VH1’s “The Flavor of Love” Set New Standards?

Did Flavor of Love set a “new standard in viewing experience”? You’ve got to be kidding me?! Anyone who’s not been living under a rock for the last decade knows that porn has infiltrated the internet, and politics, and that pedophile chic has become a legal, accepted way of marketing to kids, thank you very much Abercrombie and Fitch for thongs for kiddies.

Selling Sex
The mixed message that children get about sexuality doesn’t just come mom and dad’s confusion. When Brittany Spears makes out with Madonna at the Video Music Awards, and the kiss becomes the hottest news around, and is referred to as “the hottest kiss ever” by many in the media –young girls get something new to worry about besides kissing boys, now. Kissing girls.

When Snoop Dog takes money from his own pocket to take bus loads of children to the Superbowl put them through camp – that has a rule if you get a grade of a C or lower, you can’t attend – and just when the kids think that Snoop Dog is a good buy who advises charity, goodwill and good grades – he is seen on TV as the spokesman for Girls Gone Wild, surrounded by naked white women, learning and ogling as the ringmaster for a show that encourages women to take off their clothes and make out with one another for the camera. And in his spare time, he makes porn videos. What kind of message is he sending to our kids? Role model once second and porn pimp another.

Paris Hilton, the star of The Simple Life and the most photographed teen diva in all the magazines that young girls read, may be an heiress and a beauty, but it wasn’t until she made a sex tape that was distributed, that her popularity soared. What are the young girls who look up to her supposed to think?

Pedophile-chic
Hot models now begin their careers at ages 12, 13 and 14, because it takes years for an agency to build a profitable Super Model, and few and far between are the models who can pull in the big bucks after age 30 – Super or not. Some modeling agencies won’t look seriously at girls who are over the age of 16, yet you can flip through any fashion magazine and see how many sexually provocative ads you find – using models who are “under age” when it comes to the sex they are selling. Yes, sex in advertising sells and it’s very typically teen models being used to sell sex – along with the products.

Most of the clothes that teen stars are photographed wearing would be in violation of the dress codes at many public schools which ban spaghetti strap tops and bared midriffs during school hours. The reality today is, if you want to be hip and popular in junior high school, middle school, high school – and yes, even elementary school – you better look hot – and be hot! That’s the message being sent to our young, American girls who are on the verge of becoming women.

On a message board talking about the epidemic of 12, 13 and 14 year old oral sex, a mall sales clerk posts the following message: “In the junior’s department of this store, the clothing is smaller, tighter and more revealing. The girls almost have no choice but to buy these clothes, because that is all that the stores are selling!”

Kids — The New Eye Candy?
Abercrombie and Fitch was making and selling so many thongs — to seven year olds, with slogans like “wink, wink” and “eye candy” written across the crotch that, finally, parents took action and created an online petition to stop them from doing so. Abercrombie and Fitch’s “magalog,” (a term referred to their catalogue that looks like a magazine) is marked “for adults only” and can only be purchased, for $7 by those 18 and over with a photo ID. “The Christmas Field Guide,” (A & F’s Christmas catalog) doesn’t begin advertising clothes until page 120, but it does contain 45 specific portrayals of sexual imagery including overt portrayals of group sex, lots of teen and young adult nudity, and teens and young adults frolicking in a river engaging in sexual activity in multiple group settings. A & F’s “blue” catalog is under attack from the National Coalition for the protection of Children & Families.

So, while Flavor of Love may be in very bad taste, which Americans seem not to be able to get enough of — just check the box office bling for Jackass II (Can Jackass III be far behind? I bet not!) — it is a show where women who are of age, degrade themselves, on television — and go on to get sequels starring themselves (check out New York’s upcoming show starring…who else?).

Bad taste? Sure thing. New standards? Not by a long shot.