Girls aged 6-10 and even younger are a target-market for high-heeled shoes. This trend for 3” wedges (by fashionable designer Michael Kors) and 2” – 2.25” heels (by Kenneth Cole and Jessica Simpson Kids) was started by the daughter of actress Katie Holmes, Suri Cruise, who has been wearing heels since age 4.
Is it, as Suri’s mom says, just a “harmless dress-up game”? Not according to the experts. Studies have revealed possible permanent damage to the knees, hips, tendons, and backs of women in their twenties who make a habit of wearing even 2” heels. Imagine what heels do to the bones and tendons of growing young girls.
What is the purpose of wearing high heels, anyway? It’s to make a woman look taller and her legs seem longer, more powerful, and sexier. The same for little girls. In other words, these heels sexualize girls at a very young age, and such sexualization only adds to their attraction when pedophiles and sex offenders are on the prowl. In addition, it helps form a body image that, experts say, is not healthy but is reinforced by what the children see in movies, on TV, and in magazines—all of which convinces a little girl that she is expected to be pretty, sexy, thin, flawless (like those airbrushed models in magazines), and alluring. She has to deal with this throughout some of the most insecure years she will experience in her life.
As parents, it’s our job to protect our children from harm and potential harm. Moms and Dads, think twice about that cute pair of high heels for your daughter’s birthday present.
OMG!!!! I thought those tiny grown-up looking little girls were kinda cute. Now I see what damage it’s doing to them!!!!!!
Sometimes adults project their own desires onto their children without thinking. We need to do more thinking and less projecting.