I wasn't sure where to post this topic...mods feel free to place it wherever it should live!
My DD is 8. We have both performed with our local dance school in years past. I have been very kindly invited to perform this year by one of the choreographers. (My LO will be performing in other numbers and really wants me to be in the show too!) The song the choreographer has chosen for this number I'd be in is Ariana Grande's 'Focus'. I personally find this song too sexually suggestive (the breathy singing, the overall tone, the guy in the background grunting "FUH! FUH!") to be appropriate for performance at a family event. But, it was approved by the school staff.
We live in the Caribbean, so culturally people are extremely conservative M-F 9-5 with a church on every street corner, but then we have carnival parades, where the streets are filled with folks dressed in thongs and pushup bras, partying and dancing in the streets to explicit soca lyrics celebrating the baccanal! I am a creative person and like to think of myself as an accepting person, but I was brought up by extremely conservative parents and I find those old judgements arising in my mind when I decide whether to bring my child to see sexually oriented entertainment, even if culturally traditional.
I love our dance school because they teach traditional cultural dances as well as modern styles but are never what I would consider overly or inappropriately sexual - they are not vamping on the latest popstar moves.
Media in our house is limited to G rated movies for kids and documentaries. Even so, my LO loves to pose like a pop star in the mirror. She is very girly.
So I am waging an inner battle about how much to expose my daughter to, and when, and what example to set, and how to parse the power of feminist owning-your-sexuality-and-flaunting-it vs. respecting yourself, vs. modesty as a means of respecting other cultures, vs. being proud of the culture you live in.... AAAAGGHHH! I grew up in the 80s, when pop culture was relatively innocent and the more overt sexual references were hidden in lyrics and went right over my head...
I don't really know what I think, so not sure how to proceed with my decision to perform to this highly annoying song, and what example to set for my LO when it comes to access to these 'grownup' images and ideas. Pop culture attack!! Help! :shy
My DD is 8. We have both performed with our local dance school in years past. I have been very kindly invited to perform this year by one of the choreographers. (My LO will be performing in other numbers and really wants me to be in the show too!) The song the choreographer has chosen for this number I'd be in is Ariana Grande's 'Focus'. I personally find this song too sexually suggestive (the breathy singing, the overall tone, the guy in the background grunting "FUH! FUH!") to be appropriate for performance at a family event. But, it was approved by the school staff.
We live in the Caribbean, so culturally people are extremely conservative M-F 9-5 with a church on every street corner, but then we have carnival parades, where the streets are filled with folks dressed in thongs and pushup bras, partying and dancing in the streets to explicit soca lyrics celebrating the baccanal! I am a creative person and like to think of myself as an accepting person, but I was brought up by extremely conservative parents and I find those old judgements arising in my mind when I decide whether to bring my child to see sexually oriented entertainment, even if culturally traditional.
I love our dance school because they teach traditional cultural dances as well as modern styles but are never what I would consider overly or inappropriately sexual - they are not vamping on the latest popstar moves.
Media in our house is limited to G rated movies for kids and documentaries. Even so, my LO loves to pose like a pop star in the mirror. She is very girly.
So I am waging an inner battle about how much to expose my daughter to, and when, and what example to set, and how to parse the power of feminist owning-your-sexuality-and-flaunting-it vs. respecting yourself, vs. modesty as a means of respecting other cultures, vs. being proud of the culture you live in.... AAAAGGHHH! I grew up in the 80s, when pop culture was relatively innocent and the more overt sexual references were hidden in lyrics and went right over my head...
I don't really know what I think, so not sure how to proceed with my decision to perform to this highly annoying song, and what example to set for my LO when it comes to access to these 'grownup' images and ideas. Pop culture attack!! Help! :shy