Sexy costumes force parents to dance around the issue
Everyone gets a kick out of watching Baby Boy do his Single Lady dance. He twists his left hand by his face with a semi-euphonious, “Ah-ah-ah-ring-ah-ah.”
He performs this fully clothed, without gyration, and the only drooling is courtesy of his budding molars.
Quite the opposite of the viral video of a youth dance troupe performing to Beyonce’s pop hit in a World of Dance competition. The dancers twist and undulate across the stage, their bared midriffs sweating as the crowd screams approval.
As I watched their (albeit spectacular) moves, I kept reminding myself that they are SEVEN-years old. Seven. As in teeth-missing, sneaker wearing, American Girl doll-playing, cursive-learning seven-year-olds.
In Beyonce’s actual music video, she and her duo of dancers are wearing full leotards and still manage to get their point across: If you liked it you should have put a ring on it. So why the choice was made to have these little (hopefully still single) ladies in costumes appropriate for the Moulin Rouge is beyond me.
In an Inside Edition interview, one of the dancer’s fathers, when asked if he thought the costumes were over-sexualizing the kids, said, “You are looking at a proud kid ... who really doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
The bespectacled mother straightens things out adding, “I think their talent is being overshadowed by moves people don’t really understand.”
Oh, because I thought as one grinds their pelvis down to the floor when wearing red and black lingerie they are asking for sex. On second thought, I suppose it could be an abstract way to mourn the lost lives of soldiers whose names we will never know all while exploring the dichotomies present in our current political system.
Brilliant.
Yet another parent lashed out at everyone who has watched the video saying it was only meant to be seen by the audience at the competition.
Don’t blame their naivety, they were late for the cocktail hour introductions.
“Stupid parent meet the internet. Internet, stupid parent.”
I have danced my entire life — since I was three years old. I will show you pictures of my costumes. Among other flattering idols, I appear as a chicken (the scratchiest thing I have worn to this day), a checkered tablecloth looking thing (I looked terrible in orange), a solider and a bon-bon. The most skin I showed was my blushing face when I saw how ridiculous I looked. But I knew one day I would be cast as Clara in the Nutcracker so I paid my dues. (I am still waiting.)
I understand that dancing is a sport and there are uniforms (so to speak), just like football or fencing. But when dancing, like Halloween, is used as an excuse to dress like a hootchie it undermines the talent aspect. These young girls in the video are amazing dancers. But their dress eclipses that.
An argument made from supporters is that the apparel is all part of the hip-hop culture and it isn’t like the girls are wearing these outfits to school.
Yet.
If at the tender age of seven they are given permission to show that much of their body while moving in a sexually provocative manner, they are going to feel much more comfortable wearing tighter, shorter and more revealing clothing as they age — like when they are ten.
I wonder if any of the parents, while watching the rehearsals and seeing the costumes, stood up and said, “Hey, this is super inappropriate. Let’s tone it down. Actually, I have these cunnin’ chicken outfits in the car...”
Sex is everywhere in our culture these days. It is inevitable that young girls are exposed to it. We need to give them the time and space to be children not help them squeeze into bustiers and thigh-highs.
That video has over 2 million hits. How many of those are pedophiles?
Hey parents: If you liked it you should have put some clothes on it.
