Parenting Fail (and not my own)

While reading through the Huffington Post this morning, I found a video clip currently on its way to viralness. Normally a video clip showing some oversexed dancers gyrating to Beyonce or Lady Gaga wouldn't raise my eyebrows -much - but this one had me scraping my jaw up off the floor.

A cadre of 7 year-olds dressed up as Dollar Store Hookers managed to bump and grind, twirl and high-kick their way across the stage to "Single Ladies."

My immediate reaction was that I wanted to smack the shit out of the mothers who thought that this was a good idea. Dudes, I've have been pissed off if I were the mother of a 14 year-old daughter doing that dance, but for fuck's sake, 7 year-old girls? I'm equally pissed off at the commentary at Huffington Post which reads:

"Age appropriate or not, there is denying it's one heck of a performance." -Huffington Post

I ask you, if they had taken turns dancing around a pole or dancing on a 44 year-old man's lap, would someone quip, "Well, it may not be age-appropriate, but my goodness look at the technique!"

Wrong.

As an aspiring artist, I am all for the freedom of expression, but I draw the line at the sexualization of children. Make no mistake, that routine turned some adorable 7 year-old girls into caricatures of child prostitutes.

Those mothers ought to be rightly ashamed of themselves. Let's start tying in girls' self-esteem with a false portrayal of sexuality at an earlier age!