Gwyneth Paltrowからビキニの歴史へ - Living, Loving, Thinking, Again

Natalie Cox “Bikinis on young girls – why is that a problem?” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/25/bikinis-young-girls-gwyneth-paltrow

女優のグウィネス・パルトローがバッシングを受けている。自らのウェブサイトで小児向けのビキニの水着を売り出したため。児童擁護団体Kidscape*1は”sexualisation of children and of childhood”*2を促進するものだと非難している*3。
上掲の論説から「ビキニ」の歴史について語っている部分を切り取っておく；

Although invented in 1946, the titillating two-piece was always destined for a highly charged existence, named as it was after the Bikini Atoll: part of the Pacific Proving Grounds where the US went on to test its nuclear weapons. The man we have to thank for the design is Frenchman Louis Réard, who advertised his invention as "the world's smallest bathing suit" and boasted that it was not a true bikini unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring.
The US managed to resist the allure of the bikini until the 1960s*4, when everybody headed to the seaside and the Beach Boys and Brian Hyland (of Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini fame) dominated car radios along the west coast in the run-up to the sexual liberation of the Summer of Love. With all this in mind, isn't the notion of the bikini as a celebration of women's emancipation rather last century?

Natalie Coxさんは、問題は小児向けのビキニの是非というよりも、寧ろ肌の露出とセクシュアリティが自動的に結び付けられてしまうことなのだと結論づけている；

To move forward in the way that we view women and girls, we need to stop equating not covering up with being sexually available. When seen in this light, the old chestnut of "she was asking to be raped by wearing that short skirt" doesn't seem so far away from this beached whale of a problem. So instead of policing what children wear on the beach, or what women wear in the pool, we need to concentrate on changing society's perception of what bare skin means. After all, the bikini Goop is touting is most offensive for its $45 price tag; good luck justifying that on a cost-per-wear basis in a chlorinated pool, even if your elimination diet has halved your weekly food bill.

*1:http://www.kidscape.org.uk/ See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidscape

*2:この問題については例えばhttp://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20080929-OYT1T00458.htm（Cited in http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20080930/1222710736）とかも参照のこと。

*3:Simon Cable “Gwyneth facing backlash over her grown-up bikinis for girls aged FOUR: Range for sale exclusively on star's website” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2313199/Gwyneth-Paltrow-Star-facing-backlash-grown-bikinis-girls-aged-four.html

*4:See also 李銀河「裸泳與風化」http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_473d53360100acve.html（Mentioned in http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20080818/1219033606）