I was browsing the girls section of a local sporting goods store with my two children my daughter 5 and son 2, when I ran across this scantily dressed, dare I say, 7 year old. Smiling happily with her mid-drift exposed, wearing merely tight short-shorts and sports bra, she seemed perfectly prepared to play volleyball? As I stood there, my bewilderment turning to outrage, an employee walked by and asked if everything was okay. My reply: I don't think so. Though he agreed it was inappropriate and even a little creepy, he said he couldn't do anything. I, of course, asked for the manager. A woman about my own age, a mother herself, admitted she didn't like it, but apparently she was obligated to put it up, "We can't just throw it away." Rather than lecture her on how her inaction was condoning such a scandalous image I decided to simply do the right thing. "You can't display it if it doesn't exist," I said as I removed the sign from the holder and ripped it in half. I placed the now ruined sign in her hand and she replied, "Better you than me."
I'm not sure at what point adults let objectification of young girls become an "okay" thing. We wonder why girls get pregnant at 13. Why pedophiles feel their thoughts and behaviors are natural. Why young girls have body image issues. Why girls in athletics aren't valued as much a boys. Adults let this be okay, even the women who had to be involved somewhere in the process: an employee or executive at New Balance, a designer, a secretary, the models mother, a photographer, a stylist, the merchandisers at the sporting goods retailer, a store manager, et al! Nobody said, "NO!" How such an image got this far I cannot comprehend, but I will not let it be okay. I will make my angry phone calls and send my letters. I will rip every sign and advertisement I see. But I will not let it be okay. At some point as adults, and parents, we need to stop being complacent. These are our children, our future--someone has to say no. And if I'm the only one willing to put my foot down, so be it.
Kimberly
