Youtube screenshot of the child models
Little girls scantily clad in revealing bikinis strolling around in high boots at a car show and striking provocative poses. Sounds like a scene taken from a paedophile’s fantasy? No, this scene took place in China just recently where child models as young as 5 were used during the Chutian Auto Culture Festival in Wuhan wearing barely anything. The girls all had parental consent and the company that featured the child models is called 7-Wind Model Costume.
Photos showing the bikini clad child models caused a huge public outcry among Chinese citizens leading to a heated debate regarding the issue of whether using child models is acceptable or not.
The company’s defence
Despite public criticism, the company provided several reasons why using child models should be seen as acceptable. The automobile industry is huge in China and is the biggest auto market in the world. It is common to see models dressed in very revealing outfits at car shows in China
Company director, Zhang Ping argues that “If you type ‘children’ and ‘bikini’ into an Internet search engine, you will find tens of thousands of results of bikini contests for children.”
Zhang also argued that the parents of the child models expressed approval and there were only two 5-year-old child models.
The Chinese director also said that dressing the child models in bikinis could also help to boost their self-esteem.
“We hope that (the controversy) will calm down as soon as possible, and we do not wish to keep discussing this,” said an employee of of 7-Wind Model Costume reached by AFP.
Youtube screenshot of the child models
What netizens are saying
The majority of the online community expressed disgust at the photos showing the bikini clad child models and everyone had something to say about it.
Many people agreed that the photos showed an eroding moral standard in China. “The morals of 30 years ago are gone, is this not the result when money is king?” said a user on the popular social networking website, Sina Weibo. “This is the picture of moral decay.”
Many netizens also blamed the economic reforms of China for bringing about the erosion of social values. The economic reform known as ‘Reform and Opening’ helped to significantly boost the Chinese economy and increase standards of living. But the policy which has been in effect for 3 decades is often blamed for the decline of traditional Chinese values.
“Little girls wearing bikinis at an auto show, is this one of the great achievements of Reform and Opening?” one Weibo user asked.
Our opinion
While the spotlight seems to be focused on the moral implications of the photos, dressing up these child models in bikinis can also be detrimental to their welfare. Furthermore dressing up in revealing outfits is one thing, but behaving provocatively at such a young age makes it a much more worrying issue.
Young girls should not be taught to behave in seductive ways as doing so causes them to grow up too quickly and lose their innocence and miss out on their childhood.
Such behaviour could also adversely affect their psychological state as they are being taught from a young age on how to behave seductively to please men.
Furthermore these young girls are being exploited to provide visual stimulation to paedophiles and this could have dangerous consequences if the girls become victims of perverted
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