Monday, September 12, 2011

When Will the Sexualisation of our Children Stop?

 

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I'm not the kind of blogger who publishes rants on this blog but this this time I'm making an exception.
One issue has been playing on my mind for a long time and I've kept quiet but the time has come to speak out. What is this issue?

It's the blatant sexualisation of our children by THEIR OWN PARENTS!

What kind of mother takes their four year old daughter for regular spray tans? Really. What planet is the mother on? 4. Four year olds should be allowed to be children and not turned into a pint sized replica of the mother. It is wrong, it is disgusting and it needs to stop. But this situation isn't limited to spray tans.

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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's daughter Suri was recently spotted being collected from school wearing red lipstick. WTF? Surely celebrities shouldn't be at the forefront of sexualising their own children? This isn't the first time the power couple have demonstrated poor parenting either. Suri has been seen out and about in heels since the age of three. Little girls love to play dress up but its usually at home in shoes that are ten sizes too big and lipstick that veers uncontrollably over the outside of their lips. It is rumoured that Suri is adept at expertlyt applying her own makeup with precision. Five year olds should be learning to read and not learning the intricacies of makeup application. It is also rumoured that Suri has an obsession with high end designer labels and prefers clothes shopping to toy shopping. There are also parents out there teaching their 7 year old girls  to pole dance & 4 year olds to wear padded bras.

What is wrong with a child looking and acting like a child? Have some parents lost all perspective? This image obsessed culture is over sexualising our children. Where will it end? Nose jobs for 3 year olds. Breast implants for 8 year olds?

I may be overreacting but it makes me so angry, just as I was angry at the Vogue shoot that featured pre-pubescent girls caked in makeup, wearing sexy dresses, heels and posing provocatively. Although what more can I expect from a magazine that caused a lot of upset by calling ethnic African earrings 'Slave Earrings'. Seriously Vogue is quickly becoming my least favorite magazine. But I digress!

It is time children were taught that they're beautiful as they are. That they don't need to dress provocatively, be caked in makeup or slap on the fake tan to look and feel beautiful. That beauty comes from within and that you should dress for yourself and not for the opposite sex. Let us empower the younger generation and maybe a lot of the problems we have in society due to our image obsession (like the rise in teen suicide and eating disorders) will fall.

What are your thoughts on this emotive subject?

26 comments:

  1. totally agree with you, i can't BELIEVE that there are children's thongs (wtf??) and padded bikinis for toddlers (????).  this is all just doing too much

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  2. It is truley sad that parents do that to their own children. Whenever I watch that show Toddlers and Tiaras I wonder what is going on in their parents heads. I think for the most part they are living their own dream through their children, which is totally wrong.
    I am not sure why Katie and Tom do those type of things to Suri when they themselves are already living the dream. Maybe because if they start making her look attractive at a young age she will start an acting career young and be set for life. Sad I must say.
    In today's society it is all about money, status, and how we look. Unfortunately I don't think it will change anytime soon as it is hard to change someone's perspective on things.
    It's sad we are teaching our children that to look sexy we have to look a certain way...sooo wrong.

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  3. I think the Suri thing could just be her playing dress up and insisting on coming out with it on. Little girls like colours and sparkles so like to get a little nail varnish on or play with make up. I honestly think it could just be harmless fun, i can't imagine she wears lipstick everyday or that it is insisted that she does.

    The spray tan thing, that is more serious, that is the mother influencing her daughter to do it and it is so very wrong and odd!

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  4. Suri came out of school wearing it. I very much doubt they put makeup on at school. I don't know any little girls who put on makeup for school and it was expertly applied. She is often seen wearing heels too not on one occasion but many times. Dress up tends to happen at home, not for school and going to gymnastics. There's something wrong with a child of 5 who prefers designer labels to toys. Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

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  5. Totally agree with you! Children have the right to be children!

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  6. Good post! Yes. Children should be children- they are already becoming more technologically advanced with everything else at their fingertips; there's plenty of time to let them grow up without becoming semi-pageant inspired parents! We couldn't wear makeup until 9th year or something around that... :-)

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  7. I couldn't agree more.  We're harming a child's natural development when we impose adult customs on them.

    In a recent episode of "Toddlers In Tiaras," a mother dressed her daughter up like the Julia Roberts prostitute-character in "Pretty Woman."

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  8. Wow; yes, yes YES! Thank you for taking the time to speak out against this awful abuse (yes, it's abuse) of children. I am so passionate about this subject and feel so sad for girls who are not allowed to just be children! Let's hope enough people will be outraged by such awful examples as Vogue that they'll be forced to stop!

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  9. This epidemic is really crazy to me! My mom did not let me wear makeup out of the house till I was 15! I think it's really because what will these children be like at 25?! If they're already so keen on their appearance. Le sigh. These things need to change.

