The View-Point

Re: "Today's fashions are pushing onward 'ho'" 03.03.05 PghTribPM
(an article addressing the fashion trends of young American girls, where 'less' is more, and 'showing off' is the goal)


Dear Mike,

I couldn't agree with you more about the "age of the ho". But what possibly could be the driving force behind such trends,where matters that should be highly personal and private are flaunted around in public? What has made our culture so"accustomed to sleaze" and promoted this kind of dress (and theoften accompanying behavior) as the "cool thing to do"?

I would have to think that a significant portion of theresponsibility lies with the misuse of our major forms of media. Notice that I am not blaming the various media formats, but rather the messages that they carry. Media is merely a vessel for communication; it is the content -- more specifically the creators of the content -- that are responsible for such misuses.

The images on our TV sets and movie screens, lyrics in our popular music, pictures and printed words in our magazines and newspapers -- all of these things display and glamorize the "age of the ho". Why? Of course we all know that "Sex Sells". [How often have I seen on the front page of the TribPM -- usually inthe top-left corner -- some provocative story that appeals to the prurient interest?]

'What's wrong with giving people what they want?' I might be asked. I think the correct response would be found in the opening paragraph of your article: The clothes you wrote of were sized to fit young, innocent 12-year old girls......

The problem is what such messages teach our children, and the influences such messages have on young, impressionable minds.

To sum up, I can only mention the song, "Children Will Listen"from the musical "Into the Woods", which warns: "Careful the things you say, / Children will listen. / Careful the things you do, / Children will see. / And learn..."