In the last few weeks as I've been speaking around the country it's been a relief to find myself constantly in the company of women and men who are appalled by the increasing sexualisation of children in popular culture generally and by child beauty pageants in particular. If you want to read more about it you can do so at the link above.
This is a really disturbing trend and those of us who feel strongly about it need to get out there and make our voices heard. So I want to let you know about a nationwide protest that will take place on Sunday 24th May.
It's organised by Catherine Manning of the anti-child exploitation group Collective Shout - you can find out more about it at www.pullthepin.com or on Facebook www.facebook.com/pullthepinonpageants
There are rallies in all capital cities - midday on the steps of Parliament House in your capital city, or on the steps of Federal Parliament in Canberra.
Putting little girls, some not much more than toddlers, in full makeup with teased hair, spray-tanned, and squeezed into sexy outfits with fishnet tights and high heels, doing pelvic thrusts and other sexy moves is, in my view, child abuse. It robs children of their childhood and sets them up as sex objects. No wonder that a few years later they are sexting each other or posting inappropriate images of themselves and others on the Internet. Hope you can turn up to the protests on Sunday.
I blame the shift of responsibility from adult to child: children are given choice when they cannot possibly concieve the consequences of their choices.
Posted by: Frances Macaulay Forde | May 17, 2011 at 06:36 PM
Penitence is something that enervates our spirit, causing a greater loss than loss itself and making a bigger mistake than mistake itself, so never regret.
Posted by: CHI Flat Iron | May 18, 2011 at 08:07 PM