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the one about shorts

the subject of shorts has been wandering through my mind today for a couple of different reasons. first off, layla decided this morning that she needed to wear shorts in order to ride her bike. there are only two little pairs of shorts in her drawer that i have placed in there with her leggings – in order to be worn under dresses or skirts, so we avoid ‘i see london, i see france’ incidences. so she tells me this morning that she NEEDS to wear shorts and she knows she has shorts in her pile of summer clothes (which i have been slowly going through and adding to her closet (or the too-small pile) as the weather has improved. so she goes and grabs these shorts (all the $4 target shorts they sell every year in every color/pattern you can imagine). i’ve been dragging my feet about those shorts because they just seem so SHORT! i didn’t buy them, they’re hand-me-downs, but she’s had that style of shorts in years past. well, now it’s kind of starting to bug me how short they are. i guess she’s just grown out of her toddler-legs and now has these LONG, skinny legs and there’s a whole lot more of them! so anyway, she tried on every single pair, even though i told her they were all the same, just different colors, and each time i said, “nope. too short.” i realize that most people would say i’m over-thinking it, she’s not even 5 years old yet, and she looks ‘cute’. i see it differently. 10 years from now, i don’t want my daughter parading around in daisy dukes… so why should i create that standard now?

the other thing that got me thinking (further) about shorts was this afternoon in the car, we were going to get on 522, near the high school, and there must have been a PE class out for a run/walk in the nice weather. most of the students were wearing typical PE clothes – shorts and t-shirts. so i was looking at both the boys and the girls and started wondering about shorts again. boys’ shorts and girls’ shorts are vastly different. i’m not saying they should be the ‘same’. but it just struck me as kind of crazy. boys’ shorts are huge. they come to well below the knee and most of those skinny teenagers could probably fit both legs into one leg opening of their shorts easily. and then there’s the girls’ shorts. they are SHORT. like barely-covering-the-butt short. and tight too!

so then i start to wonder… why do women do this? it’s not just teenagers either, so you can’t blame it on immaturity or whatever. why do women so readily accept, consume, and promote such objectifying fashions? women have complained for years (decades, centuries, whatever) about men that are only interested in their body parts… WELL????

at any rate, this little incident solidified my earlier thoughts. those shorts all will be moving right along into the too-small bin!

Comments

  1. LizMay 19, 2010 at 4:09 PM

    I think about that all.the.time. in fact, I regularly walk past the shorts at target thinking H really needs some, and then walk away with vomit in my mouth. I have 2 pairs we bought last year to wear under skirts, and I think we'll try to make it through this summer with skirts and dresses on warm days. Though, I have seen in summer catalogs/websites the bermuda shorts fashion showing up for toddlers/young girls, so I may just find a good sale on those and stock up in a few years sizes.

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