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Urban Outfitters too sexy for Dedham?
By adamg on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 7:38am
Dedham Patch reports on one Dedham mother's efforts to get the clothing store to put the sexy books (yes, of course Urban Outfitters carries books about sex) in an "adult" section where the teenlets who flock there from as far away as West Roxbury can't have their impressionable minds sullied by titles such as Sex Tips for Girls by Guys and Get Laid.
She has, of course, set up a Facebook page.
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Comments
Ugh.
While I would ordinarily say "They're gonna see it eventually," Urban Outfitters has gone from a store I loved to hate to a place I outright loathe. Albeit, both those books are a lot less misguided and more sex-positive than I expected them to be.
As Homer Simpson once said,
As Homer Simpson once said, "Hey if you don't like it, go to Russia!" In this case though, I'd say, "Hey if you don't like it, go to Utah!"
Look at the bright side.
at least they're reading
Isn't the parent company of
Isn't the parent company of Urban Outfitters the Christian Coalition?
Nope, but the owner has
Nope, but the owner has contributed heavily to Republican causes in Pennsylvania, including everyone's favorite frothy mixture, Rick Santorum.
Although considering most of the self-proclaimed anarchists and socialists who shop there will later become Republicans, maybe it's not as hypocritical as it seems.
Love this line from her letter to the CEO
"I am not in favor of censorship, but I really would like to be able to let my daughter walk into Urban Outfitters without worrying that her young mind is bombarded with hard core sex disguised with hearts and pink flowers. "
No, our intrepid tight ass would rather she stays home and learns all of her sex education from the Twilight movies and the morons on Jersey Shore. This way she's covered if her kid comes home pregnant; "There was no problem with my parenting skills, it was....the books!!!"
Judge much?
Bit of a leap to judgement there, how do you know this parent allows her child to watch Jersey Shore or Twlight? Her daughter is 13 - wait - did you read the article or just fire off your snarky comment? There is a valid point to be made, the local Dedham Adult Store was in a zoning fight around the time Legacy Place was built, to now have a teenage store openly displaying overtly sexual books is in contradiction to the furore that erupted. I tend to agree with this mother, sexuality is marketed to younger and younger audiences, it is, in my opinion, one of the least attractive aspects of our current day culture. It's very easy to think anyone who objects is uptight or conservative, that's why so many people don't object. For the record, I'm as left as you can go without straying into anarchy, I object to censorship in any form but I agree wholeheartedly that stores like Urban Outfitters and places like Legacy Place not only are destroying local businesses but also comfirtable in the knowledge that anyone who objects will be seen as a nut job.
Also for the record, I live in Dedham and am a mother, albeit to two boys.
Oh Horrors?
Panties are bundled!
Teenage store? Really?
Why not just keep your kids at home wrapped in bubble wrap. Go do your special sheltered thing at home. The world is not Disneyworld and you and this parent have no right to bowlderize everything to your fantasy ideas.
Are you saying that Urban
Are you saying that Urban Outfitters isn't a teenage store?
My panties are fine thanks, how are yours?
My kids are not sheltered, they're exposed to age appropriate experiences, I'm very happy the world is not Disneyworld that is one of the places my kids will never go to, the sickeningly sweet mass marketed homogenized psuedo culture that Disney promotes is something I will gladly teach them to avoid.
My fantasies include having the right to express an opinion without ad hominem attacks, yours?
Good points, but ...
You have a right to parent as you wish, and what I'm about to say isn't targeted at you. But as the father of a young teen in a neighboring community where Legacy Place has become the Pied Piper of the young-teen set, seems to me there are too many people who think their parenting stops when they drop the kiddies off for a few hours at Legacy Place. You think Urban Outfitters is bad? What about the Victoria's Secret? And, yes, 13- and 14-year-olds are buying stuff there.
Fight the good fight against the sexualization of toddlers (padded bras for 3 year olds? Jesus). But at the same time, prepare your kids for it and how to deal with it, rather than trying to keep them away from it altogether, because, unfortunately, that's just not going to happen.
So what?
Really, so what? Because some people are shitty parents, nobody can sell books about sex anymore? This isn't Hustler or Penthouse we're talking about.
That's the point isn't it?
I'm pretty sure that's what Adam is saying here. The books are going to be there, our kids are going to see them. We can either place a wall between the books and our kids (by consumer boycott, restrictiveness about where they can go, etc.) or we can teach them that society is going to bombard them with mixed messages, not necessarily always in their own interest.
OK, then I object to
Game Stop selling Call Of Duty and Battlefield 3 because they're violent games and they might lead to my kids thinking war is cool.
I also object to Hot Topic. They sell clothing and even backpacks with pictures of Al Pacino in "Scarface" That might lead to my kids dealing coke and learning the proper way to cut someone up with a chainsaw.
See where I'm going with this.....?
Game Stop selling Call Of
I mean it's not like the U.S. has a problem with militarism...ooops, never mind.
I don't think Urban
I don't think Urban Outfitters is an appropriate place for young teens to shop. But, if I had a kid, I wouldn't be lobbying against the stores.
More importantly, though, you can find much more graphic sexual material in a book store or the public library. If you're worried about your kid seeing that kind of stuff you need to be supervising them. Some of us like our smut accessible, thank you very much.
What we won't see on that facebook page
Her quiet efforts to get an abortion for her teen or pay for one for the girl her son gets pregnant.
Just this once and only because this case is a special case ... nobody in her church will ever know.
Clearly...
...this lady hasn't seen their print ads.
UMMM... HELLOOOOOO?
I think I must have gotten lucky
My teens hate malls, and deeply despise Urban Outfitters and Abercrombie.
I think it helped that I sent them through the Our Whole Lives program of sexuality education at the UU Church, but they tend to sneer at books such as those mentioned because they trigger their bullshit detectors big time.
They don't even like Axe.
Find them in the Garage in Harvard Square or at the Garment District or Pandemonium in Central.
Not that I mind them looking at that stuff - you can't keep a child in an infantile state forever through absolute world control. They have to learn how to separate crap from value. I've long challenged mine to talk back to advertising and culture. Just saying "that's bad because I don't like it and you can't have it" is a recipe for disaster.
Lucky?
Sounds like luck had nothing to do with it. If you teach them how to think for themselves, they're less likely to get sucked in by mass-market bullshit.