I just wanted to chime in and say how I really enjoyed this article. I don't have any children myself, but frequently find myself feeling saddened, frustrated, and helpless in the face the overall decadence of our culture with its (to take only two symptoms, for example:) unbalanced, unfettered celebrity worship and oversexualization of girls, especially at younger ages. Anyway, I appreciated the way Ms. Yoffe dealt with the issue without the usual overtones of exaggerated moral outrage one usally encounters in reading articles with a similar subject.

All that said, I also thought the quandry we find ourselves in over disturbing fashion trends outlined in the article at least has the potential of inciting us to take another look at the very serious problem of pedophilia we have, as well as the question of how we deal with that problem as a society. It seems very likely that the extremely inappropriate direction fashion for young girls is headed in, on the one hand, and the unmentionable blight of pedophilia we have coupled with the extreme outrage we rightly feel over each instance, directed at each offender (not to mention the preoccupation and curiosity we have à la To Catch a Predator), on the other, is indicative of a deep neurotic split in our American psyches that demands to be addressed and requires healing if we are to progress as a culture.

I don't like slutty clothing, no matter who's wearing it. I am a very conservative dresser and not one for exhibitionism. That said I think you are wrong about pedophillia and its causes. Dressing some 10 year old in a sleazy outfit that would look more appropriate on a hooker won't turn someone to the "dark side". All it will do is induce revulsion. Consequently, dress a 10 year old up in a 18th century Puritan outfit and a pedo is still gonna be turned on by him/her. The appearences aren't important, the knowledge of their age is.

I doubt that the clothes really lead to more child exploitation, but yes, our culture is very schizophrenic on this topic!

I think you make an interesting point about this strange divide we have on this topic. The other replies have dealt with whether provocative clothing on a young girl provokes a pedophile, but I was thinking more about the effect on the girls themselves. It seems to me that when a young girl has been allowed to view herself and define herself as an overtly sexual person, whether she is developmentally ready to handle that or not, wouldn't she be easy prey for a pedophile? Wouldn't it be easier for a skilled con man to blur the lines of what's appropriate, say, on an internet chat sight for example? If these young girls are given the message that it's okay to be so overtly sexual, what does that tell them their role in society is? What will be their response when someone makes an inappropriate sexual advance towards them? Shock and moral outrage? I doubt it. I would think they are more likely to pleased that they have been successful at being sexually alluring, which is what we as a society are constantly telling them they are supposed to be. How do we expect them to make sound judgments when as a society we are sending them such mixed signals?

I'm sorry I left it ambiguous over whether I was implying that I thought this would lead to more instances of child exploitation or causing people to become pedophiles who otherwise wouldn't be -- I don't think that and didn't mean to imply it.

I was trying to bring attention to the inconsistency between our reactions to what is evil and to what we (as a majority, not necessarily Slate readers) also deem acceptable at the same time. It seems like we are trying to have it both ways: self-righteous moral outrage and appropriate stigma over sex with minors, and allowing young girls to dress in a manner that essentially says "please exploit me", whether we intend to or not.

Incidentally, the clothes made and purchased were possibly fabricated by exploited children in a third-world country, which might be neither here nor there.

Does anyone believe that pedophilia is more prevalent today than a hundred years ago or just talked about more.

This inconsistency you point out regarding how in North America particularly, pedophilia is demonized while, at the same time, adolescence and prepubescence is sexualized in our commercial media, has been analyzed in an essay written by Mark Greif called “Children of the [Sexual] Revolution” published in Harper’s Magazine, the Nov. 2006 edition. Greif contends that our national obsession with childhood and adolescent sexuality stems in great part from the sexual liberation movement and youth culture of the 60s whereby the idealization of youth and youthful experiences, which are often characterized in terms of sexual experimentation, has become a part of our cultural identity. He writes: “The lure of permanent childhood in America springs from the overwhelming feeling that one hasn’t yet achieved one’s true youth, because true youth would be defined by a sexual freedom so total that no one can attain it.” Moreover, the notion of sexual liberation is no longer one of choice, to have or not to have sex, but rather of necessity – one is expected to have sex with the same supposed zeal and energy-level of an adolescent! So now that liberation has gone the way of liberalization, marketers are more than happy to supply whatever commodities will make an adult feel young and fresh again and that’s where all these representations of sexualized prepubescence and adolescence come into play: marketers idealize youthful sexuality and then try and sell it back again to aging adults! In this sense, writes Greif, “[w]e produce the obsession we claim to resent; the new pedophile is a product of our system of values.” Ouch! Anyhow this is just a summary and doesn’t do justice to the finer points he makes so I highly recommend reading the article!

You need to stop thinking of 11 year olds as like your little baby still. Like im 13, i wear sexy clothes, like short shorts, tube tops and everything like that. I actually like turning guys on. Its not like i dont want guys to see me and girls like our age actually like to hook up, okay?

Was that last post from an actual 13-year-old, or an adult with no grammatical skills and a bad sense of humor? Assuming it's the first; Trust me, we're aware that girls (and guys) your age "actually like to hook up." Believe it or not, many adults were once horny teennagers too, and a lot of us weren't exactly saints. Having said that I don't think a thirteen-year-old is emotionally prepared for everything that comes with a sexual relationship. I'm not saying everyone has to remain chaste until marriage (unless of course they want to), but a 13-year-old child who is advertising her sexuality is in a very precarious position.

Regarding the sexy fashions of the 80s: I remember thinking the Madonna look in particular was a little trashy looking. But if you look at them now, you'll notice she was almost completely covered. Pretty tame by today's standards.