Little girls wear thong panties, buy push-up bras and put on make-up before they go to school. Teenage idols such as the Spice Girls and Britney Spears uninhibitedly exploit all the sexual attributes of the adult world, while claiming that they stand ...
Little girls wear thong panties, buy push-up bras and put on make-up before they go to school. Teenage idols such as the Spice Girls and Britney Spears uninhibitedly exploit all the sexual attributes of the adult world, while claiming that they stand on the same side as the girls. People in their fifties – and growing older – flee from adult responsibilities and dress up in teenage clothes in a vain attempt to achieve eternal youth. Paediatricians complain that adults nowadays are incapable of saying no. Grown-ups want to be teenagers; children are forced to be adults.
Television is drowning us in docu-soaps where fully grown people play children’s games and take them extremely seriously, and children’s programmes where “small stars” pretend to be adults and show off with songs about sex and infidelity.
Are we living in a century of infantilism? In this book, Carl Hamilton sheds light upon a fundamental change in our view of children and adults. With a starting-point in a multitude of sensational examples, Carl Hamilton discusses possible causes. He examines our attitudes towards childhood and adult life and he talks to psychologists, sociologists and cultural critics. Finally, he asks the same question as many of today’s parents. What can we do as adults?
Carl Hamilton is an author and economist. He has a weekly column in a major evening newspaper, Aftonbladet, with an appreciative readership. He has previously published a much talked-about book describing Absolut Vodka (1994) which was also published in the USA and Great Britain.