Courage Integrity Assertiveness Confidence Restraint

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

In the News... Abercrombie & Fitch's big OOPS

Who gets to decide how fast you grow up?
Who gets to decide how you feel about yourself?
Who gets to decide what measures your worth?

YOU!

Don't ever forget that! Don't fall into the MEDIA traps that make money for large corporations at the expense of your youth.
Abercrombie & Fitch did just that this week - see video at the end of this post.

Over the next week or so we will be discussing MEDIA LITERACY and how as teens you must take your values and self-expectations into your own hands and throw out a "talk to the hand" at the media when they try and talk you into growing up too fast, when they try to get you to compare yourself to the airbrushed images on the screen, when they use comedy in the shows you like to change the way you feel about the things that make you different from other girls your age.

So, here is where you have the POWER to make a stand. This week Abercrombie & Fitch decided FOR YOU that girls as young as 7 or 8 should feel inadequate unless they are wearing a padded top to their bikini. Are you going to let them decide this for your? For your younger sisters?

So, I want every young girl who reads this to leave a comment, but I want you to leave it TO Abercrombie & Fitch. In the spirit of the Butterfly Girlz who are mature, thoughtful and caring, I want you to leave your well-thought out comment on how it makes you feel when the media pulls one of these indecent moves.

Then I want you to facebook, tweet, email and pass this along to every friend you have that you know would be upset and offended by this. Invite them to come to this post and leave a comment.

You have the power to have YOUR VOICE heard and I want to help you do that. You always have the right to SPEAK UP. You always have the right to SAY NO.

You can leave anonymous comments and leave your first name and age.

Take this on, girls! Be proactive! Don't let the media tell YOU what is acceptable. Stand up!


8 comments:

  1. Honestly, I think it is absolutely ridiculous for a 7 year old to feel the need to have to ware a push up bikini. The media should not have the right to take away anyones childhood innocence, and by some of the things that they sell in stores like this they absolutely are taking away your childhood innocence. At 7 years old you should not be worrying about how mature you think you look in a push up bikini, you should be out having fun. Do not allow the media to tell you just because you don't look like this you aren't beautiful because you are, you completely are the most beautiful thing in the world is being able to be your true self. I for one will not allow the media to tell me just because I don't look like the girls they chose to use in magazines, for tv ads, etc. that I am not beautiful, will you?
    With love, Kayla

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jamie - I think this is stupid! First why would a 7 year old care about how she looks? Like really push up bikini? Kids like me should have fun and live life the fullest. Don't let people tell you if you beautiful or not. Everyone is special in their own way. Everyone IS beautiful !

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think that this is the dumbest idea ever! What mom would let their innocent 7 year old daughter wear a padded push up bikini? I am 12 yrs old and I dont need that to make me feel comfortable in my own skin. Young girls shouldn't let the media suck them into thinking that to be beautiful they have to look a certain way. they should be focusing on having fun and living life, not on trying to look like the girls in the magazine or on the posters in the stores. Be happy about who you are and don't try to be who someone wants you to be!

    love,
    Emily <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is absolutely horrid! No girl, especially as young as 7, should feel they need to wear a push-up bikini. It's awful that parents let their small children shop there, and let them choose a push-up bikini. I am saddened that the media is doing this to people. I wish everything would change, and life could just be fun, with no one telling you who you are. I'm 12, and I'd rather never wear any bikini and just have a fun, kid life.
    ~Autumn

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is soo ridiculous!! What has our modern day society come to? My sister is only 7 and she or eith of her many friends do NOT need the padding. Maybe some girls do... Might only be a few, so make a few. But don't convert every swim suit to that sort of padding. I is not neaded for that age group. They are almost all flat chested at that point in life and they shoul be able to feel good about their body now...and forever. We will not get all worked up about their chest size, whether they are using the padding or not. At times, I will admit it, people go insane. This is just my opinion. but really, this is just sickening... I am thirteen and I don't even shop there, not because it just isn't my style, but because it is showing products on picture perfect people...well lots of stores advertise that way. But this is way out of hand.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jasmine says:
    I think this is totally WRONG. No young girl should wear a bra let alone a padded bikini top when you are this young. It's one thing to want to stand up but this is outragaus.Who would do such a thing?

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is horrible! Seven and eight year old should NOT be looked at as sexy. We wonder why so many young girls are getting pregnant? It's most likely because everyone, and everything is telling them it's ok to look and act grown up. Childhood is the best part of our life because of the innocent fun that's had. To take that away from them and force them into a grown up world is simply cruel.

    Elizabeth
    ~17

    ReplyDelete
  8. When I think of one of the young girls I babysit (seven years old) wearing a push-up bikini top I'm sick to my stomach. This goes beyond helping a girl feel comfortable as she goes through puberty; this is sexual, and this needs to STOP.
    Kate, 17

    ReplyDelete