Why are teen girls dressing more provocatively than ever?

Question

Is anyone else outraged with the messages the media and the fashion industry send to girls? Will this later cause a backlash when they get older? If so, will women's fashion become less feminine (ie short hair styles) and become more unisex in the near future (ie 2015)?

Answer 1

It's partly due to intense sexualization of young girls in our culture, especially through the media:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-02-19-sexualized-girls_x.htm
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6428403.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6376421.stm

Answer 2

Agree with ISO, he told quite all, and without putting himself on the slippery slope of the assolutism. Natural beauty, and the human body, are wonderful gifts of nature, and teaching young girls, and boys too, that the body is something to hide and strip of all his value would be a very bad thing. But is always true the opposite thing: since natural beauty is a value among values, no more important than an open mind, a kind heart and a sunny nature and disposition, turn it into a cheap oversexualizing is like trowing diamonds down your window, squandering a gift.
The fact is we live in a competitive society, were is all reclame. Have you ever tried listening to a whole song of Paris Hilton or another teen starlette? As good as they could be, they never reach the voice of the earlier Houston, but they know that a sexy body is a money easy to spend. The bratz dolls, the Barbies, the media, everything around a little girl actually teaches her that if she has to put some effort in her life, she has to put every energy into being the prettiest among pretties, so, as a grown-up anorexic topmodel-bodied lady, she will be as successfull as the superstar she saw as a kid.
If women fashion will became unisex in the next generation? Nope, I fear. Maybe more sexualized, and if female movements don't do something about them, women's right could be pushed down decades, when the most important right for a woman was to be pretty and marry a rich dude. As a man I shouldn't have said something like that, as a man enjoying a keen mind under a pretty face, I simply must say it.

Answer 3

in the 1800s women's virtue, charm and talents might snag a guy.

In the 1900s it became increasingly focused on looks.

Today we live in a hypersexualized culture. Porn going mainstream had a lot to do with this. Competition in the media also - sex, curse words and violence are hip these days.

There have been many articles written by parents about their children's clothing. Some cannot find decent things, esp. at Halloween.

I think culture has a lot to do with it. I was just in Asia - there, teens look like teens.

I think there'll be a backlash from conservatives. Fashion might become more unisex or simply less revealing.

Answer 4

They are simply exploiting the most cost-effective means of engaging and succeeding in a competitive society.

It is far easier for a young girl to capitalize and compete based on her looks than it is for her to "overwhelm" the world with physical strength, ingenuity and intelligence.

To answer your other question, yes, this will cause a backlash. Since a young woman's physical beauty decays with time, so does the utility of a woman who only offers looks. A life of manaquinism will yield nothing but a relic of a statue.

To avoid this backlash, encourage young women to add character-developing activities to their schedule such as team and individual sports, actual work, and education(not to be confused with certification).

Don't bother blaming the media and the fashion industry for this, if we didn't buy it, they wouldn't sell it. Such an approach is an exercise in "thinking locally, acting globally" which is the opposite of what works.

If you want to fix this, understand it, then be a good influence for your young and old female associates.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

It's not just the media that's a factor.

Some girls with a sexually abusive past also may dress revealing to get love and attention.

Others may dress that way because they simply like it..just like how someone likes to wear baggy jeans, while another person likes to wear a suit.

Most of these teenage girls outgrow this anyhow. It's like how some teenagers die their hair purple, but they aren't going to keep that hair when they become adults. I was one of these teenage girls obsessed with dressing sexy, but I stopped..I just don't have time anymore anyway to dress like that.

Answer 6

Well, I think a young girls parents are partially responsible as well.
Have seen many mothers dressing like they are going to a sleazy bar and their young daughter is dressed the same!
Have seen 6 or 7 year old girls wearing high heeled boots with mini-skirts and halter necked tops and that's in the supermarket!
And it's weird, because I dress modestly and seeing girls as young as this, looking like call-girls, makes me fear for them because of paedophiles. Don't these girls parents have any sense of responsibility?
Plus look at a young girls role models today, is it any wonder?
They all look like tramps.
Edit: Kendrick, you have excellent taste in clothes. Nice to see a guy that likes quality clothing on a woman rather than the skimpiest & cheap gear.

Answer 7

Everything is always everyone else's fault, isn't it? It's the men's fault, or the fashion industry, or this, or that.
Blaming others will certaintly always make changes(sarcasm)! Teaching people(starting from childhood) responsibility is the answer.
Women look much more attractive when they dress like this: http://www.bananarepublic.com/browse/product.do?cid=30285&pid=529987
http://www.bananarepublic.com/browse/outfit.do?oid=OUT08578

Fine, fine! I give up... you can blame the Liberal Media if you want.

Answer 8

The problem with women's fashion isn't its femininity — feminine clothes can be conservative. The problem is that there's too little of it. Just today, I saw an ad for a Bratz doll wearing fishnet stockings to do ballet. These are the kinds of products that are sexualizing our girls. Furthermore, consider who their new role models are: Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Tara Reid, Lindsay Lohan. No one would call them chaste.

Answer 9

They're all trying to keep up with "The Girls Next Door"!

Answer 10

Teens are dressing like this because they think that it will build there self esteem and the more people that do it the more "popular" it is and more people will join in its an ongoing type of thing.