Another Controversial Outfit

After my last blog about the 3 year old dressing up like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman as a hooker, I looked at another article involving a similar case. This article titled, “Pedophiles Delight? ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’ Star, 4, Dons Fake Boobs, Butt” describes a mother who dressed her daughter as Dolly Parton complete with the fake C – cup breasts and the butt to be as realistic as possible.
Just like the other mother who dressed her daughter as a hooker thought that having her daughter wear this outfit was funny and nothing more. Along with the fake boobs and butt, she was wearing a tight hot pink catsuit as well. Some critics of the show have been asking on Twitter, “Is this child abuse?” while another says, “Hope for the future…fading…,”. A person on Facebook posts, “"OH MY GOD!!!! THEY ARE MONTSERS!!!! THOSE PARENTS ARE MONSTERS!!!!" I think that in a way these people are right about the mothers and fathers who throw their kids into these pageants. I feel that these parents are giving the kids the wrong idea about life when they grow up. They are making these children think that the only thing that will get you places in the future is your looks. They are also giving them unrealistic expectations of what they should look like when they are older. By having her daughter fake boobs and a butt, Lindsay Jackson is making her daughter believe that having big boobs and butt is the most important thing in life and it doesn’t matter if you’re smart if you have these qualities, you will be successful.
Diane Levin, an author of a book called, “So Sexy So Soon: The Next Sexualized Childhood and How Parents Can Protect Their Kids" discusses the implications of Jackson’s decision for her daughter, Maddy’s outfit. She says, “The girl clearly sees being pretty as pretty in a sexy way, like a grown up woman.” This shows that the girls see themselves as grown up when they are only 4 years old. There is something wrong with teaching their kids that they only way to be pretty is to be sexy. Leven goes on to say, “While a 4-year-old wearing fake breasts is an extreme version of this type of objectification, this sexiness begins to normalize the expectation of little girls' appearances,” The girls begin to believe that every other girl is the same way as them and that there aren’t people who look different. This could make a hard transition to young adulthood. Understanding that not every girl dresses up and wears make – up at a young is a basic concept that they may have a very hard time dealing with.
The article like the prostitute outfit article also says that “the show has also been criticized as potential fodder for pedophiles.” The show’s Facebook page shows comments about the parents being child molesters putting their daughters in these provocative outfits objectifying them for the pedophiles. They mainly put the blame on the parents in these situations.