Angry mom shares photo of padded bra for 6-year-olds and people are divided

A mom's startling discovery in the underwear aisle for young children ended up exploding online.

The over-sexualization of children is sadly, nothing new. Forcing children to "grow up" at a young age by throwing them in beauty pageants, changing them into more "adult" clothing, or featuring them as characters who dream about romantic (although thankfully never acted upon) relationships with older men are just a few examples of this creepy phenomenon.

Most recently, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's daughter, North West, and her 7-year-old boyfriend, Caiden Mills, were highlighted in a "problematic" article that discussed their relationship in very adult terms. Things only got worse when people began delving into the young man's social media account - it was evident that the push to impose a very adult image on the child was very, very real. 

A lot of the image has to do with what we're dressing our children in. It's almost always cute when a child tries to literally walk in Mommy or Daddy's shoes, or trying on Mommy and Daddy's clothing. The fact that it's oversized is what makes it adorable.

However, putting on particular articles of clothing, especially ones meant to accentuate certain features in a sexual way, is disgusting. Imagine a pair of 6-inch louboutin spike heels, scaled down to a child's size? It's chilling.

I have a daughter, and when she's at the age where her body's maturing and developing in ways that are scary and she may not be ready for, I want her to feel comfortable to not only broach that topic with her parents, but also comfortable in whatever she's wearing.

So if she needs bras with lining, then I'll buy her as many as she needs, happily. And I may need to get her that sooner than I think because as it turns out, for whatever reason, kids are hitting puberty earlier than they have in recent years.

Lined bras are one thing, but why would any 6-year-old ever need a padded bra for? Especially one that makes them look like they have fully formed breasts? That's what this mom, Angela Fellar, wanted to know when she spotted this Calvin Klein line of underwear that was designed for children who haven't even learned their multiplication tables yet. 

While shopping at Nordstrom, she noticed a Calvin Klein line of bras in the 6/6x size, which by itself isn't a big deal, but the padding on the bra is what's getting her and a bunch of other parents up in arms. One user wrote: "Insane! Let them be girls. Let them look like girls, talk like girls, dress like girls. Children should not look like mini adults. They are children." 

Others thought that Angela might've been jumping to conclusions about the bras:

"People are so dumb. 6 doesnt necessarily mean a child my daughter is 27, has no boobs and is thin as a rail. People once again just looking for something to be offended about."

It's worth mentioning that that pads in the bras are removable, but many are questioning why they're even there in the first place, and are pointing to this as yet another example of reinforcing body standards on women, even when they're 6-year-old children. 

While there were a ton of people who argued that their could be a lot of petite, older women, or smaller framed teenagers who would wear these bras, the fact remains that they're sized for 6/6x, meaning that the intended average wearer of this garment is a 6-year-old female child. Like one Facebook commenter wrote:

"My 6 year old wears a 6/6x that's borderline toddler size." 

There were many who maintained that the padding on the bras weren't there for aesthetic purposes, but that they served functional ones as well - they're more comfortable than lined bras. As per this comment from FB user Christina Craft: 

"I have a 10 year old and I have always bought her the padded ones. They are more comfortable period and if we are teaching them about bras then we also have to teach them how to wear for comfort. Seriously they aren't padded push ups but a lil padding can make it easier. No embarrassing moments and she comfortable during the growing period. Honestly it's hard to find bras at this stage of life that a mother is truly happy with bc everything is sexually geared for women and young girls so you just have to talk and teach them to help them navigate for theirselves." 

There were a number of people who began arguing semantics, and that the 6/6x sizing on the bra meant that it's a size 6 and not sized for 6-year-olds. Which started a whole discussion as to whether or not this really was a child's bra. Judging from the original photo with the mom's hand on the bra, it certainly does look like it was sized for a child. 

It's worth mentioning that there are several other clothing brands that manufacture padded bras for children, however, not all of them mold/shape the same way these bras in the Mom's post do. What are your thoughts? Is it OK if a six-year-old's rocking a padded bra? Or is it just another gross example of over-sexualizing children from a very young age?