This is me at seventeen.
This is what seventeen year olds look like on Instagram, on TV and basically everywhere on the internet.
In fact the girl on the right is only 14.
On a shopping trip recently I saw two girls, who looked about 12 years old, walking out of Hollister holding bags of their newly purchased garments. A perfectly normal sight. But the oiled up naked man’s torsos, that are splayed all over the Hollister bags, in the hand’s of these young girls made me cringe hard. When I was twelve I spent most of my pocket money in Claire’s accessories rather than in a company who actively only employs ‘sexy’ girls in their stores. The worst part is brands like Hollister purposely market their products at a young audience.
Why is there this creepy fascination with trying to make twelve years olds sexy?!
The most well-known ‘sexy teenager’ (vom) is most definitely Kylie Jenner. I don’t particularly like boobie, bikini posts at the best of times and I found Kylie’s posts generally creepy. However, I made my peace with ‘Kylizzle’s’ posts by justifying that she’s grown up in a celeb family and her whole upbringing has been unusual in comparison to most teens.
But then! (plot wist) My explore page on insta seems to be popping up with many a 14-year-old emulating Jenner’s poses by strategically taking a selfie to include some kind of boobage. Should I be worried that these post are BASED ON PEOPLE YOU FOLLOW?!?! Anyway that’s a story for another time….
Some people reading this might be thinking ‘Take a chill pill Grandma’ but let’s just clarify-it’s fully creepy to make a child or young teen feel like they have to be sexy. Teenagers are often played by 25-year-olds in TV and films for example; The Hunger Games, Mean Girls, The Amazing Spiderman and don’t EVEN get me started on Hannah Montana’s brother, so we’re constantly bombarded by skewed representations of teenagers.
Seems like it’s no wonder teens feel pressure at a younger and younger age to act like adults. My advice would be- be yourself. You may end up wearing questionable clothing and doing your make up badly but that’s a part of the teenage years. It’s definitely not about looking like a perfectly manicured sex kitten- that’s for dayum sure!
kimdeepandmeaningful 