“Everywhere I turn tells my daughter to be sexy, my son to be violent, and both of them to disrespect authority simply on principle.”
And that’s just marketing, they tell us.
I don’t know how old your kids are, Brad, but I have two daughters 7 and 6, and “De Boy” will be 3 soon. My oldest has used the word “sexy”, literally, and I have no idea how the hell that happened. The 6 year old is less fashion-conscious, but I’m sure it’s coming. “De Boy”, well he’s not quite 3, so I’ve got a little prep time (and more experience now). But the cultural morass they maneuver every day is a quite sophisticated marketing and image ploy with little bearing on reality. Being kids, addicted as they are to Occam’s famous Razor, they take it on its face, no matter how subtle and insidious I see it to be. Anyway, I’m glad I’m not the only younger parent to notice. It ain’t pretty, and it ain’t leaving any time soon. Good article, Brad.
