Fury over girls, 7, wearing make-up
I think is a bit of a over-reaction. Don't misunderstand me, I deplore the sexualisation of young children for cynical profit and I despair that not only do shops sell clothes unsuitable for little children, but their parents buy them - I once saw a pre-pubescent girl with a t-shirt that said 'Slut'
But come on, make-up, perfume?
Perfume in particular. If you say little girls shouldn't wear perfume, do you also say they shouldn't use smelly bubble-bath? I got a bottle of perfume as a Christmas present when I was of infant school age; I was wearing eye-shadow to church by the time I was ten. This was back in the Seventies.
My niece is five, and is allowed to wear make-up to the local curry house.
I think a sense of proportion is required - stupid parents will tell their daughters that they must wear make-up when they go out. Sensible parents lay down boundaries.
In top Juniors, shoes were the thing. The shoes we wore were ridiculous for running round the playground. One teacher used to warn us of the perils of high heels for later life.
It's like all this fuss about under-age drinking, or TV dramas with sex in them. A moderate amount of alcohol, on special occasions, Friday night, Sunday lunchtime, isn't going to hurt a child. Some of us watched Brideshead Revisited first showing when we were thirteen. With parents. Two of us read the book concurrently, borrowing the copies owned by our mothers. Another person was banned from watching the TV or reading the book. Which still strikes me as a misjudgement of colossal proportions.
