Photo credit: Credit: Twitter | @seventeen

Today in Western Degeneracy: marketing "realistic vagina manicures" to impressionable young girls. So, Seventeen magazine retweeted a story from earlier this Summer that I somehow missed the first time through. The (frightfully off-putting) accent nail is rather realistic looking as Seventeen magazine puts it. The quasi-pornographic bit of manicure art is the brainchild of Asa Bree who works at a Portland, Oregon nail salon known simply as "Finger Bang." I know, classy, right?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This Realistic Vagina Manicure Is Exactly What I Needed Today <a href="https://t.co/sT1dE9UoAC">https://t.co/sT1dE9UoAC</a> <a href="https://t.co/HJT68tVYCd">pic.twitter.com/HJT68tVYCd</a></p>— Seventeen (@seventeen) <a href="https://twitter.com/seventeen/status/958130876327628801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2018</a></blockquote>

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I guess it's the <a href="http://www.seventeen.com/beauty/nails/a12025090/this-realistic-vagina-manicure-is-exactly-what-i-needed-today/ ">next logical step</a> for "pussy hat" wearing "nasty women" as many members of the #Resistance claim to be. And it's not just Seventeen magazine getting in on the fun of contributing to the continuing erosion of juvenile morality. <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/high-school-students-are-sending-vagina-shaped-lollipops-to-donald-trump">Teen Vogue lauded a campaign</a> started by two teenage girls to express their dismay with President Trump by anonymously sending vulva shaped lollipop "so he could have another pussy to grab." I mean, if the guy likes lady parts (and he seems to) and sweets (check out his physique and remember the "two scoops") then it seems like this would be a bit less tortuous than you might expect.

Now, I'm no prude myself and I don't believe in restricting choices from consenting adults, but the hyper-sexualization of children and teenagers has been amping up since before "tween role model" Miley Cyrus took to quasi-pornographic stage performances. Young women (and men) should be educated about sexuality, safety regarding sex and potential dangers. Some of those dangers go far beyond simple STDs as well. <a href="https://arizona.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/the-impact-of-exposure-to-sexually-oriented-media-on-the-endorsem-2">Correlations have already been drawn</a> between hypersexualization via <a href="http://sites.psu.edu/kaitlynstocker/2012/10/25/media-and-sexuality/">media and "hook-up culture"</a>.

At the risk of sounding like a fuddy-duddy or stick in the mud (and it's hard not to when you use outmoded terminology like that) I have to say that I hope we can find a way to stem the tide away from encouraging animalistic, emotionless mating instinct.