Who’s in Charge Here?

What’s wrong with bein’ sexy?  Nigel Tufnel, This is Spinal Tap

The latest YouTube “sensation” is this jaw-dropping version of seven- year-old girls dressed up like the Pussycat Dolls and workin’ their stuff in the same calculatedly provocative (not to mention ridiculously over-the-top) way.  I suppose some people find this “cute,” which would explain why you can hear loud cheering throughout the clip. 

I think it’s disturbing.  Why are the people involved in this – parents, dance teacher/choreographer, competition organizers, audience members – so happy to have little girls sexualized?  Because that’s what it is, make no mistake.  The outfits and the moves, particularly the last 30 seconds or so, are supposed to be sexy.  Are they not?  Is there anyone involved who can honestly say they aren’t?  If anyone watches this and says, “No, that’s not supposed to be sexual at all,” they’re lying.  It doesn’t matter how old you are, shaking your butt, grinding your pelvis and throwing your chest forward have sexual connotations.  Period.

The girls clearly are fantastic dancers (they won the competition).  But are there really no other dance moves that would have allowed them to showcase their talents?  And while I’m up on this soapbox, I sense a bit of gender discrimination.  Can you imagine a boy dance group of the same age bare-chested, sporting only skin-tight satin pants and a bow-tie while highlighting their package via pelvic thrusts and bachelorette party lap dance moves like little Chippendale dancer wannabe’s?  Ridiculous thought, isn’t it.  So why is it acceptable for little girls?

Frankly, I don’t understand the parents involved.  How do you watch your seven-year-old daughter perform a pedophile’s dream routine and feel good about it?  Don’t they know if they just had the en masse cojones to say, “This outfit and dance routine are inappropriate,” they would have the power to stop this?  Money talks.  Take your business elsewhere.  You’re the grown-up, you’re the parent.  Your daughter will grow up fast enough as it is, I promise.  She doesn’t need to know any sexually provocative moves at the tender age of seven and she sure as heck doesn’t need to show them off, scantily clad, in public.