This is going to be a rambling post touching on a lot of related topics. Respond to whatever grabs you in comments, because this stuff needs to be discussed too much to fuss over what’s “on topic.”
A winter issue of Vogue Paris featured some photos of 10 year old girls made up and photographed to look like adults. You can see most of them here, but there was one CNN wasn’t allowed to post, and you can see it here. The first question, of course, is: is this acceptable, or a form of child abuse, or something in between? Sound off in comments.
The second question, however, is: can we learn something from this as a society? Jezebel makes a chilling point:
Here are just a few of the models who began working extensively at the ages of 12, 13, and 14: Tanya Dziahileva. Chanel Iman. Karlie Kloss. Lindsay Wixson. Monika Jagaciak. Current Vogue Paris covergirl Daphne Groeneveld. Going back further: Kate Moss. Brooke Shields. Patti Hansen. Niki Taylor. Kimora Lee Simmons. Bridget Hall. Gisele Bündchen. Karolina Kurkova. Linda Evangelista. Christy Turlington. I could go on.
Bold emphasis mine. Those models you see on covers that look twenty-three are twelve. The ones you see that look thirty are, at most, sixteen. Why? I don’t know. The same thing doesn’t happen with male models. Of course, twelve year old boys can’t be made to look like twenty year olds because their bodies develop at a different pace from girls’. But the fact that a young girl can be made to look like a grown women doesn’t mean that’s how the fashion industry should create photo spreads. It’s not like they don’t still need to touch up the photos of prepubescent girls to make them look good enough for the fashion world. And thanks to airbrushing and now Photoshop, even old hags like Julia Roberts can be made to look, well, at least passable! (That was sarcasm: Roberts is beautiful without Photoshop, but it seems Lancome disagrees.)
There’s more from the Jezebel article, which I strongly recommend reading (you have to click each picture to get another “page” of the article):
Girls who get scouted are thrust into a very adult working environment. Suddenly, they become girls who are signed as independent contractors to agencies that may screw them over. Girls who may be asked to do nude work. Girls who in any case have to change clothes at jobs in full view of perhaps dozens of photographers.
And let’s not forget Corey Feldman’s recent remarks in the wake of Corey Haim’s death. He says Hollywood’s big secret and “#1 problem” is pedophilia, and it’s everywhere, and the casting couch applies to kids, too:
“I was surrounded by [pedophiles] when I was 14 years old. … Didn’t even know it. It wasn’t until I was old enough to realize what they were and what they wanted … till I went, Oh, my God. They were everywhere,” Feldman, 40, said.
The trauma of pedophilia contributed to the 2010 death of his closest friend and “The Lost Boys” co-star, Corey Haim, Feldman said.
“There’s one person to blame in the death of Corey Haim. And that person happens to be a Hollywood mogul. And that person needs to be exposed, but, unfortunately, I can’t be the one to do it,” Feldman said, adding that he, too, had been sexually abused by men in show business.
I strongly suggest reading this article too – it’s a short, disturbing read. The uninformed wonder why pedophilia is so common in the Catholic church, and now they can wonder about Hollywood too. But what do these two groups have in common? Power. Lots of it. If you enjoy abusing people, working in Hollywood behind the scenes is the way to go. You don’t have to work around the industry long to figure that out. If you don’t want to support abuse, working behind the scenes becomes difficult. If you don’t like being abused, working before the cameras becomes nearly impossible.
And into that environment, which has chewed up and spat out adults (mainly adult women), we throw children. The fashion industry is at least as bad. The creep factor is off the scale.
What the hell are we doing? Is our culture just really secretly okay with adults sexually abusing kids? Because people sure aren’t bothering to educate themselves. All the clues are there. You can learn most of it from TV shows these days. No schooling or reading of books (just magazines) is required. And yet, people still just don’t seem to give a damn. It’s inexcusable and unacceptable.
If you’re not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Ignorance is no longer an excuse.
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Casey,
First of all, you’re the only one who gets to decide if you’re queer “enough” to count. If you identify with the queer community, then you’re part of it.
Secondly, Microaggressions has previously posted micros that were witnessed by people not directly affected by them. They also opened up a thread asking if Whites could submit racial micros about POC, etc., but I don’t know the result of that thread or even if there was one.
