A month or two ago, the blogosphere was abuzz with condemnation for a Dereon ad which featured little girls dressed in high heel boots, makeup, platforms and bedazzled jeans. To add insults to injury, their makeup and their general posing would make one believe that they were on their way to the club. I’m not sure if any of the little models were over the age of six.

We have gone a long way from playing dress up and pretending to be grown up or like our moms, aunts and grandmothers. Apparently the media is teaching young girls that they are grown and therefore need to get their “grown woman” on. Enter the rise of slut (or porn) culture.

It would be one thing to say it was isolated to just one race. Young girls of all races are having to face an attack on their sanity head on. Unfortunately, they don’t have adequate armor for this particular onslaught (no Rumsfeld).

In 1999, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Jessica Simpson were all considered cookie-cutter singers. Their songs and videos were full of sexual innuendo, but they seemed innocent enough. We all understand that your teen years are the time when you figure out your sexual identity. As we got further into the new millennium, Britney, Christina, and Jessica were no longer cute, “girl next door” types. They were full on poster girls for male rags. As they made the 180 degree turn from cute to raunchy, we all witnessed as their popularity grew and they became more in demand. While Christina has matured, Jessica has fallen from grace and Britney deals with her demons, a new crop of young provocateurs has sprung and they’ve learned to go right down to business. They are no longer interested in being cute and earning our trust. They are interested in titillating the men, and captivating young girls with their sexual antics by way of dress, personal life and music.

Girlicious, a new group that was created while a good chunk of America watched on reality television, wasted no time in trying to get their fame on. While their first video, “Like Me,” was loaded with shots of them dancing suggestively in various forms of spandex or lycra, it couldn’t begin to compare with their latest video “Stupid Sh*t.” The video is rife with lesbian references, cliche male fantasies and “come hither” looks that would make Ashley Dupre blush. Word to Eliot Spitzer.

Did any of us know who Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian were prior to their sex tapes? Were we checking for their reality shows before the sex tapes? With one sex tape, Paris and Kim have managed to propel themselves to celebrity status. Whatever their vocations and talents were prior to the tapes have become irrelevant. We just know that we saw them naked and they were doing “the nasty.” Now that’s how stars are born.

Unfortunately, the pressure to be sexy is taking its toll on young girls and even women. Whether they are taking the bait or fighting the urge to “sex it up,” the stress is becoming unbearable. Young girls aren’t simply learning that doing their hair and a cute outfit is enough to snag the boys they like. That’s not good enough! They must be able to put out on a regular, dress provocatively, be extremely slim without an ounce of fat, willing to be with other women, wear tons of overpriced makeup, dance like a seasoned veteran stripper and surrender their convictions in order to please the boy or man they desire.

In a study by the American Psychological Association, young girls and women “suffered intellectual, psychological and physical problems as a result of messages that push sexualization.” That’s quite serious.

With young girls and women being taught that their value is contingent solely upon their sexuality and physical appearance, it’s no wonder that they are getting stressed out. It’s like the whole world is telling them that they will never be appealing to anyone unless their sexiness and sexuality is broadcasted and validated.

Imagine you were standing in the middle of a field with no shelter in sight. Now imagine that hundreds of rocks and pebbles were being thrown at you from all around the field. The attack on young girls’ sanity can only be described as a figurative “stoning” or “tar and feathering.” If we don’t fight for our identities and for our young girls, who will?

When I was coming of age in the late eighties (I’m 26 by the way), video games weren’t the rage, cell phones were limited to Gordon Gecko/Wall Street types, and iPods and iTunes sounded like they were from “E.T.” I’d do it all over again though, rather than fight to save my soul in the new millennium, while trying to grow up at the same time.