User blog comment:AnitaTotallyRocks/Do 6th Graders Get Shorter Every Year!?/@comment-3991308-20151013085507/@comment-3991308-20151017061326

Yeah, I think that's really sad. :(

The sexualisation of girls is getting younger and younger, and the thing is? Most girls at that age dress like that due to peer pressure, and not actually because they feel comfortable in that clothing.

You know why that's bad? Because, through magazines and advertisements and TV shows, girls are tricked into thinking that they need to be a certain way in order to appease boys. That encourages things like eating disorders, negative body image and even the onset of mental illnesses in girls.

I think it's terrible that grownups can look at a preteen girl, covered in a crop top and short shorts, and think she's being sexual, though. Because she's covering what needs to be covered, and she's literally a kid.

Another thing: just because girls your age start talking about sex, drugs and start to reveal their body, it doesn't mean you're better than them.

Crop tops are cool. Makeup is cool. Getting around lots is cool too (as long as people are being safe and its done with consent). Liking these things? Fine. Not liking these things? Also fine.

Making fun of other girls for liking these things, or not liking these things are not cool. That's called slut-shaming, and that's a really sexist thing to do, since it contributes to rape culture, girl-on-girl hate and a lot of other negative things. Girls who dress a certain way aren't better than those who don't dress that way. The value of a girl doesn't rest in her clothes, or how many boyfriends she had the past week, or how much makeup she puts on. People say "don't judge a book by its cover", and that saying applies here as well.

Also: Nicki Minaj is a good role model. She tells her fans to work hard in what they do, and that education is vital and awesome. She encourages girls to be independent, and that they don't have to rely on guys. Why does she show off her body though? Because she wants to show that girls can be provocative without doing it for men. She wants to show girls can be attractive, talented, clever and successful. She's literally leading the music industry and the fact that people only judge her by her butt says more about them than it does about Nicki.

(I have nothing good to say about Miley Cyrus, though).

Sorry, I might have gone off on a little ramble. I thought really negatively about girls who dressed skimpyly when I was your age, and that was a really big block of internalised sexism I had to hurdle over. It's a topic that's really important to me, because I really wish I realised all of what I just typed earlier in life.