And We Wonder

Behold this tiny tank top that I spotted at the local drugstore.  It is for an infant girl, of course - it's pink. Someone, somewhere, realized that there is a sufficient market for such an item to justify producing these shirts and offering them for sale. Why?

Sigh.

Even before they can read, little girls are clothed in a fat-fearing message:  "does this diaper make my butt look big?"  Heaven forbid that her tiny behind, which has only just recently left the womb and currently serves primarily as a cushion as she learns to sit upright, be perceived as excessive.  Really?

Is it any wonder that the statistics for eating disorders are so high, particularly among women? What does this shirt reveal about the people who are dressing their infants, too?  Are they bequeathing their own issues onto the next generation as they wrestle tiny baby-plump arms into such a tank top? Or is it intended as irony - because of course, a diaper makes the nether regions of an infant appear bulky?

It seems to me that this message is a bit too close to the truth of our society to be humorous.  So many young women struggle with self-image and weight.  Perhaps if we focused more on developing good eating habits -- how about a green shirt exclaiming, "I love peas!" -- and regular physical activity -- an orange shirt emblazoned with, "Skip with me!" -- we, as a society, would be better off. 

I know, it's "just a shirt."  Nevertheless, this particular garment brings me despair.