Past Reflections

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May 23, 2010 - Little Girls As Go-Go Dancers Is Not Okay

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

I remember winning a dance competition with my cousin Denise in the Catskills when we were kids. It may have helped that my uncle was one of the judges. But I also remember that we wore jeans and tee shirts, certainly not a belly button or sequin in sight. The same cannot be said for the 8 and 9 year old girls in the World Dance Competition who are bumping and grinding and gyrating to Beyonce’s Single Ladies. One blogger said they look like they’re ready to go to the Boom Boom Room instead of the Romper Room. Now, I’m no prude, but I do think that the costumes and the dance and the suggestiveness of both are inappropriate for girls their age. And I’ve heard the defenders, including the parents who said that it was a competition not meant to be seen by millions on Youtube. And that they were trying to stop the viral video. Well, why are you trying to stop it if you think there’s nothing wrong with it? If you’re not proud to have millions around the world view your scantily clad daughters dancing, then you shouldn’t have let them do it. I’m afraid our culture has become so sexualized that we’ve lost our barometer of what’s okay and what’s not. Little girls acting like suggestive go-go dancers is not okay. It sends the wrong message. Especially in an age when the sexual exploitation of children has reached epidemic proportions. Parents must be the guardians of their children’s well-being and the way their children are presented. If not they, who? We recently saw that the newly named Miss U.S.A. had previously won another title, the winner of a stripper pole contest. And some were shocked. Why? Maybe the song the young girls should have been dancing to is ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER, because it does. And, by the way, Miss U.S.A. had on a lot more clothes for her stripper pole contest than the 8 and 9 year old girls did for their dance competition. Something is topsy turvy about that.

To watch Father Beck give the above Reflection, click here.