Thread by @miri_iron

1. #Mignonnes (aka #Cuties on @netflix) has caused a lot of hot takes.
What concerns me most is that it’s clear that Republicans/ #Qultists are involved in a #MoralPanic, & those do NOT lead to successful measures to protect children from actual threats.
psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked…

2. Republicans weren’t up in arms about #ToddlersInTiaras, which aired on @tlc for 7 years. Look around. It wasn’t and isn’t an outlier.

3. France, home of the film “Mignonnes,” actually banned child pageants. America has not. Note: #MoralPanics often position the evil as coming from OUTSIDE.
smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fra…

4. Here’s the FB page of a child beauty pageant in the US. Check out the address: 1118 Minors Lane in Louisville, KY
I’m not, btw, saying these pageants or their participants and fans condone pedophilia. But why do we normalize this?

5. It’s not easy being a “baby girl.” Of any age. And one doesn’t have to be a prude or a sex-positive feminist to notice.

6. Nor is it easy when you’re young. How young is too young? Is it playing dress-up or growing up too quickly? As a parent, it’s very difficult to navigate. How are children supposed to BE?

7. And little of this is NEW!

8. We have both Purity Balls AND Child Marriages. We send mixed messages to children and adults.
kycir.org/2017/08/29/as-…

9. The protesters doth protest too much. The current QAnon agita is providing cover as LGBTQ kids are put out on the streets, men practice sex tourism & grooming, & family members, friends & religious authority figures—not strangers—are common perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

10. Yes, I’m angry. Anger—well-directed—is useful. But too many people are not SO worried over pedophilia, ephebophilia, or child trafficking that they’d forgo patriarchal & gender-role reifying cultural practices that might, in turn, make these evils happen less often. Are you?

P.S. Don’t comment if you’re going to be thoughtless or ignorant (or if you assume that I am). 🖖🏻