Dancewear Company ‘Frilled Neck Fashion’ Under Fire For Sexualizing Pre-Teen Girls And Encouraging Pedophiles Via Instagram And Facebook
An Australia dancewear company has come under fire for posting provocative and sexualized images of preteen girls in skimpy outfits on the popular photo-sharing app Instagram, according to the ABC.
The photos are of young girls from nine to 15 in extremely inappropriate positions for girls of that age. Some of the girls are posed lying on the ground with lipsticked mouths, backs arched, protruding chests, and longing gazes.
Critics have dubbed the pictures as “reckless” and Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has warned parents that pedophile parasite websites are republishing seemingly innocent photos of girls found on Facebook and other photo-sharing sites.
The pictures in question are shared to 20,000 followers and the Instagram page is a public account, meaning anyone can look at these photos. A lot of the comments below the pictures do not seem to be related to dance wear.
“Wow you are so gorgeous.”
“Love this one!”
“Sexy.”
“You look extremely stunning.”
“Hey follow me.”
Caitlin Roper of a women’s advocacy group Collective Shout, received numerous complaints about the photos shared on Frilled Neck Fashion Instagram and Facebook and has started an investigation after being appalled and shocked by the adult-like poses and styling contained in the photo shoots.
“When girls are young, they all like to put on their mum’s heels and somehow always find the red lipstick, that’s child-led curiosity,” Roper said.
“What’s disturbing about these photographs is that at some point, someone told this child, ‘Lay down on the ground, arch your back, don’t smile, look serious and pout.'”
“Girls as young as nine don’t have the emotional maturity or context to understand the potential implications of sharing these photos publicly and promoting them on social media,” Roper said.
Caitlin Roper was able to find information publicly available on the Frilled Neck Fashion’s social media pages and locate the schools and addresses of two of the young models who feature on the Instagram page in question, meaning other people would also be able to track down the girls.
“It’s really quite risky; it’s something [parents] need to be aware of,” Roper said.
“It’s reckless behavior that is putting young girls at risk. You can find these girls so easily by tracking them online, their profiles are often public and they give up a lot of information about who they are and where they live.”
Roper said she knew the difference between innocent photos being taken off Facebook and used inappropriately but does not think these photos are innocent. She is calling out the parents of the children and the dance wear company and telling them to protect the young girls.
“This is a case of adults failing to act in the best interest of the child,” she said.
Roper has been trying to contact the director of Frilled Neck Fashion, Amelia Annand, to no avail but has been able to contact some of the girls’ mothers. One mother, Cindy from Sydney, has an 11-year-old daughter who features on the Instagram page but Cindy finds nothing wrong with the way her daughter is portrayed.
“They are gorgeous girls wearing gorgeous costumes. There is absolutely nothing sexual about these photos,” Cindy said.
“The girls love to dance and love to wear beautiful costumes.”
Jemma Nicholl, a dance teacher and dance industry code of ethics campaigner, disagrees that these are innocent pictures and is campaigning for stronger guidelines for studios and dance schools. The campaign is for the KidsPace Dance Code of Practice.
“There’s no denying that these children are positioned to have attention clearly drawn to specific body parts — their chest, their crotch,” she said.
“Facial expressions are sultry, and some images even present the illusion of nudity. There is nothing child-like about these pictures.”
“My question to parents is: ‘Are you seriously this comfortable with the way your daughters are being depicted, and are you aware of the consequences?'” Nicholl said.
The push to regulate stronger guidelines on pictures shared via social media has come after startling statistics uncovered over the past few years about pedophiles and where they find their images has come to light.
“How would these parents feel… knowing that others may be viewing their child’s image on other sites?” Nicholl said.
But Sydney mother Cindy denies she is putting her young daughter in harm’s way.
“None of us are out there exploiting our children, and there is nothing disgusting about any of these photos,” she said.
“All these children are well supervised and have responsible parents.”
One of the male photographers, Rob Eyre, has also defended the pictures saying they are “cute” and he is “shocked” that anyone would think otherwise.
“I’m always mindful of what I shoot with these dancers, as they do put themselves in moves and positions that, to the wrong person, can be taken the wrong way,” Eyre said.
Nicholl’s point is that the photos will be taken in the wrong way, by the wrong people, and be shared on parasite pedophile websites or used to track down and exploit the girls.
A person who has already experienced pedophilia at the hands of a dance teacher stood in front of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Survivors earlier this year and called for better regulation of the dance industry. He was one of many survivors of pedophile dance teacher Grant Davies and says tougher guidelines need to be in place to protect the young and vulnerable.
Jemma Nicholl said it all comes down to safer and smarter practices especially with young girls and the internet.
“As dance educators, we have the potential to be a key influence in the most formative years of a child’s life, and that automatically issues us with a responsibility to safeguard not only the physical, however, the mental and emotional well-being of children too,” Nicholl said.
The KidsPace Dance code of practice will be available next month.
[Photo by Fotolia/AP Images]
