Earlier this week, Blue Ivy Carter appeared on the red carpet for the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King with her parents, Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Blue, 12, voices Kiara in the upcoming film — five years after Beyoncé first voiced Kiara’s mom, Nala, in The Lion King (2019).
What should have been a fun and exciting milestone moment for the tween turned sour after her gold, strapless Christian Siriano gown was criticized, branding her dress “wildly inappropriate” for a 12-year-old.
One viral tweet with over 25 million views accused Beyoncé and Jay-Z of “over sexualizing” Blue by allowing her to wear the strapless gown and makeup.
“Honestly the way blue Ivy a 12 year old is over sexualized by her parents needs to be studied because she still a child and they’re dressing her like she’s 17-18 year old,” the tweet reads.
After the tweet went viral, several other users chimed in, defending the 12-year-old, arguing that her gown was totally fine for a 12 year old to wear and pointing out that this style of strapless ballgown is frequently worn by kids who dress up Disney princesses.
“She’s wearing a ballgown. A lot of little girls wear this type/cut of Disney dress You’re only sexualizing it because Blue Ivy is developing. She can’t help that. But the fact that you are focused on a 13yo’s developing cleavage in a big dress makes YOU weird – not her parents,” one user said.
Another user pointed out, “So what you really mean by this tweet is that YOU are sexualizing her. She’s just a young girl, wearing a dress and she looks beautiful. There is no problem with what she’s wearing. It’s only an issue if you make it an issue, and that seems like a you problem”
Let’s also mention the culture of children’s pageants where we dress up five-year-olds in ballgowns, tease their hair, and apply more makeup to their faces than Tammy Fae Baker. Is it different because that pageant culture is particularly white-dominated?
One X user pointed this out, noting, “all of this discourse just proves the adultification of Black children, ESPECIALLY girls. she looks f**king 12 and you guys are genuinely disgusting for speaking about her like this. you want her to shrink and hide herself because you’re uncomfortable about her development.”
Buzzfeed pointed out a few instances where this double standard fits including when Modern Family actor, Ariel Winter, wore a similar strapless gown at the 2010 Emmy Awards when she was 12, while Miley Cyrus rocked a tight, strapless top at the 2006 CMA Awards when she was roughly 14.
We need to remember at the end of the day, Blue is just a child, learning and growing. Even if these critics think that they’re “helping” by protecting her, they’re still sexualizing a child, and that’s not okay! Ever! Food for thought!