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  10. And yet as we are all horrified as adults when watching shows like Toddlers and Tiaras, shows like that wouldn't exist if we didn't watch them. Who's really to blame?

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  11. I hated wearing makeup I only started wearing it at 16 once I left school.

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  12. I personally never watch those shows, it's not my idea of entertainment. But regardless of whether people watch them what is wrong with parents? Their duty is to protect their children not objectify them.

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  13. Exactly let children enjoy being children.

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  14. I'm pretty much right there with you. 
    When I first discovered strippers poles for children I was so sickened I had to get up and leave the classroom where the discussion was being held. Over sexualization of young children absolutely disgusts me. Not only are we telling your girls that their look far exceed anything else but we're telling the rest of the world that it is perfectly okay to view our girls as objects to be used and disposed of. It's irksome that parents think this is okay. Like, do they not know correlations between objectification and sexual violence? Do they not know the correlations between obsessive focus on body image and eating disorders? They must because no one can have their head stuck that far down in the sand. 
    I can't really understand why parents would want to encourage any behavior that makes their children into something they should not, at that age, be (namely sexual beings). I can understand children wanting to dress up, play with lipstick, do certain things to imitate adults. That's a natural part of socialization and becoming part of a culture, but it's obviously becoming a large trend for young children to repeatedly act like adults when they cannot be, physically or mentally. 
    Okay, I'm done ranting now.

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  15. I'm pretty much right there with you. 
    When I first discovered strippers poles for children I was so sickened I had to get up and leave the classroom where the discussion was being held. Over sexualization of young children absolutely disgusts me. Not only are we telling your girls that their look far exceed anything else but we're telling the rest of the world that it is perfectly okay to view our girls as objects to be used and disposed of. It's irksome that parents think this is okay. Like, do they not know correlations between objectification and sexual violence? Do they not know the correlations between obsessive focus on body image and eating disorders? They must because no one can have their head stuck that far down in the sand. 
    I can't really understand why parents would want to encourage any behavior that makes their children into something they should not, at that age, be (namely sexual beings). I can understand children wanting to dress up, play with lipstick, do certain things to imitate adults. That's a natural part of socialization and becoming part of a culture, but it's obviously becoming a large trend for young children to repeatedly act like adults when they cannot be, physically or mentally. 
    Okay, I'm done ranting now.

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  16. I think you might have seen my post on the lingerie controversy for 4 yr olds (http://mybigfatgreekmove.blogspot.com/2011/08/controversy-lingerie-for-4-year-olds.html), it is just as bad... but did you see the kid who was dressed as 'Pretty Woman'? OMG! WTF???
    It's alright to rant, I totally vented and I think it's plain wrong. 4 yrs old gals are supposed to be playing with other kids and barbies or whatever, no...ugh!
    I never understood the Suri thing too, regardless of the Scientology thing and the fact that she's 'supposedly' allowed to make her own decisions... er hello, she's 4/5years old, when are parents going to be responsible??? That applies to the media too. Children should be protected, it's like free marketing for pedophiles (the Vogue shoot with Thylane, etc).

    Anyhoos, nuff said. Great post.
    x.o.x.o

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  17. Wow - I missed the "slave earring" debacle, and I think I'm glad I did. As for the rest of it, my greatest worry is that the children are learning to put a disproportionate amount of value on appearance! Shouldn't we be teaching children - especially little girls - to value character and intelligence first?

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  18. I completely agree with what everyone has said. When my daughter was in grade school she liked to shop at Limited Too. There were so many things I refused to buy for her. Heck > I wished some of the stuff was in MY size! I don't watch Toddlers n Tiaras but I have seen the commercials for the show. Those people are sick. There is no way in hell I would allow my child to do that even if she wanted to do it. Those kids are too young to "want" to do it without adult influence. My daughter is now 15 and I am still protective over the shortness of her shorts and how much makeup she wears. 
    This is a well written post Faye on such an important issue. Thanks for raising the collective awareness.

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  19. I am passionate about this subject as are I think many others. I hope you don't mind me posting a link but it's a petition that I came across to try and ban innapropriate music videos. Music has a great influence on our culture - young children especially  - they want to grow up and be like the pop stars they see parading around with very little on. These types of images that children see make them become accepting of it and they have no idea that it's not respectful or normal behaviour. Lets try and our voices heard. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22183

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  20. I am passionate about this subject as are I think many others. I hope you don't mind me posting a link but it's a petition that I came across to try and ban innapropriate music videos. Music has a great influence on our culture - young children especially  - they want to grow up and be like the pop stars they see parading around with very little on. These types of images that children see make them become accepting of it and they have no idea that it's not respectful or normal behaviour. Lets try and our voices heard. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22183

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  21. This is the rest of the link to the petition I spoke about in my comment below.

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  22. This is the rest of the link to the petition I spoke about in my comment below.

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