“It wasn’t easy,” Brazilian photographer Luisa Dörr said.
In fact, it may be a more difficult task to get a Young Miss not to strike a pose. She swings her hair around to one side, stretches her neck into a long line, and delicately cocks a hand on her hip. In front of the lens, she transforms herself into a supermodel. Walk into the room with a camera, and she’ll grab you by the hand, tugging you into position. Le Parmentier has said that if the law is passed, he might move his pageant to Belgium – but close to the French border, in order to accommodate French contestants who want to compete without having to worry about legal consequences.It’s not hard to get a Brazilian “Young Miss” to pose for the camera. The pageant’s creator, Michel Le Parmentier, has protested the amendment, saying that regulations, rather than an across-the-board ban, would be more appropriate.
If the bill is signed into law, as expected, pageants like the annual “Mini-Miss” contest in Paris will no longer take place. The magazine argued that the photos were meant to capture a classic fantasy of young girls – to dress up like their mother.īut the images sparked outrage both at home and abroad. “Let us not make our girls believe from a very young age that their worth is based only on their appearance,” the author of the report, former sports minister and current senator Chantal Jouanno, said in an interview with free French daily “20 Minutes” last year.Ĭontroversy surrounding the issue peaked in December 2010, when French Vogue published a photo spread featuring images of a 10-year-old French girl, Thylane Loubry Blondeau, decked out in a tight dress, jewellery, high heels and make-up. The amendment was prompted by a a parliamentary report entitled “Against Hyper-Sexualisation: A New Fight For Equality”, which, in addition to calling for an end to the pageants, encouraged a ban on adult-style clothing for children, including padded bras and high-heeled shoes. The senators who voted in favour of the measure argue that it will protect children from being prematurely “sexualised” through the use of heavy make-up and often provocative attire. The amendment is part of a broader bill on women’s rights, which will now proceed to the National Assembly, French Parliament’s lower house, for debate and another vote. It looks like the French won’t be getting their version of “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” anytime soon.įrance’s Senate voted early Wednesday to ban beauty pageants for children under 16, and to punish any adult who tries to enter a child into such a contest with up to two years in prison and a steep 30,000-euro fine.
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