I love the “but they just want to act like adults” argument. Because, of course, the only acceptable form of adult female expression is to represent as a total slut.

I don’t know how old you are, but adults and teenagers DON’T HAVE 8-YEAR-OLD FRIENDS! There is so much wrong with your comment that I don’t have time to respond to. But fortunately I don’t have to because any normal, decent human being can see right away that you’re a pedophile enabler at best and a filthy child predator at worst.

You disgust me.

Those girls are very talented dancers, and this routine was perfect for demonstrating their skill level. And this was for a dance competition, I believe, so they needed to choose the most challenging performance. And that means dancing like the adults do.

And thinking of one of my friends who is eight, she would love to do a performance like this. Little girls always want to play like they are grown ups. Whether it’s shaking their booties, playing with dolls, or playing house with whatever little boy they can get to play along, they enjoy pretending to be grown-up.

I don’t think it’s healthy to let our fears of pedophiles limit how we let little girls express themselves. If they want to dance like little hoochies, let them!

Some of the comments I got on this post (at other sites) said that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find dance studios that have normal costumes and teach age-appropriate routines. It really is awful.

It put me in mind of a book I’ve been meaning to read for some time. ABC did a piece about it, but I really enjoyed this blogger’s take.

Parents who allow this are, at best, painting a target on their child for all predators to see.