The French government has stepped up to the plate, acting against the increasing sexualization of young girls by ordering an end to beauty pageants for children aged under 16. The architect is French Senator Chantal Jouanno, who authored the report ‘Against Hyper-Sexualisation: A New Fight For Equality’. The legislation, an amendment to a larger bill, received 196 votes for and 146 against. But a separate amendment pushing for better regulation of child models was rejected.
The 44-year-old Jouanno is no stranger to combat having served in a previous government as the Minister for Sport and having been, at the age of 40, the French women’s team Karate champion along with her two teammates.
In the UK the Prime Minister’s promised crackdown has yet to grow any legs, let alone land a martial arts blow. David Cameron gave his backing to a report prepared by Reg Bailey of the Mother’s Union, which called on businesses and regulators to ‘let children be children’. Unfortunately simply backing a report does not stop activity that generates big money for the organizers.
Britain’s shadow public health minister Diane Abbott warned in January that an “increasingly pornified” British culture is damaging young people, and that sexual bullying is a result of “hyper-sexualisation”.
Said Abbott: “For so long, it’s been argued that overt, public displays of sexuality are an enlightened liberation. But I believe that for many, the pressure of conforming to hyper-sexualisation and its pitfalls is a prison. And the permanence of social media and technology can be a life sentence. It’s a very specific form of sexuality that’s being imposed, on children and adults: a porn version. This is what kids are dealing with on a daily basis.”
Abbott also argued that families have a “duty” to make sure children have a healthy view of sexuality, and she is absolutely correct. Parents have a God given duty to raise, nurture and protect children, doing what is in the child’s best interest. Too many parents though have been caught up in these child modeling events because it meets a need for them.
Claire Perry, David Cameron’s advisor on childhood, said parents must be more aware of what their children are seeing on the internet and on mobile phones. “We have to feel more empowered to ask. Make sure your kids allow you to be friends with them on Facebook, ask them whether what they are doing is appropriate. We have got to be much franker, much more open and upfront about it. I don’t want it to sound like harking back to Victorian values, but parents should sit down with their kids and say ‘are you aware of what’s out there?’”
In fact it is the departure from Victorian values that is the problem. Adult women would not have seriously considered acting the way their children now do when Queen Victoria ruled Britain in the 19th Century. Ms. Perry needs to be less apologetic about suggesting that parents demand standards first from themselves and then from their children.
Claude Knights, director of children's charity Kidscape warned recently: “These children are so young, it's impossible for them to be giving their consent to wearing swimwear and pseudo-evening dresses, as well as fake eyelashes and spray tans.”
At the end of last year, the British Government said they will be making sure internet service providers prompt parents to install filters to protect their children. This is a positive step but it’s like issuing cautions to drug dealers in a town full of international trafficking.
Back in France the changes are likely to cause a stir where there is a long tradition of young girls in France taking part in beauty pageants, which are usually called ‘Mini Miss’ competitions, with children and young teenagers sometimes wearing make-up and high heels.
Senator Jouanno was particularly concerned about a Vogue magazine shoot in 2010 featuring provocative photographs of a 10-year-old French girl, Thylane Loubry Blondeau. She and two others wore make-up, tight dresses, high heels and designer jewellery.
Vogue defended the images, saying they merely portrayed the desire of young girls to dress like their mothers. But in that case it is not the mothers still making the choice. The fact that little girls want to do something does not mean that it should be so. One can equally say that a ten-year-old boy wants to emulate his father’s drinking bravado, but that doesn’t mean the pubs should be full of pre-teen boys slurring their words as they practice macho language.
The relatively close vote in France suggests this is not going away easily. Capitalist pressures will continue to push back. Society must recognize this is not good for children and answer 'No!' in a firm voice. There will always be those who seek to exploit for their own gain, but to stop it society must decide it is unacceptable. Legislating is never the best way since it usually lacks consensus; but in this instance it should probably lead. When the hearts and minds of a nation oppose something it will stop, with or without the law.
