With the “Sexy Collection” phone charms, Hello Kitty has grown up into a bonafide Sex Kitten! I don’t know about you, but there’s something disturbingly SIN-derella-ish about having the classic Hello Kitty head combined with a pair of shapely, sexy legs. The fact that the intended market is female makes me feel a bit better. Except for the word “intended”… looks like Betty Boop!

It had to happen, I suppose… cute little girls grow up to become pretty, desirable women. But wait a minute, Hello Kitty isn’t a girl, she… IT… is Sanrio’s most popular character, the Icon of Cuteness. If the Simpsons can remain ageless, why can’t Hello Kitty? Do we look at her sexualization as just one more case of lost innocence?