Girls, Girls, Girls

A couple of weeks ago, my 6-year old daughter was looking over my shoulder as I was reading a magazine. The mag in question was something innocuous like Real Simple. I flipped to a page that had an ad for some miracle anti-aging lotion that featured an unlined-but-mature woman. My girl quickly asked me, as I was about to flip the page, "do you think that lady is hot?" 

I did what I usual do when faced with new parenting challenges, which is to blink a lot.

"What do you mean by 'hot?" I asked.

"Hot, mum. Like hot." She did a little dance that made it clear what hot meant. And then I heard my brain quietly implode.

I thought I could wait a few years before thinking about my daughter, body image and early sexualisation. I was wrong, especially in light of a fairly recent APA report on the sexualisation of little girls.

It's not all bad news — and parents aren't powerless in the face of Britney's midriff. Happily, two bloggers came up with a list of ten ways to combat the sexual age creep. And, no, sitting on the couch and blinking isn't one of them.