Whats the world coming to?

tank girl

New Member
A place where consumerist beauty standards corrupt the minds of children?

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Young girls worried about body image:
Australian study finds girls as young as five want to be skinnier

9 March 2005

A disturbing Australian study shows girls as young as five are worried about their body image.

Researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide have been interviewing five to eight-year-olds. Almost half say they want to be skinnier.

Experts say the pressures of media, parents and peers means young children are increasingly aware of beauty ideals, which can lead to low self-esteem and eating disorders.

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Luis G

<i><b>Problemator</b></i>
Staff member
Actually the world (people that is) is coming to a consumism and crap eating habits, result: fat people.

And then they come with more consumism and marketing crap: lose weight while watching tv!!!!
 

SouthernN'Proud

Southern Discomfort
The 12 year old housebrat has discovered Mary Kate and Ashley brand shampoo.

I shit you not. It exists.

I don't think these chicks would put this stuff on their own heads under threat of death. But they have zero problem pocketing the cash when vulnerable kids beg for it in stores. I've seen car wash that I'd rather wash my hair in than this gunk. Hell, they ain't even hot...coupla scrawny little tarts, one of 'em doped up and anorexic...the all-American icons huh? I'll pass. They've annoyed me for decades now...time for them to fade away into that goodnight of Hallmark holiday specials and the occasional Lifetime movie for women. Maybe a guest slot on the Ed Asner Arbor Day Variety Extravaganza, brought to you on Bravo network, this Thursday at 2AM...
 

tank girl

New Member
Consumerist is a word; derived from Consumerism: The Capitalist theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically beneficial...

thankyou all for further demonstrating your ignorance - can't you simply just address the issue without taking pathetic swipes at me?

I personally think it is abhorrent that we live in a society where now even 5-8 year olds feel that they need to define themselves by such superficial beauty standards in order to feel accepted in a society that revolves around making people (and yes, now five year olds) feel inadequate in order to profit from manufactured insecurities.
 

Leslie

Communistrator
Staff member
I think it's abhorrent that these kids at 5 even know about this crap, but hey that's just me. The societal issue at hand even here is the family, and the loss of the "takes a village to raise a child" philosophy, not the extraneous, brief and meaningless outer influences.

I lived through wanting to be Barbie, and Cyndi Lawpah,I'm sure these girls will too, and'll be just fine, the intelligent ones anyway. The rest will follow the herd. Que sera sera.
 

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
It's reflective of the exposure to media starting at a younger age...basically, the idiot-box being used as a digital babysitter, incresed commercialization in movies, cartoons and other media...aimed at younger children in hopes of opening a new market. Teens and tweens aren't enough...go for younger.

An unfortunate side-effect of this kind of advertising is that the 'ideal', whether it refers to body-type, age, race etc...leaks through as well.

Most adults realize that models used in advertising are airbrushed* (*Photoshopped) to look the way they do, or represent a miniscule portion of the population at best. Children are far more impressionable.
 

SouthernN'Proud

Southern Discomfort
MrBishop said:
It's reflective of the exposure to media starting at a younger age...basically, the idiot-box being used as a digital babysitter, incresed commercialization in movies, cartoons and other media...aimed at younger children in hopes of opening a new market. Teens and tweens aren't enough...go for younger.

An unfortunate side-effect of this kind of advertising is that the 'ideal', whether it refers to body-type, age, race etc...leaks through as well.

Most adults realize that models used in advertising are airbrushed* (*Photoshopped) to look the way they do, or represent a miniscule portion of the population at best. Children are far more impressionable.

We are struggling with some of these effects with the 12 year old. She's got herself a "boyfriend", and she tried to manipulate us into taking her to a school booster club meeting. Why did she want to go? Her man was gonna be there, of course!

Didn't work.

Point being, this kid is thinking about things at 12 that I didn't think about until maybe 15 or so. Meaning that by the time she's 16...

Fortunately ( I guess...) between her mother and I, damn near any trick in the teenager's book has been pulled already, so she'll have to work hard to come up with anything one or both of us didn't pull on our own folks.

She recently "graduated" from the Raven/Lizzy McGuire/Boy Meets World stuff to Ashley Simpson/MTV/OC crowd. Lucky us. Now she thinks she's 17 and every decision made is cause for crisis and drama, just like if little Ashley's boytoy fails to call her when she wants him to.

Reminds me...time to check the progress on the hermit's retreat...things is gonna be gettin downright unbearable around here soon...
 

Winky

Well-Known Member
"Point being, this kid is thinking about things at 12 that I didn't think about until maybe 15 or so. Meaning that by the time she's 16..."

No no no my Brotha
by 16 her 'education' regarding this area of life will be set!

She'd better have all her 'relationship' ducks in a row by 18
before she can get away from your guiding influence.

Them Kiddies learn life long lessons about man\woman relationships in the 11 to 14 year period.

The parents that try to put this off merely miss a chance of a lifetime to properly program their kids in how to behave towards the opposite sex.
 

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
demonstrating your ignorance

Once again, you show the need to further your education by using a dictionary. I'd really like to have an interesting, albeit pointless, conversation with you but since November you've yet to present an original thought or even an entertaining perspective. This was a nice try though. Maybe we can still work with it. Tell us what YOU think, not what some professor told you to think.
 

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
Gonz said:
Once again, you show the need to further your education by using a dictionary. I'd really like to have an interesting, albeit pointless, conversation with you but since November you've yet to present an original thought or even an entertaining perspective. This was a nice try though. Maybe we can still work with it. Tell us what YOU think, not what some professor told you to think.
No matter where she got it from, dieting and body-image concerns in the very young is a decent topic...especially in little girls. As if parents didn't ahve enough to worry about before...getting your kids to eat their veggies was tough because of the 'yuck' factor...now it's because they want to maintain their figure...I mean, that's a whole other kettle of fish.
 

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
Getting little girls to maintain their figures should make fruits & veggie eating easier. If kids start down this path there is always one foolproof option...turn off the TV.
 

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
Gonz said:
Getting little girls to maintain their figures should make fruits & veggie eating easier. If kids start down this path there is always one foolproof option...turn off the TV.
It's about damn time people got their heads out of their aesthetics and got busy with living healthily.
 

Professur

Well-Known Member
tank girl said:
I personally think it is abhorrent that we live in a society where now even 5-8 year olds feel that they need to define themselves by such superficial beauty standards in order to feel accepted in a society that revolves around making people (and yes, now five year olds) feel inadequate in order to profit from manufactured insecurities.

Are you sitting down? "It's the parent's job to deal with this" (I'll bet noone expected me to say that)

A parent who treats their kids as beautiful treasures hasn't a worry in the world about this. A parent who worries about this hasn't a hope in the world. V2.0 8 year old butt takes 10 year old's panties. Think it bothers her? (bugs hell outta me. What's an 8 year old doing with hips?) She loves that she's healthy, strong, and hitting puberty at way too damn early for my liking.

That's a parent's job. Not making sure that the kid has the latest pair of Reboks.
 

SouthernN'Proud

Southern Discomfort
Our housebrat has all the answers to all the questions she has asked, as well as a bunch more information provided by us, not the school. Information is not the worry here at Casa del SnP...it's attitude. He or she among us who never went against what we knew better than to do, please raise your hand...
 
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