Nov 25, 2007
INBOX
Dance music too sexy for kids

I CAUGHT some performances at the Asian Children's Festival held outside the National Library on Nov17.

At first, I enjoyed the performances presented by the children, but my enjoyment turned to dismay when a group of girls, who looked to be around seven to nine years old, came on stage and danced to the song, Buttons, by the Pussycat Dolls (right).

With its sexual connotations, it is an inappropriate song for any young child to dance to, let alone to be presented as an item in a festival that was meant to celebrate the joy of being a child - and watched by many other youngsters.

Was the National Library Board (NLB), as the main organiser, aware of the implications of the song?

One could simply laugh it off as a 'small, trivial thing' and say the children were not aware of the hidden meaning of the song, let alone remember it.

I beg to differ. To carelessly underestimate a child's tendency to be influenced by the media he is exposed to is a huge oversight.

I hope the NLB and future organisers of such children's events will seriously take into account the age of the audience they are catering to.


Ruth Lee Ting En (Ms)