While France may be the land of liberté and laissez-faire, there are a few things that will not stand on French soil, among them ketchup in school, Rihanna’s “We Found Love” video and burkas. Now you can add child beauty pageants, padded bras and high heels for young girls to that list. So much for Toddlers & Tiaras Go to Paris.
A new French government report has called for a ban on child beauty pageants and padded bras and high heels for young girls, reports MSNBC. The recommendations come on the heels (pun slightly intended) of a January 2011 photo spread in French Vogue featuring Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau, a high-fashion model clad in sky-high heels and provocative attire. While that is nothing unusual in the world of glossy magazines, the fact that the model was a 10-year-old girl raised even the most Botoxed eyebrows around the globe. While French Vogue defended its photo spread by explaining the girls were just dressing like their mothers, the international outcry was deafening.
In light of the global attention, the French government decided to study the topic and has now issued their report. Chantal Jouanno, the senator who authored the report, said that the sexualization of young women was “contrary to the dignity of the human being” and was a step backward for gender equality. Perhaps achieving those lofty goals is worth sacrificing the idea of a French version of Toddlers & Tiara star Alana “Honey Boo Boo Child” Thompson.
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/03/07/toddlers-in-tiaras-mais-non-france-seeks-to-ban-child-pageants/#ixzz1oY4kMuav
