I”m astonished by the skimpy clothing so many women and girls wear in public and in the workplace. It leave me wondering why they possess such little modesty and self respect. Yes, media is full of sleazy images and detrimental role models, but that’s why parenting is so crucial. Now comes a study that illustrates what happens when parents fails to teach the virtue of modesty and society fails to value it.
For the study, which was published earlier this month in the journal Sex Roles, researchers asked dozens of girls from the Midwest between the ages of 6 and 9 to choose a doll that looked like themselves, that they wanted to look like, that would be most popular in school, or that they wanted to play with.
Across the board, they chose what have been termed the sexy dolls – dressed in tight and revealing clothing. LiveScience reports a total of 68 percent of the girls said the sexy doll represented how they themselves wanted to look, and 72 percent said the sexy doll would win a popularity contest up against the non-sexy doll.
It’s only natural for kids to want to be popular and want to mirror what they see in their friends and on TV. These days, there’s a lot of sleaze. It’s up to parents to ensure that they’re instilling values that override — at the very least, compete with — the sleaze. You don’t have to live in a bubble to do that. You do, however, have to be a confident, strong parent who lives the values you teach and a parent who isn’t afraid to reject the values of a culture in moral decline.
