Miss Piggy: Hyped-up ham and premature ovaries

(Photo by Ross Hawkes)

Back in November 2011, stylelist.com ran a series of photos depicting Miss Piggy’s “boldest fashion statements.”  This series included guest appearances by celebs who appeared to be Miss Piggy’s latest BFFs – folks like Dolly Parton and Carrie Underwood who showed up in provocative outfits resembling Miss Piggy’s.

So which came first, these fluffed up chicks or their overt ovaries?

Hard to tell these days when the sexualization of girls (and even babies) is becoming more and more the norm.  The Christian Science Monitor recently ran an article titled Bikini onesie: Really? Baby clothes that go too far.  According to news reports: “Parents of Southaven, Miss., were outraged this week… to find a baby onesie printed with a woman’s curvy midsection covered by a skimpy red polka doted bikini for sale at their Gordman’s department store.”  The Christian Science Monitor asked this essential question:  Why would you want someone to look at your 18-month-old daughter and think sex object?

This baby onesie is hardly an isolated example.  The Christian Science Monitor ran a related article, Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect, back in 2011.  An astute mother, Mary Finucane, began to worry about the effect that the Disney Princesses (described as “that omnipresent, pastel packaged franchise of slender-waisted fairy-tale heroines”) might be having on her three-year old daughter.  Her subsequent research yielded results so compelling that Finucane began a blog titled “Disney Princess Recovery: Bringing Sexy Back for a Full Refund.”  This blog must have struck an intuitive chord – for within months it had thousands of followers.

And Barbie?  At fifty-something she still hasn’t shaken the “mirror, mirror on the wall” syndrome.  Her website proclaims that “Barbie lets you be anything you want to be” - but the accompanying pictures of Chef Barbie, Vet Barbie and Medic Barbie still show her hyping the ham every ounce as much as Miss Piggy and friends.

Resources

http://www.stylelist.com/2011/11/23/miss-piggy-style_n_1108303.html#s492690&title=November_2011_45th

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/Modern-Parenthood/2012/0705/Bikini-onesie-Really-Baby-girl-clothes-that-go-too-far

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0924/Little-girls-or-little-women-The-Disney-princess-effect

http://icanbe.barbie.com/en_us/index.html

Copyright July 7, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved