Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Only days after the U.S. Department of Justice busted a huge international pedophile ring, French Vogue is once again tempting potential molesters by featuring minor girls in provocative poses in their magazine – this time using a heavily made-up 10 year-old in stiletto heels and a bodice cut to the waist.
London’s Daily Mail is reporting that 10 year-old Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau is the latest victim of French Vogue’s guest editor, Tom Ford, who put together another controversial issue last Christmas that featured heavily made-up little girls in provocative clothes and poses. Ford is close friends with photographer Terry Richardson, a man who has been accused of exploiting underage girls.
In the latest issue, Blondeau is featured in a variety of sexually provocative poses and outfits such as reclining on leopard print pillows, and wearing a dress with a bodice cut so low it exposes most of her chest.
The girl’s parents, actress and television host Véronika Loubry and former French football player Patrick Blondeau, obviously support the girls’ modeling aspirations as their daughter already has an extensive portfolio. She walked the runway for Jean Paul Gaultier at the age of four and once posed nearly topless, covered by nothing more than her long hair and strings of beads. The child has appeared on the cover of Vogue Enfants and has posed for other high-end editorials.
Even though she’s being plugged in the upscale French fashion scene as the next big “thing”, her age is causing a storm of controversy, especially among experts who have expertise with the psychological damage done to children who are sexualized at a young age.
A spokesperson for the Mothers’ Union, a UK agency who was commissioned to review the pressures faced by children, told the Mail: “We have grave concerns about the modeling agency that represents Blondeau, which clearly does not know if it represents a child or an adult. Photo shoots requiring her, a 10-year-old-girl, to dress in full make-up, teetering heels and a dress with a cleavage cut to the waist across her pre-pubescent body deny Blondeau the right to be the child she is.”
She went on to say that the Vogue images would not pass established advertising standards in the UK.
Dr Emma Gray, a consultant clinical psychologist and clinical director of The British CBT & Counseling Service, which deals in behavioral therapy, also disapproved of the photos.
“This picture is the antithesis of what childhood in our society should be; a child being exposed to a world she is not yet equipped to deal with solely to serve the needs of the adults around her,” she told the Mail.
“If children are to develop into happy, grounded and psychologically balanced people their childhood needs to be spent appropriately preparing for the demands of the adult world. Before they are exposed to this world it is the task of the adults around them to create an environment that gives them the time, space and nurture to complete their physical and psychological development. Prematurely exposing a child to the adult world is dangerously preventing the completion of their development into a person who can survive in it.”
Unfortunately, Thylane is obviously on her way to becoming the next “Miley Cyrus” and “Britney Spears” role model for young girls. Her Facebook page has 700 fans with many of her peers posting messages that are full of praise.
“I just wanted to say that Thylane is absolutely stunning!” one admirer wrote. “Xx!”
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