But I’m stopped
dead by a photo. Suri Cruise, running on the beach with Katie, in “her
signature high heels”. No, not
Katie in heels, her daughter, Suri. How old is this child, 5? Maybe she just
came from a special birthday party…but her mum’s in shorts and a T? What is
this? I read further and find this part of her shoe collection worth
“$150,000”.
So should I be
surprised, they’re celebs, of course? And little girls have always wanted to
wear heels (usually their mother’s) but on the beach? So then I threw the whole
dilemma into Google, and guess what? This is not just a one off; she’s been
doing it for years – Suri in golden high heels in 2009, aged 3 on slippery New
York pavements etc etc. Yes I know the heels are ‘only” a few inches…..
So then to the
debates on various sites. If we put aside the argument that this is a one-off,
and in fact it is regular garb, lets see what the comments are. “Child abuse“ rant
some, “get a life, what’s wrong with girls being princesses”, “if they like
them, why shouldn’t they wear them” say others. The risk of injury and later
orthopaedic problems is pointed out.
But the question
I have, is - why are tiny shoes made with high-heels for everyday wear? How come you can buy them? A bit like
the infamous padded bras in (children’s) size 6 so little girls could have
breasts like Mummy. HUH? Why can retailers manufacture and market these things?
So girls, why do
we grown-ups wear high heels (though I confess I do not because they kill my
feet and I fall over)? In
principle, I guess it’s to feel confident and sexy and to enhance height, leg
shape and physical appeal to others (based on an ideal of….?). So why are we allowing
this to be applied to little girls?
Surely this approach is at best foolish and at worst exploitative. Julie
Gale, founder of Kids Free 2 B Kids clearly
describes the problem here .
Collective Shout asks the question,
“will we let children be children in Australia?” and cites a British
six-month independent review into the commercialisation and sexualisation of
childhood, commissioned by PM David Cameron. This review called for, amongst
other things, retailers to offer age-appropriate clothes for children. The
British Retail consortium has published good practice
guidelines as a way forward for industry.
Australia had a senate enquiry in 2008, which released
recommendations to the media and marketing/retail industry, but a promised 18
month review has not happened. Do have a look at the above organisations and
sign up to their good work if you agree. Novelactivist
has a dissenting view, interesting to ponder, though there’s a few too many big
words in there for me.
Little girls have so many expectations to conform to,
let’s at least let them develop a rudimentary sense of their child-self (and I
acknowledge that “dress-ups” in imaginative play is part of this) before they
normalise adult sexual dress and behaviour. And before anyone says it, no, I'm not telling anyone what to do, just asking for a little thought.
* Dr Glen
Cupit, Senior Lecturer in Child
Development, University of South Australia.
Quoted here
