DEAR ABBY: I have a 22-year-old daughter who insists on wearing low-rise jeans. I have seen half her rear end at least five times, and I'm embarrassed for her. I have had to tell her every time. When I do, she acts mad at me for saying something. Last October, she squatted down to look in a box at a yard sale, and the poor elderly gentleman who was trying to assist her had quite a view. It was awful! I wish I had a camera so I could take a picture and blow it up to an 8-by-10 so she could see what everyone else is seeing. Believe me, this is no laughing matter.
This couldn't be the style -- to show off so much skin -- is it? Please, Abby, print this. Maybe my daughter will see your response. She says she doesn't care. How can that be? Where did I do wrong in rearing this one? -- BUMMED-OUT MOTHER, BRIGHTWOOD, VA.
DEAR MOTHER: You didn't go wrong; your daughter is a willing slave to fashion. It seems every generation has its own erogenous zone on display. Remember the lyric, "In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. Now Heaven knows, anything goes!" In the '60s it was the thigh. In the '90s it was exposed navels adorned with gold rings. Today the fashion industry appears to have turned us into a nation of "crack addicts." The trend will end only when God grants us the gift to see ourselves as others see us -- in other words, "hindsight."