There are two nice things about clothes made for teenagers: 1) They are usually very trend focused, and 2) They are generally inexpensive because what adolescent has loads of money to spend on clothes. These two factors mean that you can try out the latest craze even if you’re low on dough. This season, short skirts and feather headbands are everywhere, including Alloy.

The sad, sad results of a national survey showed that about 3 percent of girls between 12 and 17 said they had been the victim of dating violence, which includes physical abuse, sexual assault, and being threatened with a weapon. In the same age group, 0.6 percent of boys said they’d been a victim.

According to the findings, certain factors, such as a history of stressful or traumatic events, seemed to put teens at great risk for dating violence, and older teenage girls were at greater risk than boys or younger girls. The last bit is interesting because it seems that as we get older, we should understand more about what is okay for people to do to us, and what crosses the line, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Either that, or the guys get more aggressive around that age, too. [Reuters]

If you can’t trust Beyonce to not tart up your kids, who can you trust? The singer has a line of clothing called House of Dereon—which is horrible, by the way, I have tried it on at my discount department store and BLECH—and she’s now releasing a line for little girls. We expect such things from Disney, but B? Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh no no. [Pop Gumbo]

Meet Georgia. Georgia is 12. Georgia wants a boob job for her 13th birthday. It’s no wonder—Georgia’s mom, Alicia Douvall, has had over 50 plastic surgeries, 12 of which were on her breasts alone. (Seriously? She looks like such a natural beauty!)  But don’t worry! Douvall isn’t the kind of terrible mother who would give her tween a boob job! No way! That’s crazy talk! Everyone knows the appropriate age for a little girl’s first breast augmentation is 16, because “a 16-year-old with a nice, sexy figure will do really well as a model.” [Sun U.K.]

Padded bras for pre-teens. You heard right. Because your little sister desperately needs something to go along with her thong—the perfect outfit for when she’s up late at night playing Miss Bimbo.  [Telegraph U.K.]

Most kids know more about the internet than their parents and grandparents, which is why it scares us that there are sites like Miss Bimbo out there targeting our little girls. The interactive game lets you “become the hottest, coolest most famous bimbo ever!” Because Paris Hilton doesn’t already have that job covered? Okay. Users work to “become a socialite and skyrocket to the top of fame and popularity”, flirt with “that famous hottie you’ve had your eye on”, and can even “resort to meds or plastic surgery. Stop at nothing to become the reigning bimbo!” One of the site editors says that the game, which is marketed to tweens and teens, has some very valuable messages to send. “If they eat too much chocolate in the game it is bad for their bimbos’ bodies and their happiness levels compared to if they eat fruit and vegetables, which reinforces positive healthy eating messages.”

Okay, so we’re not entirely sure that this isn’t some hugely ironic parody site, but in a world filled with Bratz dolls and tween thongs, there’s a solid chance it’s for real. Besides, we doubt the little 10-year old we babysit would be able to tell the difference. [Guardian U.K via Feministing]

We just started wearing thongs, like, yesterday. [Not really, but we have only three pairs and we hate every second of wearing them.] They are uncomfortable and expose the not-so-cute butt cheeks and only serve one purpose and that is to prevent VPL when we’re wearing something tight or sheer-ish. Which is why we don’t understand why thongs are available for girls in the tween age bracket, i.e., seven to 12 years old. When you’re seven to 12 years old, you should be wearing overalls and t-shirts and maybe dresses but only when you’re going to a birthday party or church, if you come from that kind of family. You shouldn’t be wearing tight skirts and low-rise jeans and slutty dresses from the Paris Hilton department at Macy’s. So we did a Google search for “tween thongs”—tech support, it’s research, ok?—and came across some tween/teen online boutique called Daisy Maze, which does indeed sell a wide variety of thong underwear in teeny tiny sizes. What’s scarier is that these thongs cannot possibly even be excused away as totally for VPL-banishing functionality—they have bows and trinkets dangling from them and come in sexy/virginal prints and have such a tiny piece of thread in the back that we seriously blushed. When society’s ills start to make us feel like crotchety old prudish ladies, there is a problem.