
Thanks to Lynn Armitage, who blogs over at A Mad Mom, for this guest post. Lynn doesn't pull any punches here! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this post, especially if you have a young daughter. Thanks, Lynn!
Yesterday, I went into a young girls' clothing store called "Justice" to return a sweater that I had bought my daughter for Christmas
that she was too afraid to tell me she hated and would never wear. The
tags were still on it! (What is it about mothers turning into fashion
failures after they have kids?)
I walked up to the
register and standing behind it with a pretty little smile on her face
was a 20-something gal looking perky -- and quite seductive in a top
cut so low, I could almost see her areolas. I looked around to make sure I hadn't accidentally walked in to a Frederick's of Hollywood, and for a split second thought I should check the sign outside the store to see if it said, "Girls! Girls! Girls!"
I
was flabbergasted that a clerk working in a store that sold clothes for
young girls between 5 and 12 years old would be dressed like a
stripper. Had she no common sense? Doesn't she realize that our young
daughters are watching, and learning, from her generation of young
women? If they see all these gals walking around baring their breasts like it's a mandatory dress code for that age group, they will think it's OK to dress that way, too; that sexy and slutty are "in," and modesty is SO uncool.
What are these salesclerks thinking when they get dressed for
work? Do they think some really cute guy is going to walk in to a store
for little girls, for no apparent reason, see them up at the counter
showing their nipples and think, "You are SO hot! I want to whisk you
away from this miserable minimum-wage existence to birth my babies!" (Picture Richard Gere in "An Officer and a Gentleman.") These stores aren't bars or nightclubs -- they are WORK places!
So
I did what any Mad Mom would do: I asked for the manager. I told her
that I was a mother of a tween -- a very impressionable tween -- and
that I didn't appreciate shopping in a store for young girls where the
salesclerks are dressed like hookers. I suggested that she tell all the
Justice employees to cover up -- or at least wear cammies over all that cleavage.
I told her it is highly inappropriate to dress like that around our
innocent young daughters and that they had an obligation, working in a
store like this, to be role models for our children.
In other words, I suggested she mandate a new dress code for her employees of "Less cleavage, more class."
And
I'd like to encourage every mother out there who has a young daughter
to follow suit. If you walk into a store that sells products aimed at
your child, and the salesclerks look like prostitutes,
PLEASE go up to the manager and let her know that you're not going to
be shopping there any longer if her employees continue to dress like
that because it's sending the wrong message to our children, who are
oversexualized enough as it is.
If each of us can do this one little thing, we may be able to help our daughters hang on to their innocence a little bit longer.
Better
yet, send a complaint to their customer service department. Maybe if
they get hit with enough Mad-Mom e-mails, they might reconsider their
employee dress code. Here's the link. (and a BIG thank you to Joe at Hey Joe for suggesting that we approach them digitally!
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