Forget Buying Barbie, Why Not Look Like Barbie?
In a recent study conducted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 335,924 cosmetic procedures were performed on adolescents in 2003. This number has significantly increased since 2002, when adolescents accounted for just 2% of procedures.
While recently watching an episode of the new E! Television series, Sunset Tan, I became alarmingly exposed to what I will refer to as the “Clueless Mother.� The Clueless Mother visited Sunset Tan, a popular tanning salon in L.A. that caters to celebrities and others looking for a quick tanning fix with a side of skin cancer, with her 3rd grade daughter. She demanded that the child have whatever done to her in order to make her look more tan and “presentable� for this year’s school pictures insisting that she looked awful and pale in her 2nd grade photos.
After the two blonde receptionists, both coated in tanning lotion, with breasts to their chins, informed the mother that the “Tanning Cocktail� is what stars like Lindsey Lohan opt for when visiting the salon, the mother looked at her wide eyed, plaid uniform wearing little girl and asked her a question that literally made me ill to my stomach.
“Do you want to look like Lindsey Lohan?� the mother asked in a rather stern voice that implied, if you don’t say yes, you will be lectured the whole way home and we won’t be getting that rhinoplasty operation I plan on getting you next week.
“Yes, I want to look like Lindsey Lohan,� the little girl replied nervously.
Minutes later she was in a tanning booth crying while getting hosed down by chemicals. Afterwards, the mother looked at her daughter halfway approvingly, before deciding to spend hundreds on additional tanning lotions to ensure the tan would be intact for picture day.
As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder, what is Clueless Mother thinking?! This poor girl doesn’t want or need a fake tan to look adorable, what child does? And is she trying to set her daughter up for emotional destruction? I mean, has she seen the shenanigans that Lindsey Lohan has been a part of lately?
The whole scene made me nauseous, much like Children’s Beauty Pageant that I occasionally catch a glimpse of on “A Current Affair.â€?
I understand that adults have the right to get all the nips, tucks, suctions, and chemicals put on and into their bodies that they want, but when it comes to pressuring our children to live up to the same competitive standards we face each day, I find it a hard notion to swallow.
What happened to the days of My Little Pony and Hello Kitty? Have these hobbies and characters which once made children happy, being traded in for tanning beds and hair extensions? As if little girls aren’t going to have to endure enough physical ridicule in their teenage years, they now have to go through it at the age 7?
My advice to Clueless Mother? Good luck with the little monster you’re creating when she hits junior high.
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