in the news, sex
- January 8, 2008
10 year old Brazilians?
A while back I noted that “10 year old pussy” was a popular search term from which people arrived at my blog. Well, I’m going to cater for that demand now. Sort of. Actually, I’m writing about sexualisation of young children, in this case, 10 year old girls being encouraged to wax whatever body hair they have off, including getting a brazilian wax
.Last year Nair, makers of hair-removal products, released their Pretty range, aimed at 10 to 15-year-olds, or, as they call them, “first-time hair removers”. Yes, you heard right. Ten-year-olds. Girls — children — in grades 5 and 6, encouraged to wax and chemically remove hair from their barely pubescent bodies.
The Australian arm of the company has claimed its target audience is slightly older, in an attempt to distance itself from the US campaign, which involves phrases such as “Pretty isn’t a look. It’s a feeling,” “Nair will leave your skin smooth and totally touchable!” and this pearler from Stacey Feldman, vice-president for marketing at Nair’s parent company, Church & Dwight: “When a girl removes hair for the first time, it’s a life-changing moment.”.
And then we have website girl.com.au, supposedly with a target audience of 9-14 year old girls, having a feature about brazilians, which includes this gem:
“So why does it appeal. Nobody really likes hair in their private regions and this removes it.”
According to the article in The Age, this site also had “and it has a childlike appeal” - but that is nowhere to be seen now.
It just strikes me as wrong to be encouraging prepubescent chlidren and teenagers that this is some sort of desirable thing to do. I just don’t see these as things kids should be worrying about at these ages. It is foisting adult concepts and images of sexual desirabilty onto them at too young an age. Why? So some company can sell some pointless product that no-one actually needs and add to their bottom line? Are the marketers who thought of this shit some sort of uber-paedophiles …. is 10-12 not young enough for them? Do they prefer them to even younger?
What sort of adults would encourage children to wax their body hair off? What sort of parents would allow their children to do it?
6 Responses to “10 year old Brazilians?”
very good blog, congratulations
regard from Catalonia Spain
thank you
Té la mà Maria’s last blog post..COM CANVIEN LES COSES
By Té la mà Maria (1 comments.) on Jan 8, 2008
I think there is some merit in it - I started to sprout in my underams when I was ten, in year six.
To know that there was something that was relatively easy to use would have been of great help.
However, I don’t agree with the ‘totally touchable’ etc advertising…
enny’s last blog post..7 to go - hip hooray ho!
By enny (6 comments.) on Jan 8, 2008
I could not believe what I was reading this morning in the paper. I just hope most kiddies are like my teenage nieces and take from popular culture what they want, and ignore such nonsense as you wrote about…I hope. My liberal views on censorship are quickly being modified.
Andrew’s last blog post..The Sandwich
By Andrew (15 comments.) on Jan 8, 2008
I’ve never had a brazilian wax and i’m 38.999!
I agree…it’s one thing to trim the hair and another thing to shave it off, and when one is going through puberty enough weirdness is going on.
Just one more thing to make women paranoid about.
*sigh*
First time visitor thanks to Entrecard - great blog!
Sudiegirl’s last blog post..“I Got You Babe”, 2008 New Hampshire Primary Dance Mix…featuring Hillary and Obama
By Sudiegirl (2 comments.) on Jan 9, 2008
It’s very sick and creepy,almost endorsing paedophilia.
Jayne’s last blog post..Trivial History January 9
By Jayne (46 comments.) on Jan 9, 2008
What I don’t really get is the need for a whole hair removal process for a 10 year old. Ignore for a moment the grossness of encouraging the idea that hair is ‘wrong’ or ‘unattractive’ - wouldn’t the hair growth on a 10 year old be extremely sparse anyway? I know I started sprouting a few hairs around that time, but they were very sporadic. Obviously this is different for everyone, but I wasn’t exactly a late bloomer. It’s additionally concerning that 10 year olds are being encouraged to apply chemicals to sensitive nether regions when their really isn’t much to remove in the first place.
I remember reading that article on girl.com.au way back in March-ish. And yes, it did say ‘childlike appeal’ which I found ten parts of disgusting.
Meanwhile, there is definitely something wrong with a society that activiely encourages any woman to have a brazilian wax, let alone a child or teenage girl. Bleugh.
audrey apple’s last blog post..Still the Tallest Man in the World
By audrey apple (2 comments.) on Jan 17, 2008