I dont know about the rest of you, but when I was a little kid I was embarrassed to expose anything, even wearing a two piece suit. I always had shorts at a descent lenght and tops that were not revealing at all. And funny that someone mentioned this
You can still see what I call "classic" children's clothes, such as those cute little smocked dresses, in retailers catering to a certain subset of the upper class. These type of stores advertise in say, Town & Country.
When I was little I modeled once for Town & Country magazine and I had to wear nice looking clothes, not trashy stuff that I wont even wear now. Parents need to learn to handle their kids better and check what they're wearing before they leave the house. And the designers need to stop making these slutty clothes for children. Just a thought.

OK, a lot of these clothes do bug me, but I didn't go around swaddled head to toe as a kid either! I had halter and tank tops as a 7-year-old. It gets hot in the summer, and you're running around playing ... what are you supposed to wear? That said, I don't think there was anything sexy about them. They exposed my shoulders, yeah, but they weren't glittery or silky, they didn't say "slut" on them.

That's what bugs me the most - the messages some of these shirts have. You see preteens and teens in shirts that say "tramp" or "flirt" or "kiss me..." Just because a girl is starting to discover her sexuality doesn't mean it's all out there! Once you hit puberty, it's not like BOOM you're suddenly an adult with a lot of sexual maturity. You're just interested in sexuality, and I for one think there's a lot of steps to go through toward the process of becoming a full sexual adult being.

My SO's daughter (she's 13) has a shirt that says "Playgirl University" with the bunny and the number 69. I HATE that shirt and would love to burn it. Does she even know what 69 is? (For the record, her dad did not buy it for her, but he doesn't really police what she wears ... he seems to think clothes don't matter. Of course, this is the same guy who doesn't want her to repeat his mistake and have kids at 18 ... and he lets her be in training to be a playgirl?) There's not much I can do as just "the girlfriend" though. Grr, sorry about that rant.

Do we have a cite on "the number of pedophiles is rising"? That would be an interesting study to look at, with regard to the topic at hand.

Also - what's the causative link between 'showing skin' and being 'morallyl casual'?

The way I see it - kids want to fit in, and group interaction goes a long way toward helping create self-image for many kids. I can see how the need to fit in can lead to sex being mistaken for a popularity tool - that makes perfect sense. However, I see a fine line between this theory and keeping your children from dressing in the 'style of the times' - if clothing can indeed make a child feel like an outsider, couldn't this sort of 'clothes policing' lead to a child looking for other ways to 'fit in' . . . ?

Well, I know that most of my male friends link a woman (of a mature age knowing right from wrong and in control of her sexuality for the most part) who is wearing, shall we say skimpy clothing with being easy. I am not saying it is right, but I think a lot of society feels this way. I admit a lot of times I see girls at clubs wearing clothing that is way too much for the clubs here, and I think that if I were a guy they would be an easy catch for the evening.
But morally casual just means a person (male or female) that is not particular about those they have relations with.

I have something new to post to this. I have recently started working at a department store in the childrens department. I was looking trhough the racks the other day just trying to get an idea of the merchandise and also trying to get ideas for my nieces 6th birthday. I kind of am thinking matching outfits for her and me....lol. Well anyways, I saw this skirt that was hot pink with a chain belt on it. It kind of made me sick because it was in teh little girls section (4-6X). It was so trashy looking. I know I dind have clothes like that wehn I was little, but that was for dress up. It was just really really disturbing. Also in the training video we have to watch it talks about how the girls want to look like their big sisters so that is why they carry these brands and stuff. Well that is my rant for the day!