Abercrombie bikini tops: Threat to girls' mental health?

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(CBS) Sexy bras are nothing new, but one major retailer sparked outrage among the mental health police by peddling provocative push-up bikini tops to second-graders.

"These bras are an egregious example of a broader culture that is saturated with sexualizing messages aimed at young girls," psychologist Dr. Eileen L. Zurbriggen, leader of an American Psychological Association task force on the sexualization of girls, told CBS News. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to be attractive, but girls are getting the message that being sexy is the only thing that is important."

Dr. Zurbriggen, a psychology professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz, was talking about the "Ashley push-up" triangle bikini top featured on the Abercrombie & Fitch website before the retailer - apparently in response to outrage over the bra - agreed to "recategorize" it as an item better suited for girls age 12 and older, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

Calls to the company weren't returned by press time.

Can wearing a sexy bra really have a corrosive effect on little girls? Absolutely, says Dr. Zurbriggen - and the scientific evidence seems to back her up. In 2007, research conducted by the task force linked sexualization of girls to eating disorders, low-self-esteem, and depression.

And sexy clothing may be only the tip of the iceberg. The task force said sexualizing messages could be found in virtually every form of media, including television, music videos, music lyrics, magazines, movies, video games, and the Internet.

What's the solution to the problem?

"As a society, we need to replace all of these sexualized images with ones showing girls in positive settings - ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls," Dr. Zurbriggen said in a written statement released in 2007. "The goal should be to deliver messages to all adolescents - boys and girls - that lead to healthy sexual development."

[ladykia]

I dont think it's that serious!

[whiteguysrule]

As a society I have no faith, nor do I believe we as a whole were never civil.

We are all animals still, with too few humans left to lead.

WAKE UP!

[kara0514]

I am 21 years old and wear the swimsuits from abercrombie kids. If they can fit a 21 year old then clearly are not meant for a 8 year old. Also, by shopping at abercrombie you should know from the start that they would have something like this!

[jmailbox]

Try should be covering up the girls until they are 18 years old.

This country has such stupid double standards. Girls can wear the most skimpy things, but when guys try to do it, we get complaints, arrested for indescent exposure. It's a load of bull.

But this article does have 1 point, hot sexy young girls are abused to sell just about eveything. Like for example, "When you have Jock Itch get this product" with a hot girl holding said product.

It is stupid to the point that i no longer in any measure, to try my best to not watch commercials anymore because they over-sex the girls and give them image problems, and they also over-sex the boys and make them horne-dogs.

And all these commercials make 1 thing very clear, sex sells, and that's what they are exactly doing. Look at a "Axe" product commercial. "Yes use AXE and you too will get laid".
Wow great self-esteem there.

[rwsmith29456]

This is sick and not in the new 'cool' sense. Girls will usually 'bloom' without help in a few years. We abhor child molesters but we 'sexify' our children at a young age.

[kenhamlett]

Since we are on an absurd topic why is no one complaining about cod pieces for 10 year old boys? Besides the fact that no one sells them as far as I know, the reason is that it is irrelevant to mental health.
I have yet to see a girl that did not want to speed up nature with some sort of enhancement. This is not detrimental unless the parents force her to stuff her bra or wear a push up bikini (what ever that might be).
What we have here is an attempt to victimize the kids by convincing them there is a problem when none exists. However that is typical since that is the main source of income for these shrinks.