Don't Call Me a Cowgirl Until You See Me Ride

Yeah imagine that-- on a shirt-- on a ten year old girl-- Cute.

I have seen them since high school, in practically every clothing store ranging in price from Target’s Exhilaration, to Juicy Couture. And these simple T-Shirts are causing quite the stir. In fact many educators are forced to modify school dress codes to prevent these racy messages from being displayed across the chests of female class members.

And this is all okay because…? Ugh. The shirts are, “Emblematic of the kind of sleazy-chic culture some teenagers now inhabit, in which status can be defined by images of sexual promiscuity that previous generations might have considered unhip,” according the Washington Post. Don’t get me wrong, the message shirts aren’t all bad, but I am not talking about the shirts with “YO” on the front and “MOMMA” on the back. I am talking about examples like the 2002 drama with Abercrombie and Fitch selling thongs featuring cherries and messages like “wink, wink” and “eye candy,” to PRETEEN girls.

I seriously feel like I am from Planet Conservo when I write about all this, but really, that is crossing the line, and luckily there was enough of a consumer backlash to have them taken off the shelves. So where is the line of OKAY? No on sleezy panties, yes on humorous, ironic, yet mildly sexual shirts?

Sigh… I think it has a lot to do with the age of the kid, but I don’t think it will ever be appropriate to wear a shirt with an animated ear of corn asking, “Wanna Shuck?”