Remember a few yea
rs ago those Vanity Fair photos of Mylie Cyrus posing provocatively at the tender age of 15? Topless with a silk blanket strategically placed yet still showing bare shoulder and back, bright red lipstick and sultry smoky eyes? Shock and dismay was the public response to what was viewed as the exploitation of a young pop star all with the aim of selling a magazine. Well that’s a tiny blip on the radar compared to the latest controversies coming out of France, one of which was a Vogue Paris editorial featuring a 10-year old model, Thylane Loubry Blondeau, in a fashion spread, scantily dressed, lots of makeup and seductively posed. In addition, the latest news has a French company, Jours Après Lunes, taking the heat for advertising a new line line of lingerie for 4 to 12-year-olds. The ads show young girls in lace-trimmed bras and panties, some wearing pearls and sporti
ng heavy makeup and sexy womanly updos. One group calls the pictures a pedophile’s dream.
Not only do these images raise concern over how we are over sexualizing children, but we can’t help but wonder how these images are feeding an already inundated world of child pornography and what seems to be a growing demand for it.
It appears that the line between art, or high fashion, and the exploitation of children is getting blurry.
Here’s some more fuel fanning the controversy of the over-sexualizing of young children in order to sell products–this time by the company Urban Outfitters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/19/urban-outfitters-model-lawsuit_n_931090.html?ncid=webmail12
Terrible! Why do parents want to exploit thier little girls like that? The mom must have her own issues .Children should be carefree and innocent . Is money really worth exploiting your own child? Why feed the appetites of sick people who would do more than look at the pictures if they get the chance? This makes me very sad and angry!