Child Stars/ Entertainers. Too age Inappropriate?

Stop: I want you to pause for a minute and take in your surroundings. Once they have been taken in, completely forget about them. Transport yourself to another place and imagine this: You are a young child entering your first beauty pageant. Soon enough your number is called and you start dancing just like your mother taught you. A lot of twirling, smiling and shaking your hips. The judges seem happy when you look at them, but a few frowns cross over the faces of those in the crowd. As soon as the song is over and you saunter off the stage, a hush falls; the crowd surprised at what you just did. You don’t know what just took place; you are only six.

Recently, there has been much controversy over shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and child beauty pageants in general because of their supposedly over sexualizing of young contestants. With that, the question is whether the clothes they wear and moves they perform are age appropriate. Sadly, the answer to that is no, some of the things that these child performers do and wear are age inappropriate. While that may not be the case for every child in beauty pageants or the like, it’s true for many. Take for example child beauty pageant star Eden Woods. While in New York modeling for clothing company Cicciabella, Eden wore a white “Cowgirl” outfit, which was practically  a bedazzled bikini when she ripped off her jacket during a provocative dance. As one woman attending the event said, “Whatever you want to call it, it made me uncomfortable.” This is only after two publicized cases of a three year old girl wearing the Julia Roberts “Prostitute” costume from Pretty Woman, and a woman giving her daughter a padded Dolly Parton costume to wear in a pageant. It shows that society and their parents have been failing these young children. That’s because with the media’s promotion of the “Sexier” the better, we have fallen into a trap. While there have always been problems with children in entertainment (A thirteen year old Drew Barrymore did go to rehab), the amount of media we have today only makes it more apparent. Luckily, this  inappropriateness can be stopped . It's up to us to say enough is enough and take back what every child needs; what the nostalgia of childhood reminds us of .  Innocence.