My Karen-Old-Lady take on short shorts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In HS I wore some questionably short dresses. I don’t think I was comfortable ever. And booty shorts. Graduated from an Ivy, gainfully employed, have a family, and let my daughter wear whatever she feels comfortable in.

What does showing your butt cheeks have to do with comfort? It is distasteful and tacky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t blame the children, I blame the parents.

+1. Check out the parents not just defending these awful “fashion” choices, but they’re proud of it! My parents would never have let my 14 yr old ass hang out in public like that, and I should thank them every day for that.

Your parents should have also taught you that using language like "ass hang out" was coarse and crude. We weren't even allowed to say "butt." We said "bottom" or "behind." So you can stop congratulating yourself because you are ok with talking about minors "splitting labias" which I think is pretty disgusting and low class.

And your parents made you exit the house to fart -- sorry, "expel flatus." Not being able to say butt is not the high class flex you think it is.

[Anonymous]

I’d much prefer the 16 years old wearing them vs the very large adults I’ve seen wearing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teenager doesn't give a rat's patotootie what you think, other than that maybe your hating her clothing affirms her fondness for them even more.

I get that but I also wonder where the line is. Would you let her go to school in a bathing suit? In her underwear? I feel like people always take things to such extremes — I agree in principle that we shouldn’t police other people’s clothing too much but that all assumes people will act reasonable. Once we get to the point where butt cheeks, butt cracks, testicles are not fully covered….it’s problematic.

Why does there need to be "a line" though? It's just the human body. My childhood subscription to National Geographic taught me that in some cultures, it is perfectly acceptable to walk around topless. Nobody in Japan is having the vapors when they walk into a sumo match and seeing the scantily clad wrestlers. People all across Europe sunbathe topless and its perfectly fine. Whereas in some cultures people get worked up about an ankle or a shoulder. It's all just cultural norms. There is nothing intrinsically good or bad about showing any body parts except that someone decides it is "decent" or "indecent." The most modest Lands End tank bathing suit would have horrified the Victorians.

Ultimately I believe that every individual has bodily autonomy and I'm not going to police what my teenage daughter wears.

I don't know, you tell me. If your child's pediatrician started wearing only underwear while treating your child, would you be okay with that? If not, why not? It's just a body? She still has all the medical knowledge and skills needed to give your child medical attention.

How dare you force the doctor to cover herself with underwear, you prude! What if she feels the most comfortable working nude? Stop policing how women dress! We must abolish these silly cultural norms. Personally, I would have no problem if my child's male doctor wanted to treat them with no pants, testicles out, pants are just a silly cultural norm. NBD.
/s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is how I dressed when I was 16 too. And I didn’t care what old ladies thought either.

+1. I went to classes at an Ivy League school dressed this way too. Have had a great career and 3 kids since.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but it looks terrible. On their own time, in social settings, I dgaf what they wear, but I hire teens to work at my business and a lot of the girls show up for work in our company t-shirt and, apparently, nothing on the bottom. I can't say anything because I don't want to be accused of body shaming, but it's unprofessional and doesn't represent my brand well, and I really really hate this god-awful trend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teenager doesn't give a rat's patotootie what you think, other than that maybe your hating her clothing affirms her fondness for them even more.

Your teenager sounds like she’s destined to do great things. Taking pride in splitting your labia with a denim strap and dangling your butt cheeks for the world to see has been one of the early indicators of our most formidable leaders.

Good job, mom. “You go girl!” as they once said.

She's already done some pretty great things, including hiking large stretches of the Appalachian trail carrying a heavy pack, having a short story published in a national literary journal, winning state-wide honors in a writing competition, and she's an accomplished classical musician in an instrument she's played since she was four. And she is headed off to a top ten university in the fall having graduated with almost all As and 14 AP classes and kick ass SATs. And yeah, she's done all that in booty shorts (except the hiking, because that would be stupid). And she's the kindest kid and I love her to bits so I don't give a rat's patootie what you think either because you sound boring and bitter.

Okay, that is great for your accomplished daughter who is probably privileged to have a supportive, UMC family. It’s the booty short wearing girls who are not so privileged and accomplished that really bear the brunt of society’s misogyny and contempt.

Ironically, you are the one propagating the misogyny and contempt in threads like this.

No. It’s you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but it looks terrible. On their own time, in social settings, I dgaf what they wear, but I hire teens to work at my business and a lot of the girls show up for work in our company t-shirt and, apparently, nothing on the bottom. I can't say anything because I don't want to be accused of body shaming, but it's unprofessional and doesn't represent my brand well, and I really really hate this god-awful trend.

If they work for your business, you have every right to have them wear long pants or have a dress code. That is not "body shaming." It's really weird that you have not instituted a dress code rule. Every job I had as a teenager or young adult had a dress code for this very reason. Usually it was no shorts or jeans.

With that said, I really don't care what the kids wear to school. When they go to work, they need to wear what the job requires.

[Anonymous]

You’re allowed to not look refined at 16 OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t love the look, but i wore some pretty short shorts back in the day when i could pull it off, so who am i to judge…. From a sanitary perspective, i prefer cheeks to be covered, so that’s our old requirement. That or bring a towel to sit on like in a nudist colony.

Fascinating. Do they really carry towels to sit on in nudist colonies? I’m going to tell my teen to start carrying one. She had shorts with her ass hanging out and when I bring it up she says I’m old and don’t understand fashion. Both of our perspectives our true.

We let her wear what she wants because we remember being teens and having parents who didn’t understand our choices. Tiny shorts and crop tops are that terrible with other teen problems we could have but don’t.

[Anonymous]

I surprised no one got harassed as a teenager when wearing skimpy clothes. I learned not to wear a tank top and short shorts on a Greyhound bus.
But if your daughters are not getting harassed, more power to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My old lady take (as someone actually named Karen):

16 year olds should wear what they are comfortable in.

+100. And I'm in my late 60s. Leave the kids alone.

[Anonymous]

This is actually more appropriate for teens than it is for 30+ year old women. And I'm a woman that age who wears short shorts (flatteringly). But just objectively speaking it is a teeny-bopper style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I strongly dislike teenagers younger than 18 wearing tiny short shorts that make it look like they are not wearing pants when their shirts are hiding their shorts.

It looks so tacky and unrefined. 16 year olds are not supposed to look like they’re almost naked!

A HUGE part of this problem is…girls’ clothing manufacturers. Take a look at not just what’s available in the juniors’ or women’s sections but also the kid and toddler clothes, and then try to find a pair of shorts with an inseam that’s longer than two inches. To find shorts that actually cover part of the leg, you usually need to head to the boys’ section, which not all girls are willing to do.

[Anonymous]

It's awful and I feel bad for the girls that they feel that they must dress like this. It screams low self esteem to me.

I volunteered DC's 6th grade party last week. One of the girls had shorts so short that they exposed her butt when the class engaged in the sports activities. As a result, she had her rear hanging out for the class to see and had to excuse herself to the bathroom to adjust her pants. There's no reason for anyone to see a child's rear end during school - or at any time. I cannot believe her parents let her go out in public like that.

I just don't understand how girls are comfortable like that. And yet everyone will then blame boys for looking when someone has bare rear exposed.

Sometimes you have to be responsible for wearing clothing