Age Appropriate
Dec. 7th, 2012 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueAn article on The Rumpus points out a comment on a Jezebel post:
Said commentator was speaking in the context of an internal conflict over what to say to this 11-year-old, who she wants to protect but not suppress.
Said commentator was rightly jumped on for victim-blaming; feminist spaces have gotten good at noticing that.
Here's what hasn't been said. Here's what doesn't get said anywhere this conversation comes up - which it does, again and again.
When a preteen boy dresses up in a suit, we celebrate him for being adult and serious. When a preteen girl dresses like an adult woman, we say she looks like a hooker.
What does that say about our opinion of adult women?
She continues to dress like someone twice her age at family events, like Thanksgiving, where she was dressed as what I can only describe as a “sexy secretary” with a tight, shiny satin red shirt and a very tight pencil skirt with heels.[...] I feel like she could find herself in a bad situation if this continues.
Said commentator was speaking in the context of an internal conflict over what to say to this 11-year-old, who she wants to protect but not suppress.
Said commentator was rightly jumped on for victim-blaming; feminist spaces have gotten good at noticing that.
Here's what hasn't been said. Here's what doesn't get said anywhere this conversation comes up - which it does, again and again.
When a preteen boy dresses up in a suit, we celebrate him for being adult and serious. When a preteen girl dresses like an adult woman, we say she looks like a hooker.
What does that say about our opinion of adult women?
