The Ass Floss Manifesto

Jen Bilec
Katera Stainbrook
Jill Gray
Seth Malone

Part one:

In today's society where we live our lives at such high speeds, information, ideas and trends come and go with such speed that unless you actively pay attention to them it is easy to get lost in the waves of trends. With our culture moving so fast it seems almost logical that the generation of pre-teens is lost in the flood of trends and ideas. This lost generation has been left to fend for themselves, for they are no longer seen as children yet they are not adults nor are the even teenagers, it seems that they are stuck in a sort of limbo. Our society is moving so fast that it seems that even our children can not even take the time to grow up, instead they try and jump from the innocence of childhood into the seductive nature of adulthood. So today we have an entire generation of "children" that are dressing and acting like they are adults.

This trend is the most apparent when looking at the young women of this generation. These young girls parade themselves around wearing clothing that a women tens year their senior would consider scandalous. You can walk through the halls of middle schools across the country and see girl after girl exposing the skin on their still growing bodies. In the last couple of years the shirts have gotten tighter, the skirts a little higher, and the underwear seems to have gone on a diet since it has lost most of the substance that it once was. It seems to be that the new right of passage is a set of thongs for ones bar mitzvahs. When once sex and sexy clothes was a mystery to discover in your college years now it seems that once you reach high school most girls are well versed in the art of dressing sexy.

Now you might be thinking to yourself "yes there too young to be dressing sexy but what is the harm?". The harm comes from the fact that these young girls are dressing in a way that will hurt them. It is not only the fact that these girls are dressing sexy, but they are engaging in sexual behaviors. They might physically look like they are mature, but they are not emotionally ready for what they get into. No one is ready at that age, no one, no matter what he or she physically looks like or how he or she is dressed. The harm does not just affect their physical relationships but also in their psyches. With such an emphasis on looking sexy, there comes the pressure to have the perfect body. These girls feel the demand to be skinny and busty at the same time. It has been shown time and time again, that everyone's body is different. That there is no mold for the perfect body, and that a person's real beauty comes from the inside. Yet these young girls try so hard to look the same, and this can put a huge emotional burden on the young girls psyche, which can lead to depression, anxiety, and even worse an eating disorder. So do not think lightly anymore of the dangers of young girls dressing sexy.

Part two:

Since we can now see the damage that can occur with young girls looking and acting too old for their age, we must now wonder why it is this way and why no one has thought to try and stop this. In looking at why the situation is the way it is we will also see who benefits from the status quo.

First we will examine why no one has tried to stop or change these behaviors. Often times we look to place the blame on the parents, when something unpleasant is happening to the children, but can we really blame the parents. In many cases parents are hard pressed to keep up with what is going on in their children's life, and that extends from their taste in music to what is popular at the moment. Parents also know that when children reach that age, they are going to change, going to explore who they are, and they might see it as a phase that a child will go through. Parents are also not privy to the information regarding their children's sexual lives, simple because they cannot be with their child twenty-four hours a day. We cannot in good conscious hold parents solely responsible for what is happening, for it is not just their influence that raises a child after all "It takes a village to raise a child."

If we cannot blame the parents, then whom do we blame? The answer seems to parallel those who profit the most from circumstances. Who would benefit from the corruption of young girls across the country? It seems that the motive for these actions is money. Advertising companies and clothing companies stand to make a huge profit from the younger generation. It seems that they have found their new group to target with their ads and their clothing lines. When you think about it through it makes complete sense, these children are very impressionable, very eager to fit in, and are supported by their parents' income. To these advertising companies and clothing companies they do not see these young girls and someone's daughter, but instead they see them as a potential costumer that if gotten young could give them a lot of business through out the years. To them it is all about numbers, how much clothes they can sell, how much money they can make. So clothing stores like the "Limited too" who cater to girls age seven to fourteen, want to cash in and they are now selling thong underwear to these young girls. It is not limited to just one store, you have "Abercrombie and Fitch Kids" which also sells clothing to young girls. Their skirts are so tiny that one wonders if they are trying to save cloth.

In the end it seems that we are a culture of consumers, driven by the need to own, and buy. But it is this very dogma that has hurt the younger generations. For they do not realize what they do now, will have lasting affects on their life, and we have not protected them, as we should.

Opportunities for Change

Through this work we can create an atmosphere of change through education, mentoring programs, and awareness towards the increasing rapid maturity, both emotional and sexual, of young girls. This rapid maturity needs to be slowed in order to allow these girls and boys to enjoy their childhood and to progress naturally into adulthood. Hopefully through these caveats of change we can reach not only the young boys and girls but also the large corporations and advertising companies that are responsible for these new "trends" that are causing this rapid maturity.

With education we need to become more open-minded and realize that children are learning about sexual ideas and identities a lot earlier than most imagine. Using this openness we can begin to educate adolescents on the risks of sexuality and the idea of keeping their childhood sacred, and taking time to grow up and experience the different stages of becoming an adult.

Another force with which we can approach this is to provide mentoring programs that are a required activity. By requiring these programs the chance of those few that may slip away through the cracks begins to grow more and more narrow. These young boys and girls can have someone to look up to and someone to talk to them about growing up. These programs not only provide the younger boys and girls with an alternative activity to do after school but it also helps their mentors to stay out of trouble. With an emphasis on the natural progression into adulthood, these mentoring programs could be truly beneficial.

Finally, knowledge is power right? The strongest pressure for change as of right now is public awareness. The actual knowledge about these concepts becoming public and a subject of conversation has more power behind it than any of the other suggestions. Trying to change socially targeted issues, such as fashion trends, is not an easy task, but the first obstacle to tackle is publicity. The mere idea of people talking about the issues we address in this manifesto is enough to continue the campaign for change and or modification.

Educating the Youth on Sexuality

To a world obsessed with sexual self-fulfillment, divided by differences over sexuality, and weary of how sexuality is abused, it is important to educate our youth about expressing positive sexuality. The youth of our society is exposed to sexuality everyday in the media. Not all depictions of sexuality are healthy for teenagers to imitate. What we need to be teaching our youth is that it is important to accept and understand their sexuality, whether they have an attraction to a male or female or both. Each individual has unique sexual characteristics that at times need to be fulfilled. Our youth need to learn safe, respectful, and responsible ways of expressing and acting upon their sexuality.

Sexuality is involved in enhancing an intimate relationship, procreation, and for physical pleasure. And as Annie Sprinkle states, it is also in "personal transformation, physical and emotional healing, self realization and spiritual growth, and as a way to learn about all of life… " Although there are many positive things that come with sexuality there are ways that it is abused. Such as when sex begins to exploit, humiliate, create damaging stereotypes, and promote violence. We must teach the youth to treat their bodies as temples and only allow sexuality empower us.

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