Topic: sexualization of children

French Government Has Best Idea Ever: Ban Beauty Pageants And Padded Bras For Girls

French Government Has Best Idea Ever: Ban Beauty Pageants And Padded Bras For Girls

Remember Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau, the 10-year-old girl who caused a stir when she appeared in French Vogue clad in skyscraper heels, sexy clothes and full face of makeup? The photos were highly provocative and, as we wrote on Mommyish at the time, they contributed to the sexualization of girls – a disturbing trend that just won’t seem to go away.

Now, more than one year after the images appeared in Vogue, a French government report is calling for a ban on child beauty pageants, padded bras and high heels for little girls. More »

Model Alliance: New Rights Group Ensures Girls Are Protected

Model Alliance: New Rights Group Ensures Girls Are Protected

“It took tremendous will for me to say, ‘No, I’m not going to walk down the runway naked, even though it’s my first time doing a show for you, and you’re threatening to cancel me, and you’re this huge designer I’ve seen on TV my whole life, and I’m standing up to you and I’m 16 years old.’”

This is what model Shalom Harlow had to say at this week’s launch party for the Model Alliance, a new workers’ rights organization for fashion models in the U.S. More »

Exclusive: Peggy Orenstein Tells Mommyish Why Those Girly LEGOs Should Give Parents Pause

Exclusive: Peggy Orenstein Tells Mommyish Why Those Girly LEGOs Should Give Parents Pause

Author and journalist Peggy Orenstein received massive praise for her investigative look into princess culture with Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. A New York Times best-seller and now available in paperback, Cinderella At My Daughter offers an analytical look into the origins of modern princess obsession along with a first-person navigation of beauty pageants à la Toddlers & Tiaras, the impact of the term “tween,” and how teaching girls to be “sassy” is just a PG-13 term for “sexy.”
More »

Does Discussing The Sexualization Of Girls Further Sexualize Them?

Does Discussing The Sexualization Of Girls Further Sexualize Them?

The sexualization of girls always makes for a salacious headline. In these media-driven, Internet-saturated times, what can start off as a legitimate parenting concern, like the hypersexualization of girls through pop culture and products, can very easily become just a cheap trick to snag eyeballs. And given that one mother is filing a $30 million lawsuit against three media outlets for allegedly sexualizing her five-year-old daughter in their coverage, the thin line between discussion of this phenomenon and clear embellishment for the sake of viewership evidently needs some definition. More »

The 5 Biggest Justifications For The Sexualization Of Girls

The 5 Biggest Justifications For The Sexualization Of Girls
"All the kids her age are like this now."
"She's talented."
"She doesn't know what it means so it's harmless."
"It's how we bond as a family."
"It's not her, it's how you're looking at her. You're reading too much into it."

When we learned that a Toddlers & Tiaras mother was suing a few media outlets for sexualizing her daughter, many of us on staff had to squint to make sure that we were reading our screens correctly. While it may seem ridiculous for a woman with a daughter on a reality show essentially based on the sexualization of girls to make such a claim, I have to say that her point was rather sound. Given that her child wasn’t doing what TMZ and other websites asserted, those outlets did actually attempt to sexualize Isabella Barrett, running away with a scandalous headline rather then just reporting on an incident that was probably not conducive to a little girl.

Still this scenario presents somewhat of a gray area in that what is sexualizing to one person may not be to another — namely certain parents. The truth is that there are a wealth of justifications within pop culture and even in some parenting circles for looking at little girls this way. More »

Hey Lawsuit Mom, ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ Is What’s Sexualizing Your Daughter

Hey Lawsuit Mom, 'Toddlers & Tiaras' Is What's Sexualizing Your Daughter

Earlier today we reported on Toddlers & Tiaras mom Susanna Barrett, who has filed a $30-million lawsuit against The Huffington Post, TMZ.com and The Daily Mail for sexualizing her 5-year-old daughter Isabella Barrett. As a parent and human being, I can see why Susanna is so upset. This is her child, after all, and it’s sickening to think there are people out there who would even attempt to sexualize a sweet little girl. There’s no denying it: Susanna has a valid point against these media outlets.

But Susanna is an idiot for allowing her daughter to appear on Toddlers & Tiaras in the first place. More »

‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ Mother Suing Media Outlets For Sexualizing Daughter

'Toddlers & Tiaras' Mother Suing Media Outlets For Sexualizing Daughter

The sexualization of girls is rightly on the minds of many these days as we are consistently confronted with sexy modeling shoots for young and younger girls and products like lingerie being marketed to toddlers. And although no parent would likely come running to the defense of all the rampant sexualizing that happens on Toddlers & Tiaras, one mother of a contestant is pointing the finger elsewhere: specifically The Huffington Post, TMZ.com, and The Daily Mail for sexualizing her daughter during their reporting. More »

Five Girl Models Who Are Being Photographed Like They’re Women

Five Girl Models Who Are Being Photographed Like They're Women
Kaia Gerber, Age 10
Lottie Moss, Age 13
Selah Marley, Age 12
Thylane Blondeau, Age 10
Elle Fanning, Age 13

The sexualization of girls in advertisements and other professional photographs is unfortunately nothing new. It seems that although Brooke Shield‘s notorious Calvin Klein ad is the quick go to reference for how to inappropriately to photograph kids, girls in magazines these days are even younger. And although lots of makeup and styling are most often pointed to as the culprit in the situations, a much more subtle approach is frequently used when getting these girls to come across like woman. Sometimes it’s lighting and makeup, other times it’s wardrobe, but most of the time its getting these kids to pose like they’re grownups with sexy expressions and sultry poses. More »

Cindy Crawford’s Daughter, 10, New Face Of Versace Kids Line

Cindy Crawford's Daughter, 10, New Face Of Versace Kids Line

What’s with celebrities and their drop-dead gorgeous offspring-slash-siblings? And what’s with all of them becoming itty-bitty models long before they’re old enough to drive?

In the past few months alone, we’ve written about Kate Moss‘ 13-year-old sister, Lottie Moss, making her modeling debut; Lauryn Hill‘s daughter Selah Marley, 12, appearing in Teen Vogue; and, most recently, Noel Gallagher‘s 11-year-old daughter Anais Gallagher being signed to Select Model Management.

The latest soon-to-be-famous face is 10-year-old Kaia Gerber, daughter of legendary supermodel Cindy Crawford. More »

Banning Cosmopolitan From Newsstands Is Just Plain Silly

Banning Cosmopolitan From Newsstands Is Just Plain Silly

Nicole Weider is on a mission. Fed up with the “obscene” and “vulgar” material found in Cosmopolitan, the California woman is fighting to have the mag sold in a nontransparent plastic wrapper and sold to adults only. With headlines like “His Best Sex Ever” and “Foreplay Men Crave,” Weider argues that Cosmo is one of the media’s worst influences on girls (impressionable ones, at that). And so she’s started a Change.org petition to stop the madness. So far, more than 20,000 people have signed it.

Clearly tens of thousands of people would disagree, but the idea of shielding our children from the evils of Cosmo is ridiculous. More »

Noel Gallagher’s Model Daughter, 11, Touted As The Next Kate Moss

Noel Gallagher's Model Daughter, 11, Touted As The Next Kate Moss

She may just be 11 years old, but Anais Gallagher – daughter of former Oasis singer Noel Gallagher – is already being touted by some as the next Kate Moss. Though she’s too young to walk the runways, Anais has already been signed to Select Model Management, an agency that reps some of the industry’s top faces including Agyness Deyn, Natasha Poly and Erin Heatherton. More »

Click for more posts