Fury As 12-Year-Old Model Fronts Fashion Show

Daily Mail:

A 12-year-old has caused a media frenzy after she was chosen to front one of the world's largest fashion shows.

Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Maddison Gabriel was picked as the official ambassador of Gold Coast Fashion Week in Australia and has also worn a number of revealing outfits for the Queensland event.

Read the whole story: Daily Mail

Comments

[LoriB]

09:03 AM on 09/18/2007

Great. Corporate media now manufacturing "role models" even younger. I predict that by 16, she will be following in the footsteps of Spears, Hilton and all the rest of the no-talent nothings who have spiraled down into alcohol and drug abuse to help them forget the fact that they have been used and have made nothing of their lives.

[luckysun]

07:22 PM on 09/18/2007

Because she's young she must be a Britney or Paris clone? Can we give her a chance before we condemn her as a "no-talent nothing" ?

[riverroad]

07:25 PM on 09/17/2007

The societal practice of sexualizing female children is especially obvious in internet pornography:


"Kenneth, the married consultant and father of three from New Mexico, always saw himself as a good guy; he didn't get into pornography until well into adulthood...To maintain the illusion of innocence and willingness, Kenneth sought out progressively younger women, girls who looked under eighteen...'It was scary for me because I was turned on and also because it obviously depicted kids who had been abused and tricked,' he says. 'It's pretty transparent. It's not as if these kids were being paid five hundred dollars a day to pose. You could tell they were stressed out....'"~Pamela Paul, "Pornified: How pornography is transforming our lives, our relationships, and our families"

[MagisterLudi]

08:48 PM on 09/17/2007

Americans have always been more intimidated and scandalized by sight of beautiful human bodies. But Americans LOVE to see murders committed and the sight of murdered and mutilated people turns them on more than sex.
In doubt? Just walk into a random movie theater anywhere in US.
Hey river, many people have somewhat scandalous fantasies this does NOT means that most people act out on them. We' are better off if the sickos have a wank to Net images than seek to act these fantasies out.

[Mister Ruben]

07:10 PM on 09/17/2007

On second thoughts, she is hot. I'll love to cuddle and comfort her from the nasty comments you have heaped on her virginal visage. Come to popsie fragile one.

[may261989]

07:09 PM on 09/17/2007

maybe people should ask what fuels the fashion world: answer: drugs... coke for the most part.
I'm delighted to see a pre high school girl becoming part of this world. With any luck she will be a full fledged coke addict by the time she's 13. Her parents will be so proud.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

06:57 PM on 09/17/2007

Cripes. What a tempest in a C-cup.

[luckysun]

06:27 PM on 09/17/2007

please, get a grip. i know it must be difficult to be a middle-aged woman watching a pre-teen receive more attention for her beauty than they ever got themselves. how about this: teach our daughters to value their inner beauty and not base their self worth on freakishly tall and thin girls in beauty magazines. but the fashion world should be able to do what they want and let the market decide. and those that are bothered by this need to look at themsleves

[LoriB]

09:11 AM on 09/18/2007

Is it difficult to be a middle-aged man with a pot-belly and a receding hairline? Is it difficult to exist in a world of complexity with a below-average mind? Do you always have that suspicious feeling that other people are just tolerating you and your simple-minded assertions? You see, I'm not asserting that I know these things about you, I'm just asking the questions.

[luckysun]

05:00 PM on 09/19/2007

i wasnt talking about you, but if the shoe fits... and speaking of simple mided assertions, that shes young and pretty makes her a candidate to be another britney or paris seems more simple minded than my observation that everyone on the video that was upset by this were middle aged women. no young peoplke of either sex. guess they dont find her so threatening or obviously headed for disaster.

[Maxbyte]

05:41 PM on 09/17/2007

She may be 12 by the calendar, but it's time for parents and the ubiquitous "moral patrol" to realize that some young women mature a lot faster than outdated laws and customs suggest.

A lot of men go to jail and have their dignity trashed forever because a female under the age of consent is willing to lie to get whatever she may want.

On the other hand, a lot of male predators are just as willing to do the same. It is a complicated issue, but if women under the age of consent are packing birth control pills, and huge numbers are, it's past time to make statutory laws more balanced.

In Maddison's case, my concerns may never be warranted. But, her parents seem to see her as their retirement plan, and that is going to put Maddison increasingly in situations that will test her and those around her long before a young woman should be placed in such settings.

Mothers, like Maddison's outspoken mother, would do well to remember JonBenet Ramsey once in a while.

The EU "solution" to keep girls off the catwalk until they are 16 is a small step in the right direction, but it is also naive.

[riverroad]

07:32 PM on 09/17/2007

Maxbyte--So your "solution" is to accomodate baby-rapers by lowering the age of consent. Ruin a child's life to make things more convenient for a miserable, stinking pervert.

[marko77]

05:24 PM on 09/17/2007

12 is young to do the Catwalk thing. What happened to childhood? Well, Britney's fans were about 12 years old and even younger and their mothers didn't see anything wrong with acting and dressing like a slut for the bucks. Is this different? Maybe yes and maybe no.

[RandyRanson]

05:12 PM on 09/17/2007

Robbing the cradle of innocents. The fashion world is advertising its well known immorality, as they think that by creating controversy, they will draw more attention. They may in the long run find that by using 'jail bait', they risk serving some 'jail time'.

What they're really saying is they haven't got the goods any longer to deal with design and elegance for the real women out there. They have lost their valued prestige, by selling out for kitsch.

[rbspickles]

04:52 PM on 09/17/2007

There are alot of teen models out there. Ever pick up a JC Penneys catalog? What's the big deal?

[QuietAmerican]

04:50 PM on 09/17/2007

I would never guess this young lady is 12. She looks 30. Let's hope she can handle what she doesn't know she's in for.

[amanda85]

04:32 PM on 09/17/2007

My my, you'd think most of these comments were written in Iran, or Saudi Arabia...
But then again, which is the ONLY western country with levels of religiosity comparable to a middle eastern or west African nation? Yep, easy guess...

------------------------------------------

"53 percent of Americans say that religion is very important in their lives, compared with 16 percent, 14 percent, and 13 percent, respectively, of the British, French and Germans. (...)
In general, the importance of religion has been declining in the developed world," says Inglehart, "whereas in countries experiencing economic stagnation and political uncertainty, religion has remained strong."
The collapse of religion in Northern European countries is particularly striking, he observes. Not only has weekly church attendance plunged, but Latin American countries are now sending missionaries to save the souls of their former colonizers.
Why America is an exception to this global trend is uncertain, although Inglehart suggests several possible explanations. Religion could be a legacy of America's frontier mentality, in which a strong sense of faith was necessary in order to brave the unknown. It could also have a more contemporary cause: a social welfare system less developed than those in most Nordic or European countries."

http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=1835

[TJS]

03:41 PM on 09/17/2007

Two aspiring 15-year-old models were talking about the current trend toward younger models. "Ah, If we were only 14 again..." they sighed.

[hootie1fan]

03:33 PM on 09/17/2007

Who need to blame the media for sexualizing our children when we have parents like this?

[geobushono]

02:58 PM on 09/17/2007

go stand outside your local middle school and take some non-peovocative photos of the local girls.
We know how this plays.