Posted on 03/22/2011 3:50:08 PM PDT by iowamark
Women of a liberated generation wrestle with their eager-to-grow-up daughters—and their own pasts
...In a few years, their attention will turn to the annual ritual of shopping for a prom dress, and by then their fashion tastes will have advanced still more. Having done this now for two years with my own daughter, I continue to be amazed by the plunging necklines, built-in push-up bras, spangles, feathers, slits and peek-a-boos. And try finding a pair of sufficiently "prommish" shoes designed with less than a 2-inch heel...
A woman I know, with two mature daughters, said, "If I could do it again, I wouldn't even have slept with my own husband before marriage. Sex is the most powerful thing there is, and our generation, what did we know?"
We are the first moms in history to have grown up with widely available birth control, the first who didn't have to worry about getting knocked up. We were also the first not only to be free of old-fashioned fears about our reputations but actually pressured by our peers and the wider culture to find our true womanhood in the bedroom. Not all of us are former good-time girls now drowning in regret—I know women of my generation who waited until marriage—but that's certainly the norm among my peers.
So here we are, the feminist and postfeminist and postpill generation. We somehow survived our own teen and college years (except for those who didn't), and now, with the exception of some Mormons, evangelicals and Orthodox Jews, scads of us don't know how to teach our own sons and daughters not to give away their bodies so readily. We're embarrassed, and we don't want to be, God forbid, hypocrites...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I didn’t let my daughters dress like that-not when they were 2 or 12 or teens. There is something to be said for developing a sense of modesty at an early age.
Oof, God bless you! I have three daughters: one is 20 and wears a Coast Guard uniform (or jeans and a Coast Guard t-shirt); the others are 13 and 11. They’ll wear thrift-store clothes if we can find something that fits, but only The Salvation Army is close, and we don’t have a lot of time to dig through their stock looking for really-small adult items; stock tends toward extra-large!
Yeah, the thrill of the thrift! I love it, my kitchen is mostly furnished with thrift items that I bought for pennies on the dollar.
At one point we gave up and put our daughters in boys jeans.
That’s great advice. At one time there were very few options, but it’s amazing what one can find online.
I wore my brother’s jeans, until the Hips hit me. I couldn’t find any jeans larger than little-girls’ size 8 that weren’t “low-rise.” If Sears doesn’t have them, I’ll have to measure and catalog-shop. They need one pair for camping (although I manage to camp in a dress ...)
Well said.
If you are the father of four teenage daughter, you will have no hair, no money and no liver.
I’ll have four teenage sons at once, eventually. Having four sons under ten has already strained my liver.
In the words of Boomer icon Holden Caulfield: Sleep tight, ya morons!
In 2002 my daughter was getting Confirmed and graduating from 8th grade and needed two modest outfits. We spent virtually an entire day at the local mall searching for ANYTHING! We finally found a dress with spaghetti straps with a jacket and a sweater and skirt combination. I was shocked at how little was available even then that was appropriate. Wish I’d thought about a thrift store then!!
I see women who are old enough to be grandmothers and dressed like teen age trollops.
forgotten man
~~~~~~~~~
Excuse me! I resemble Your remark,
BTW...that’s all I could find at the Thrift Stores!!
/S
Taxc - I had the same problem shopping at Thrift Stores when I lived on the mainland. Here in Hawai’i there’s plenty of small items!!! FUN.
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My poor father had five daughters. He was a career military man (Navy). We have pictures of us when we were kids wearing party dresses and boy's black, high-top basketball shoes. He was tough.
For one they knew the man wasn’t their husband,
that fornication is wrong, that they wouldn’t have it to do over again.
“what did we know?”, more “what did we care?”. Now it’s buyers remorse.
Because if we don’t let them dress that way, they will kick out ass.
See if there is a Junior League re-sale store in your town. I’ve never been to the one over in Worcester, but I’ve heard they have lovely clothes. I’d think you’d have a good chance of finding Land’s End, or Eddie Bauer clothes there.
...They had hotpants on the rack, apparently back in fashion....
They are called “Daisy Dukes” nowadays, sheesh!
"We", knew better, that's what we knew.
My kids had better be well prepared if they want to kick my ass. They need to sleep sometime, and after 33 years in the Army, I can go a long time without sleep.
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