Moms: Please Don't Do This.

[bettyellen]

148. I think the airport was the context he set up. It's a tricky subject- because while I wish

people would treat each other well no matter what you wear, I know only too well that it makes a HUGE difference how you get treated. When you are well groomed and a bit polished, most people treat you better. When you wear shorter skirts or something low cut, you usually get a lot more flirting from people. Whether you intend to send those signals doesn't really matter. It happens. People are very responsive to visual cues.
I worked in kids clothes and you have to switch models 2-3 times a year because of growth spurts. So I would end up meeting with a hundred or so want to be models (average age 9-10) a year for quite a few years, so this colors my experience. Too many of these kids were exploited by their parents and just hated doing it. But a portion of them were just playing at being adults- very out there and dressed in revealing clothes, so many padded bras, with full glamor makeup- eyeliner, false eyelashes and trying to act street wise and flirty in a really odd way. And you know, it's creepy when someone so young is putting themselves out there that way for a job that doesn't involve their looks (looks didn;t matter- we were fitting, and trust me it's weird telling kids to lose the padded bras). Most of them men felt really uncomfortable in their presence. I can understand it, I did too. It's a bit disconcerting to see kids fake being like adults.
You hope no one will take advantage of them, and in our case, that their family isn't encouraging them to exploit themselves further than they already are. The whole thing made me think no kids should work beyond simple kid jobs, LOL. It was definitely weird knowing a few of them were wandering around Manhattan like that un escorted telling people they would do ANYTHING to get in a music video- I had to fire two because I caught them coming and going all by themselves at that age. One lied to me an insisted she had a double who must have been working in the building- at the same time and wearing the same clothes. Anything for a dollar. Yikes.