The-Ave.US

Which is Worst .. Premature Sexualization of our Girls or Muslim Traditions of Purdah and Genital Mutilation?

America has developed some bizarre traditions for treatment of young girls that rival the worst of any culture.  Where once little girls were kept in costumes that restricted any sort of boyish athletics, with the sexual liberation adult women in the 20s, a tradition of treating female children as sex toys also grew. At this year’s Super Bowl,  I have read reports that flush 1%ers could buy packages with prime box seats and access to child prostitutes. I believe this provoked little rage because our society is turning little girls into sex objects.   Yet, my own brother in law has called me a pervert for calling out the connection  that seems to me to be all too clear.

Back in the 1920’s, an Atlantic City hotel started the display of little girls in “beauty contests.”  A  Little Miss America staged in the 1960s evolved into the modern child beauty pageant industry with 250,000 contestants that generate $20 billion  annually. Only the grotesque murder of child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey in 1996 led to critical attention. It began to bring some attention to this strange submerged culture with  four-year-old girls dressed like hookers in bikinis or French maid costumes performing sexually provocative dances deemed “cute”.

Today on “Toddlers and Tiaras,” little girls, as young as three or four, compete in  pageants fueled by their parents’ desire to make the girls look like sex dolls  with pubescent figures, fake tans. big hair and heavy make up.  Some children have eve been subjected to botox, facial threading, waxing, hair and nail extensions and fake teeth.

All this makes me wonder about the horror we in the west show toward female genital mutilation or the confining clothing seen in Saudi Arabia.  Which is worse .. the chador or the costume in this picture?   Anyone, male or female, who has experienced puberty can imagine the effects of precocious sexualization on this girl’s psychological growth.  Imagine the surreal world where a toddler is taught to expose her panties, wiggle her toosh, and pretend the bow on her chest is a pair of jiggling breasts!   All this while dressed in a skimpy costume more suited to womanly curves than the plump body of a little girl.

If this were some sort of performance enhancing drug, the government would ban it.  In fact, I have read that some parents drug  the kids with an energy drink, a liquid mix of sugar, energy drinks and high end sweeteners.  I would not be surprised if prescription drugs like Aldurol get in there as well. Watching the performances,  one wonders if the girls take drug tests? Anyone for a little estrogen cream rubbed on the baby’s skin?

Annette Williams of the Universal Royal Beauty Pageant  can be seen on Toddlers and Tiaras, The “Learning Channel’s” reality show built around the intensity of parental competition and as the children show off skimpy costumes, temper tantrums and lovely red lips.  .

Successful contestants flourish fans of dollar bills.   The money is all too real.  In 2009 it was estimated that 250,000 children competed in 5,000 pageants.  Dresses alone can run into several thousand dollars, entry fees can run into hundreds of dollars and the top pageant divas travel with mini-entourages, including hair and make-up as well as professional coaches.   These competitions are not for the poor.  Reports suggest a season of competition can run  $30,000,

 Sadly, even though these contests pay money, pageants are exempt from child labor laws.  Parents can take their babies anywhere there is a contest without the interference or protection of State or Governmental agencies.