Twisting Twee's hit and miss

So, I was perusing Feministing.com and saw a mention of this shirt. It's a child's shirt with stripper tassles on the breasts. Of course this is outrageous but apparently there is some sort of explaination.

According to Sociological Images, the creator of this shirt from Twisted Twee had something to say about the thinking behind this shirt design.

“The Nipple Tassel t-shirt was designed as a response to my own distaste at seeing mini versions of sexy clothes on young children,” she wrote. “Five-year-olds wearing slashed mini skirts and boob tubes, little thumb-sucking Britneys.

“There is nothing very sexy about a baggy, lap neck, long sleeved t- shirt for a 6-month-old. So by embellishing this style of garment with printed nipple tassels, the result is not that the baby becomes sexualized by the tassels, but that the tassels are made benign and silly by the baby. In fact the more inert, innocent and unaware the infant is, the more ludicrous the contrast becomes.”

I guess I just don't get it. I'm trying to understand where the designer is coming from but I just don't think that most mom's and dad's are going to get this. Even if this shirt is supposedly making a statement about the harms of sexualized clothing for children...I think many parents are not going to enjoy looking at their daughters in a tasseled shirt.

Most likely onlookers will stare or even be bold enough to comment on the shirt. This may ignite a conversation and perhaps that is part of the goal? So, that parents can explain that they disapprove of inappropriate clothing for young ones?

I just don't think that this is making the statement that is intended. I can't imagine anyone would want to purchase this shirt even if they too agree that many clothes for young girls are too risque.

Twisting Twee also sells an Equal Opportunity Baby Grows clothing line.

For all your parents out there or parents to be. What do you think of this? I like the idea. However, it does seem that these clothes are more for the parents than the child. When children reach school age...will the parents continue to dress their boys in pink and boys in blue? I like the idea of parents having disregard for the scorn of other parents for dressing them up this way. But it seems that when kids enter school they suddenly become aware of what colors are usually designated to which gender. So, all of a sudden boys aren't allowed to appreciate pink and purple.

While the creator of Twisting Twee cannot solve all of these sociological problems, I do appreciate this effort in her clothing line.

But um..yeah, I think we can all do without the tassels.