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Playboy logo used to sell childrens' commodities
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
From today's Guardian Thoughts? I have always hated the Playboy range even when it was first out - I guess I was about 15 when I became aware of the Playboy bunny t-shirts and one of my friends had to explain that it was the Playboy logo (not that I didn't know what Playboy was or what it stands for) and since then I've seen it as an innuendo in its own right.
I would object to girls aged about 13 wearing "I'm good in bed, I can sleep for days" or "Just did it" t-shirts and to me carrying a Playboy bag or pencil case is intended to be jsut as playfully sexual.
I would object to girls aged about 13 wearing "I'm good in bed, I can sleep for days" or "Just did it" t-shirts and to me carrying a Playboy bag or pencil case is intended to be jsut as playfully sexual.
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That said I do have concerns about it being used to brand children's stationary. Reactionary old fart that I am I think children are getting sexualised too early and I'm not sure this helps (I'd add that nothing like this used to happen in my day except that I'm pretty sure that it did).
That they have no taste apparently.
I suspect young girls just think it's cool. When I was at school we used to have smarties pencil cases..
Well, quite well summed up. I can see why it should and could be marketed at adults... but Kids? Buying into um... no idea what to cal it... Porn branded accesories? Dear god, why not just sell them the darn mag, too?
Yeah, Pogs were ace.
I used those exact same words in the now infamous long-running 'thongs for kids' (or whatever it was) thread. Rightly or wrongly, I would immediately make a value judgment about a girl who sports something with the playboy bunny on it. Just not the kind of vibe which I really like to get.
One if the problems with the young at the moment, taking JoJo child star for the example, she's 13, and gets dressed up by her stylists to be a little adult, running around singing adult(ish) stuff, wearing adult styled clothes, and adult make-up, she can look 16. People are so worried about paedos, but allow their kids to run around looking older than they are, inviting something they shouldn't know about.
Personally I always feel that's a slightly dubious concept. I know that in certain countries where certain things aren't prohibited etc then their incidence is actually less, but you have to draw a line somewhere. To take the 'prohibit/discourage = rebellion' analogy to its extreme would be dangerous and immoral (i.e. a free for all where nothing is discouraged or prohibited), thus reinforcing the need to draw the line somewhere. There are certain norms which we should seek to hold onto, kids being kids is one of them. You're only a kid once, and in today's society you're encouraged to discard your childhood and grow up far too soon. I have some family in America, and some of the kids of even 7 or 8 are so precocious it is unreal. Probably equivalent in maturity and the amount of 'front' they have to a child of 11 or 12 over here. I think they're hurried along even quicker over there, in some places at least. It's not good to see IMHO.
I fail completely to see anything positive about the playboy bunny being associated with children's clothing. Even if you were to remove the factor that children could take this as an encouragement to go out and get laid as young as possible. There's also the factor which most parents seem to completly ignore, which is that they dress their 8 year olds up to look 13 and their teenagers to look "of age" and yet rant and rage about the existance of paedophiles.
As I said in the thong's thread in fashion last night kids like that singer JoJo dress up and dance around like mini-adults, sitting around with my adult male friends, and a couple of them make a comment about how fit she is, and I say "Sweet lord, she's 13!" not realising that until I said that, they thought she was 16/17. Cultural factors suddenly kick in for the entirely appropriate revulsion and embarrassment.
Kermit said of Skate_mosher's photo in introductions, it's hardly surprising that so many men get locked away for shagging under-age kids, when a 13 year old posts, and looks a lot older than she is.
What possible justification is there for kids growing up so fast in sexual "maturity" and nothing else?
I've met quite a few Germans and Dutch and they always discussed sex and their sex life with their parents and took the whole thing more seriously.
Where as here, you ask most people and their first sexual encounter is likely to be a drunken mistake in a park.
The outrage is basically the problem. If we had a more mature and liberal attitude to nudity and sex then magazines like Playboy wouldn't exist anyway. Heffer would be seen as the pathetic old man that he is.
Outrage that girls are using a logo on clothing is why we have such a problem with teenage promiscuity in this country. Sex is seen as rebellious, adult and naughty, and kids want to be all three of those things.
It's the power of the force....
On a totally unrelated point I'm not sure its true openess about sex reduces porn. From what in I understand France and Germany are pretty open about sex and all this has meant is that its easier to buy hardcore vids and mags. German porn used to be a synonym for either quality or degrading smut depending on your viewpoint.
No, it doesn't reduce porn, but it stops it being something rebellious. And it stops sex being something to use as rebellion.
Only in this country could you ahve sex at 16, but not legally buy pornography until 18.
Also worth noting that at 17 you can be sent into armed conflict for the country which won't let you watch two people have sex on camera...
How do you think a more liberal approach to nudity and sex could be achieved? I plan on being frank and up front with my kids about sex and nudity but what else can be done to alieviate the problem? I think places like beaches should all be free for people to go naked on and people that feel it's disgusting or distasteful in some way can go whistle as far as i'm concerned.
Should we have (kind of) "Reverse Mary Whitehouse" meetings where we promote nudity?
I don't think that this is the way to go about it.
Spot on. There are much better ways of being 'open' than letting young kids parade round with Playboy gear!! Openness is about talking, communicating, being honest..... not about wearing certain clothes, using stationery with a playboy logo on... what does that gain or teach kids? Nothing.
I'm not being argumentative, I genuinely don't understand what the fuss is about.
Items of clothing that can be objectively considered "sexy"- such as thongs, corsets, low cut tops- are different.
How does a girl taking her pens out of a neon pink case with a rabbit's head on it make her look easy? How does a girl wearing a neon t-shirt with that on it make her look easy?
The playboy stuff is actually quite tasteful, comparatively. I don't think people associate the brand with the magazine so much. The french connection stuff is far worse, although the latter just indicates a complete lack of taste or humour.
I don't see how people make the connection "playboy tee = gagging for it slut". I'm well aware of what Playboy is, but I don't think that is very relevant. A shiny neon pencil case is a shiny neon pencil case, it's not a social statement.
Is Playboy any worse than having a fake Pepsi can as a pencil case?