On September 11 and September 24, I wrote about the gender socialization of young boys and girls, specifically the construction of sexuality.

One of my students turned this advertisement for House of Dereon’s (Beyonce and Solange Knowles’ clothing company) children’s line.  This is the first I had heard of it.  Apparently, it made a debut back in May and there are numerous responses to be found online that echo the same sentiment: disgust.

I can’t help but think of the obscene childhood photos of JonBenet Ramsey and the infamous spoof in, “Little Miss Sunshine.”

High heels for infants have arrived! Heelarious was launched 14 weeks ago and has lowered the bar of female sexuality even lower. I can take a joke. The creators claim that they are in the name of good fun. I know these are suppossed to be charming, sweet and just plain heelarious (cough) but when stripper poles are marketed at Tesco in the UK and aimed at prepubescent girls and thongs are marketed to 6-year olds and the Bratz fill the shelves at toy stores, I can’t ignore the connection between these products and the larger cultural framework in which the hypersexualization of young girls is all pervasive.

For a complete reading, check out Durham’s, “The Lolita Effect.”