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Tell TLC To Stop Sexualizing Toddlers!
 Reality
television has hit a horrific new low, and
we urgently need your help to hold the
network and its executives responsible!
Whether you love
or loathe child beauty pageants; everyone
should agree that sexualizing a
three-year-old little girl is wrong.
But that is exactly what the
TLC network has done.
In what was
likely a misguided effort to gin-up
publicity and ratings for its controversial
Toddlers and Tiaras reality series,
TLC (formerly The Learning Channel) released
footage of a three-year-old pageant
contestant dressed as the prostitute
character in the 1990 film Pretty Woman.
Such brazen and
wanton material should qualify as child
exploitation or abuse. And this comes just
one week after TLC was forced to pull their
Facebook page due to the deluge of negative
comments over another episode of Toddlers
and Tiaras that featured a little girl
dressed to look like Dolly Parton, complete
with padded bust and buttocks.
Instead of
creating ratings-friendly buzz, TLC has
engendered
outrage
among countless parents and grandparents who
are tired of seeing children exploited for
ratings and robbed of their innocence by a
greedy entertainment industry that will stop
at nothing to make a buck.
You can take
action now by
clicking here and
demanding executives at TLC and Discovery
Networks immediately cancel the series.
Like the movie
character just before she hits the streets
as a prostitute, the toddler is shown
strutting back and forth on stage wearing
thigh-high PVC boots, a blonde bobbed wig,
and white and blue tank dress with a bare midriff.
For years we've
seen adult sexuality being inappropriately
and aggressively foisted on innocent young
children; but children today are being
sexualized at younger and younger ages... A
decade ago parents worried about their teen
daughters coming home from the mall with
hip-riders; earlier this year push-up bikini
tops and butt-toning shoes for grade-school girls
hit the market. Where does it all stop?
What have we come to when toddlers, not yet
able to read, let alone make decisions for
themselves, are getting schooled in dressing
and acting sexy for adults?
Everyone in
society suffers when children are
sexualized, but those who are hurt the most
are the children, robbed of their
childhood.
In February 2007, the
American Psychological Association released
a
report on the sexualization
of girls
which found that girls’ exposure to
hyper-sexualized media content negatively
impacts their cognitive and emotional
development; was strongly associated with
eating disorders, low self-esteem and
depression; fewer girls pursuing careers in
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics; and diminished sexual health.
But it's not just our
daughters who are being affected by these
images. Boys and adult men are also
learning to value women only for
their sex appeal, leading to increased
incidents of sexual harassment, sexual
violence, and increased demand for child
pornography.
The PTC has been
actively working to combat these harmful and
negative messages in the media. Last
December the PTC released a
special
report
exposing the rampant sexualization of
adolescent girls on television.
You can help put
a stop to this damaging trend by
taking action
now
to demand TLC immediately cancel
“Toddlers and Tiaras.”
And please
consider making a
donation to
the PTC so that we can continue this battle
against those in entertainment who would
steal the innocence of our children and
grandchildren.
We can
only exist because of the support and
generosity of our friends like you!
With urgent
thanks,
Your Friends at
the Parents Television Council |