Personally, I’d say if it made you feel icky, then it counts.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
Sylvia Sybil,
Ah, it’s so difficult…I’ve benefited from invisible straight privilege/heterosexism for so long that I thought the occasional fluttery feelings/PSL I’ve had for other women were just one-offs or a result of society, the whole “GIRL ON GIRL IS HOT LOL” meme permeating my brain. I feel unable to refer to myself as anything more than an ally, at least openly in public (with close friends it’s different of course, but even then I’m afraid if I come out to someone about this all kinds of lesbophobia will happen like, “ZOMG EWW DOES THAT MEAN YOU’RE ATTRACTED TO ME LOL WTF” because…y’know…monosexism and all that.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Casey,
I hear you. It’s really hard to break the mold, and when you grow up inside one, it’s hard to know if this is the real you or if you’re just shaped this way because of everyone around you. Also, I think it might be harder for women precisely because our sexuality is assumed to revolve around men. Hell, some people still believe that sex begins when a penis enters a vagina and ends when the man ejaculates, under which model lesbians are perpetual virgins and women’s orgasms are entirely irrelevant.
Greta Christina makes a good point in this blog post; scroll way, way down to the paragraph that opens with a picture of a white tank top with the word “Bi” on it. She says that if you take two people who are both Kinsey 5′s, one can identify as lesbian and the other as bisexual, and those are both valid. Even if they both have the same amount of attraction to the opposite sex, that attraction might be important to one and not important to the other. So your feelings aren’t as important as how you as an individual interpret them. Which is, by the way, one of the many reasons I have such a problem with the “born this way” movement. Not all of us were born knowing; some of us had to figure it out along the way.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
That’s another big thing when it comes to my apprehension about “coming out” to anybody outside my tiny little circle of friends; I’m afraid if I tell a guy about this he’ll either no longer consider me a romantic interest (‘cuz of the whole “YOU’RE PROBABLY JUST REALLY LESBIAN” argument) or they’ll think I’m “attention-whoring” ‘cuz girls only get gay on each other to titillate men.[/sarcasm]
BTW, thanks for the link, as both a queer person and agnostic/atheist (albeit with a lowercase “a”) it is VERY pertinent to my interests.[/fukken' saved]
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Except that the queer community doesn’t accept just anyone who feels queer. Asexuals, for example, have never been fully accepted by the queer community.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Jennifer Kesler,
Yes, I struggled with how to phrase that part, and after I hit submit I realized it still didn’t say what I wanted it to say. The queer community is slightly more accepting than general society, perhaps, but there’s an entire oak tree of truth in the joke, “The LGBT movement is really the GGGG movement”. In fact, the article I linked to includes a critique of some other issues in the LGBT movement such as race. When people like Dan Savage are respected and lauded as leaders in the queer community, it’s hard to claim the community isn’t biphobic, acephobic, transphobic, ableist, etc.
What I was trying to say is, if you feel an attack on queers is an attack on you, you might be queer (not “are” queer, like I originally said, because again, you’re the only one who can say that.). I take what the Westboro Baptist Church and Orson Scott Card say personally, even though I don’t think either of them know what “bisexual” is. But identifying with gay people when they’re attacked is a large part of my self-identification as a member of the community – even though I know parts of this community don’t feel the same way towards me.
Casey,
I’m glad the link helped. Another thought I had – the U in QUILTBAG stands for “unsure”.
And a third thought – it’s okay to identify as straight and still feel attracted to other sexes.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
Jennifer Kesler,
Heck, there are some facets of the queer community that don’t even like bisexuals. I’ve been very explicitly made to feel like I was appropriating their status as a persecuted group because I don’t have a painful coming out story or feel oppressed by society for my bisexuality. I don’t get that mentality at all– you’d think the more people they have in the movement, the more chance of showing society that they’re here and not going away and want equal rights.
Ara(Quote) (Reply)
So…I got a response to my ticket from a DA mod about that guy who was making rape jokes. The mod said that she had looked over his channel and comments, and although he seems “a little unnerving”, it would be in my best interests to just block him.
Well, can’t say I didn’t try.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Casey,
I’m sorry those people suck so much.
Cinnabar(Quote) (Reply)
Cinnabar,
S’alright, at least I have friends HERE who understand my plight! *thumbs up*
(and I’ll probably post a microaggression about it too)
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Casey,
Definitely do. I don’t use devArt as much as I should, but seriously, if you ever need back up over there just note me! (Annibal, in case you’ve forgotten). I don’t have internet at my place so I’m always a little lagging in getting to things but you know, never hurts to have peeps in your corner. Especially if they’re the sugar kind, and the corner is inside your microwave. Unfortunately I am not a sugarpeep, but I’d still help.
The Other Anne(Quote) (Reply)
The Other Anne,
Thanks for reminding me!
I usually used to just ask Berandor/The Other Patrick for help, now I remember I’ve got you too. 
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
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