Sunday, August 21, 2011

Jours Apres Lunacy: Couture Lingerie Makes Women of Girls

French company Jours Apres Lunes has come under fire for its new collection of "loungerie" for babies, girls, and teens. The reason behind the commotion is not so much what they are selling--which includes triangle bras and frilly panties for girls under age 5--but how they are selling the products.

Photographs that depict girls ages 4-12 lounging around while sporting Bridget-Bardot-styled hairdos, pearls, large sunglasses, and lots of makeup are what sell the collection. The young models look very French, effortlessly pretty and effortlessly cool. They also look like they are playing at womanhood in a sexualized way.

Why else, other than wanting to look and feel like a grown woman, would a 4-year-old girl want to wear a bra? And the frilly panties, what purpose do they serve a toddler? Over the years advertisers have caught on to this innate desire kids have to grow up, but they've combined that want with the one basic rule of advertising: Sex Sells...so why not sell it to kids, too.

What is most concerning is the fact that children do not know or understand when they are being sold this concept. Dressing up a baby, toddler, or young girl like Bridget Bardot is an invite for them to be looked upon as sexually mature. They know nothing about sex--but the touseled hairdos, the makeup, and the pouty demeanor they have in the Jours Apres Lunes photos says otherwise.

In 2007 the American Psychological Association released its "Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls."

The report, updated and re-released in 2010, focuses on how young girls are being sexualized by advertising and the media. It also examines the effects this trend is having on the girls being sold those images, products, and beauty standards. The results thus far have confirmed that the consumption of sexualtized images of young girls and women can lead to depression, body dissatisfaction, and lowered self-esteemed. The report also speculates that the consumption of these images by male viewers may lead to an increase in sexual harrassment and abuse toward children and an increase in demand for child pornography.

Sexualizing adult women was and still is nothing new, but today the age of women and girls modeling for provocative advertisments is getting younger and younger...and what's worse is that they are usually selling products to other young girls on a mass scale by conveying one very important message: This will make you a woman (and a very sexy woman, at that).


In addition to aging young girls up to give them more sex appeal, adult women are seen being infantalized in advertising--meaning they are made to look younger, more childish, and more vulnerable. For example, this photo on the right of Glee actress Lea Michelle is obviously playing up her role as a high school student in order to increase her sex appeal, hinting that she is "barely legal" even though the actress is actually 24.

If young girls begin trying to look like grown women and grown women continue trying to look like young girls, then females are forever engaged in a battle they just can't win.

As for the "loungerie" concept, it's not the worst thing in the world. Most of the items aren't overly sexy (though they could do without the frilly panties and bras), and little kids running around in their undies is just a fact of life. However, the point is that something that should be innocent is no longer innocent when it communicates a sexual message and creates within the young viewer or wearer a desire to be seen as sexually mature.

1 comment:

  1. The photographs of the children all pampered are kind of disturbing. I don't mind the hair, make-up and jewelry, but the lingerie...really? That's not appropriate for such young girls. They don't even need bras at that age. Shocking.

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