Child Model: Right Or Wrong?

Modeling/fashion world is a harsh over sexualized environment that is not suited for children or teens. It's not high morals, it's common sense. When child models are getting exposed to the same realities as the adult models it's just obvious that that is wrong. Somehow we get to see younger and younger child models nowadays acting all grown up and it's disturbing.

Okay, it’s an issue everyone’s talking about right now but it’s just too much to ignore. The photos of a ten-year-old child model Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau that appeared in Vogue have caused an outrage among parents and public. A girl is wearing lipstick, lurex dress and heels while lying in a pose any model  who’s grown over her teens would strike for such a shoot. There is plenty to rage about, only why rage now? And who’s to blame?

First of all why let it all come to that? Let’s be honest this is not the first time a fashion magazine or house has hired an underage model to walk the runway or pose for a photo in adult clothes assuming adult attitude. Somehow it never caused enough stir to stop the whole thing. But there are boundaries. This girl is just ten years old.

With the child beauty pageants still much on the rise it’s no wonder a fashion industry would use little children to sell stuff even if the campaign was received highly negative. It did draw lot of attention, didn’t it? But is Vogue alone to blame? Someone allowed it. If you see a ten-year-old working someplace other than the entertainment and fashion industry the employer would be seen as a law violator. Somehow children are all over fashion and entertainment now. Child pop stars, fashion icons, beauty pageant contestants, and models are very much popular. The topic of over sexualization of children has been debated and talked over and over but what it all lead to? This.

“Children must stay children”, phrase that has been said so many times no one really pays attention anymore. Still modeling and singing/performing is child labour so the only option there is is to ban it all together with those beauty pageants (to avoid crazy parents giving their eight-year-old daughters Botox!).

And if you have have noticed the tendency in the fashion world, young models are usually girls still in their teen years, full of naive dreams facing harsh realities that they are not prepared to. Fashion industry is harsh even for 20-something models. When people are raging about teens getting exposed to too much sex it’s not a mere patronizing of adoring parents. Children are supposed to learn about the world and life from their parents and school not TV or fashion magazines. They will face real life later when they are more mature and prepared.

What is wrong with the fashion industry? Wherever you look there is an androgyny, anorexia, and meterosexuality. While common glossy magazine readers are ranting and whining about how there are no real women featured in them the magazines are seeking out the models that look nothing like real, ordinary women. Where is the logic? On the other side, there are parents who let their offsprings be exposed to highly sexualized industries. It’s just too obvious that child models don’t belong in fashion. Boundaries exist for a reason