海角大神

We just couldn鈥檛 let this bikini onesie news item go by without commenting: Parents of Southaven, Miss., were outraged this week, according to news reports, to find a baby onesie printed with a woman鈥檚 curvy midsection covered by for sale at their Gordman鈥檚 department store.

Inappropriate, many parents said. Disgusting, others agreed. Why would you want someone to look at your 18-month-old daughter and think sex object?聽

Of course others wondered, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the big deal? It鈥檚 a cheeky onesie.鈥澛� (There will be no universal opinion about these matters in parent land, I can assure you that.)聽聽

The clothing item in question is part of the Wild Child brand of the Bon 叠茅产茅 clothing line, which also includes onesies with sayings like 鈥淲hat happens at Grandma鈥檚 stays at Grandma鈥檚鈥� and 鈥淣o dating allowed.鈥澛�

This, you know if you have children or have ever looked for a baby present, is part of the wide and perilous genre of the 鈥渇unny onesie,鈥� a mind-boggling array of (often expensive) cotton bodysuits labeled with clever sayings, jokes, references and other innuendos.聽

(And a tip for the baby gift buyers here: You can go really, really wrong with these sorts of onesies. One person鈥檚 funny is another鈥檚 inappropriate. And a lot of people don鈥檛 have a great sense of humor when it comes to slapping labels on their kids. So that 鈥淒addy and I like boobies鈥� shirt? Give it a pass.)

Now, there are some important issues surrounding the bikini onesie controversy of this week. Sexualization of children鈥檚 clothing is a problem, as witnessed by the regular incidents of 鈥淥MG, did I just see that?鈥� in parent shopping land.

Think of the French company Jour Apres Lunes鈥檚 鈥渓oungerie鈥� line for girls 3 months and up, complete with photo spread of little girls in heavy makeup.聽 Or the padded bras for 7-year-old. Or the 鈥� I promise I am not making this up - crotchless panties for the elementary school set. (At least one store were these were sold, called Kids N Teen, removed the undergarments after parents complained. Um, yeah.)

The fact that these items even exist 鈥� and, according to retailers, often sell well 鈥� is a sign of how unmoored we鈥檝e become about kids and sexuality, and what 鈥渟exy鈥� means to children. (In large part, it means more purchasing. "Sexy," advertisers have learned, sells well 鈥� even to tots too young to understand its adult meaning.)

But also at issue with the bikini onesie is something a bit more mundane, but also important.

What a lot of parents find distasteful about the bikini onesie 鈥� and a number of the other 鈥渇unny鈥� ones out there 鈥� is that you鈥檙e basically using your kid as the butt of a joke.聽 They don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e wearing, or why people are laughing at them. They鈥檙e a prop. And to a lot of parents, that just doesn鈥檛 seem so kind.

Especially when it involves a bikini.