Age Compression

cool rants
It occurred to me that if I had a daughter, I'd have some serious challenges ahead in raising her.
We live in an age where many of the products directed at 8 to 14 year old girls have a sexual slant.
The media and PR machinery that are directly involved in socializing our youth, abdicate any responsibility to this end.
There are a series of products on the market called "Bratz" dolls. These are not your average babie dolls (apparently Matel's "Barbie" is now considered out of fashion and too baby like for the sophisticated tween set). They no longer have aspirations of becoming flight attendants, dental assistants or nurses. These miniature sex bombs have much loftier goals. They tend more toward fashionistas or video dancers and want to look good whilst doing it. No doubt it's all about how you are perceived by others. The creators of these nasty figurines will say otherwise by telling you straight out that these plastic girls empower the youth market and help to express the inner self. What? How exactly does lip gloss and fun fur accomplish this? These purveyors of the inappropriate have even put forth a "girls guide to dating". In my opinion, this is nothing more than Cosmo for girls. Pushing the boundaries of sexual awareness is mad, especially when most girls within this age range haven't even started to menstruate.
When I was a "tween", I traded stationary and "7 minutes in heaven" or "spin the bottle" were considered fast behavior. Now kids are wearing "sex bracelets" where each color signifies a different level of sexual activity (blue is for blow jobs!). Then there is the print advertising world. I read an article recenlty where the front man for Candies Shoes was interviewed. They have an ad running in several fashion magazines which uses the tween idol, Ashlee Simpson, to hawk their brand. She sports the requisite pink, scantily clad outfit, high heels, along with plenty of cleavage showing and enough makeup to send anyone's face into massive itch mode. When interviewed, the VP of Candies explained that they have been very socially responsible in their advertising campaign, exclaiming that "being sexy does not mean that you have to have sex". (This incidentally appears on their t-shirts which are sold through the Candies Foundation). If this message is to have the kind of successful influence on their intended market, how then can it be explained that when interviewed, boys of the same age group considered the very same ad to be "trashy", giving them "a boner" and helped to buy into the bimbo message?