My distaste for the delusions of libertarianism aside, Kerry Howley, an associate editor at Reason, has penned the most insightful refutation of the so-called "sexualization" of young girls and women. Howley juxtaposes the over-reliance on anecdotal evidence of more risque clothing and consumer culture with statistics indicating lower rates of teen pregnancy and sexual violence against women.
Having laid bare the complete lack of proof of this newest episode in the culture wars, Howley concludes by cleverly pointing her finger in the opposite direction:
"Without any mechanism to explain the process by which precocious fashion taste turns to self-loathing, it’s probably safest to assume that the kid's department at Penny's and the darkest recesses of American culture exist a world apart. Girls, as they always have, will alternately embrace the trappings of girlhood and struggle against the mythologies of gender. Parents and soi-disant experts will continue to cluck their tongues, and possibly publish papers. Objecting to the fashion choices of the young is perfectly natural. While girls may be baring more skin than ever, the need to dress disapproval as social science says less about their pathologies than it does about ours."
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