Dad goes Falwell on kids' lingerie

I've always considered myself to be a modern person.

But when it comes to my 7-year-old daughter, there's something very 1957 about the way I think, especially in matters of clothing and appearance: Skirts not too short, no two-piece bikinis, no pierced ears. She asks me about make-up, and I just laugh.

So it's not hard to imagine my reaction to Jours Apres Lunes, a brand of French lingerie for girls aged 4 to 12.

To support the clothing, which includes bra tops and panties, the company presents photos of young girls posing with teased hair and rouge.

Viewing the pictures made me recall author Nathaniel West's phrase about feeling like a vessel being slowly filled with dirty water. Merely looking at the models makes me feel like I'm committing a crime.

I'm not providing any links to the website, partly because I don't want to help give these guys any business, and partly because I believe I would be an accessory to distributing indecent material.

Our kids will learn about sex soon enough. A culture suffused in it will see to that. Why create something like this? And who are the parents who will doll up their way-too-young girls to outfit themselves like Victoria's Secret models?

I'm no crusading Christian. But there are days when I can see their point.