la-la about the basic design of this particular bikini; it looks like any number of girls' bikinis that've been around for decades, so all the outrage is over the fact that it contains underwire, so that girls who have a little development (obviously underwire won't work, period, if you don't have something to put 'over' it) can look like they have more. If you don't think bikinis are appropriate for tweens to begin with, you won't be interested anyway, but if you do, I'm just not seeing the huge difference here.

 

[Liesje]

Not that I'm defending A&F or "second graders" wearing triangle bikini tops, but I'll just say that there are reasons for wearing a padded swim top that having nothing to do with enhancing one's bobs or over-sexualizing one's self. As a female who was once a tween....just saying...

 

[corianderstem]

Absolutely! If it were another company, I'd give them a little more benefit of the doubt. As it's A&F .... well .....

 

[kramwest1]

So were they "push-up" or just padded?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

It says padded and push up in the CNN article. If the goal is coverage you can put a shelf layer inside that will do enough for an 8 year old girl. You don't need padding or push-up.