Kids and make-up

[katie]

Hey guys, my name's Katie and I'm new here... I just saw a show last night on Ooooooprah about little girls getting obsessed about their appearances as early as age 3.

Is that f**ked up or what!?! Have you heard of this??

One girl was 4 and was terrified of getting "fat" because then she would be "ugly." She refused to eat anything but fruits and vegetables. I think a kid who's scared to eat ice cream is severely disturbed.

The other girl was 3 and she threw tantrums if she didn't get to wear lipstick and blush every day. She'd look in the mirror and say she was "not pretty." And all she looked at in her room was Victoria's Secret catalogs. WTF!!!

So my question is: is it the mother's faults? Or is it the media, which was the mom's excuses for their girls' behavior.

Both mothers admitted to having extremely low self esteem, and they said they often labeled themselves as "ugly" in front of their kids. But they still believed that it was really just the TV's fault.

[tnarg]

From a psychoanalytic stance I suppose it would be argued that this is a way for the children to figure the world out through acting like their mothers. I think the mothers, as well as the children, are products of our culture and media is certainly a part of that. Mothers, and fathers, directly bring their children into a culture by showing them "the rules" of society. "you have to put your shoes on before you go outside" the mother says, or "say thank you to the nice lady" the mother teaches. Makeup=pretty is a concept which is foreign in any place but in a postmodern, western culture. So therefore, as the child's bridge and leader into the culture the mother or father could be considered at fault, however it is the culture they are being brought into which really causes the behavior. Not to forget, the mother and/or father were also entered into the same culture and are therefore as much influenced by the culture themselves as the child apparently has been. So it isn't just TV's fault, or Maxim's fault, or the parents fault. Children having ideas of finding acceptance by obsessedly focusing on particular "adult" mannerisms is something our entire culture creates (comprised of you, me, the parents, the TV, video games, magazines, the evening news broadcasts, the CD's in the store, advertisements, etc.)

[regalia]

hells yeah, tnarg...