France might ban child beauty pageants and padded bras for girls
It’s not sounding good for a French version of the infamous reality show Toddlers & Tiaras. And Suri Cruise might want to cancel that trip to France, or at least leave her kitten heels at home
Today, a French senator issued a report aimed at stopping the “hyper-sexualization” of young children.
The parliamentary report, Against Hyper-Sexualisation: A New Fight For Equality, calls for a ban on beauty pageants and child-size adult clothing, such as padded bras and high heels, for girls under age 16, according to the London Guardian.
Senator Chantal Jouanno’s report is a reaction to the promiscuous photos of a 10-year-old model that ran in the French edition of Vogue last year. The images of Thylane Loubry Blondeau, sporting high heels and a seductive look while sprawled out over a tiger skin rug, sparked international outrage.
In the report, Jouanno said young girls were being presented as “sexual candy” and that it was “contrary to the dignity of the human being.”
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, she said that she’s concerned about the nomalization of images in the media that are virtually child pornography.
There seems to be irony in this. The Americans are known for being prudish while France is a country where the women are scantily clad—yet the French are the ones who are putting a stop to 13-year-olds walking down catwalks in stilettos. Here in America, we’ve got children dressing up as hookers on national television and major clothing companies selling padded bikini tops to 8-year-olds. Yet a U.S. government official has yet to stand up. Should it be the job of the government to stop the sexualization of girls?