But I'm a 31 year-old woman, and I don't get what's so filthy about the Baby Phat shirt. I understand the repulsiveness of push-up bras and thongs and "juicy" on little girls' clothes. But that shirt has, what, a stylized cat? Is that cat too sexy? Like I say, I must be out of touch.

As far as dress codes go, when I was a kid I would have led a revolt against them. But as an adult, I do appreciate the possibility that it could soften class differences among students.

You took the words right out of my mouth - I'm a 30 year old woman, and I consider myself to be pretty conservative, at least when it comes to what girls are wearing (my daughter isn't even 2 so thank god I don't have to deal with this for a while).

But I'm confused, too, as to what the Baby Phat cat was 'so obviously' supposed to portray? I really looked at it and tried to figure out the hidden meaning, and I couldn't. Can someone (Emily Yoffe, feel free to jump in) and explain this?

The cat is a reference to the vagina and is shockingly common on tween clothing. A few weeks ago I saw a ten year old girl shopping with her mother while wearing a shirt that said "If you think I'm cute you should see my kitty." I'm no prude, but I was stunned that the girl's mother would let her have the shirt, much less wear it in public. I was with a 20 year old guy at the time and he goggled when he saw it and said, "Wow, that's inappropriate."

I would suggest that the problem is too many parents who "don't get what's filthy" about these kinds of clothes, but I used to work in a kindergarten, and a lot of parents think it's just adorable to dress little girls up like tramps.

Ok - something that said 'you should see my kitty' is pretty obvious. A stylized cat is not, and I don't know that a lot of people would look at that and think, Vagina! And if you do -- do you think of that if you see cute kittens on a t-shirt? Why is this cat somehow more vagina-like than other cats?

I suppose the parents buying the 'you should see my kitty' shirt, the push up bras, etc, are the same ones buying their daughters Bratz dolls.

missmuffet:

Ok - something that said 'you should see my kitty' is pretty obvious. A stylized cat is not, and I don't know that a lot of people would look at that and think, Vagina! And if you do -- do you think of that if you see cute kittens on a t-shirt? Why is this cat somehow more vagina-like than other cats?

In addition to the possible "pussy" reference, the image itself is vaguely suggestive of female genitalia. However, I believe Yoffe is seeing smut where probably none is intended. I looked around the web a bit for any other discussion of the Baby Phat logo, and could find no similar claims. At the very least, their deniability is very plausible.

Those of us with their minds in the gutter can obviously see in this image the allusions to a vagina. It is present in most if not all of the Baby Phat clothes. I suspect there is someone in their graphic design group staring at vagina photos and saying "How do I stylize this?"

Please note the specific inclusion of both the inner and outer lips of the vulva in most of their work, not to mention the graphic cat.

The fact that it is not obvious to everyone, proves that they are not all as jaded or media-conditioned as the rest of us.

For those of you who "can't see it"...please keep in mind that these girls will have 13 year old boys staring at their chests. I guarantee you THEY will see it...

Well sure, but 13 year-old boys also see sex in an Andy Rooney segment. They're 13 year-old boys. That doesn't mean we should dispense with *all* references to cats.

. . ."If you think I'm cute you should see my kitty."

Most little girls would probably take that slogan literally ("Well, lil' fluffball is adorable"). Such a t-shirt could have easily been bought by a grandparent or a parent who wasn't paying close attention to double entendres.

I don't know. I feel like we're apples & oranges-ing here. A drawing of a cat is not the same as asking someone to look at, pet, or otherwise engage with your "kitty."

Thanks for clarifying, I did not catch the reference immediately either. Don't know what that means.

I didn't mean to suggest that the picture of the cat was as obvious as the "you should see my kitty" shirt. It's not. I only mentioned the shirt as an example of the use of cat as vagina on tween clothing. It's probably the most egregious example, but it was the first one I thought of. My point was there are lots of people who are going to see that cat and immediately think of pussy. Clearly there are a lot of people who won't, but I'm pretty sure that Baby Phat's intention was innuendo.

Hi. I'm a 29 year-old guy and I had the same thought as you when I was reading through the article; I couldn't tell what the problem was. Before I read these other replies to you, I clicked on the picture of the t-shirt to get a larger view and thought, "Wow. That is clearly intended to be a vagina." Judging from the other comments here, I'm not the only one who saw it. . .

I'm still curious if 13 year boys will think that when they see that shirt. Does the average boy that age know what a vagina looks like? I think that often, we as adults project what we know on younger kids. When I was little, I wasn't allowed to have the Madonna tape that had Like A Virgin on it. I had no idea what a virgin even was! I thought it was someone who had never been kissed (she said, like a virgin, kissed for the very first time!). But my parents knew, and I guess assumed that I would know, and it was inappropriate.

Maybe kids are more savvy/sophisticated/whatever now, but I still find it hard to believe that the *average* 12 or 13 year old really knows so much about sex that they look at these images and think 'pussy'.

wow, we really are a jaded society. the baby phat name and logo are a tribute to kimmora simmon's dead cat, and a play on her (then) husband's clothing line, phat farm. nothing more, nothing less. i realize there is a legitimate issue here with some of these clothing lines and styles, but please, let's not read something into nothing.