A Review of the Notting Hill Children's Carnival
Is Europe's Largest Street Party Sexualizing Young Kids?
Aug 31, 2009
The 2009 Notting Hill Carnival's Kid's Parade on the 31st of August was reserved for families to enjoy the procession of brightly-costumed kids dancing. But as group after group of pubescent girls gyrating seductively in colourful bikinis paraded past, a question arose: is the carnival sexualising children?
The Notting Hill Carnival
Started in 1964 by Caribbean immigrants, the Notting Hill Carnival has grown to become Europe's largest carnival, drawing comparisons with Brazil's Rio Carnival. Thousands of multi-racial thrill seekers line the route around West London's Notting Hill to watch the procession of dancers and masqueraders in exotic costumes, dance to the Caribbean music blaring out of the huge moving sound systems, taste West Indian foods from numerous stalls and enjoy the party atmosphere.
The Carnival takes place on the last Monday of August and the Children's Parade is on the Sunday before featuring younger exhibitors. Due to a history of violence during the main Monday event, the Kid's Parade is viewed as a more peaceful event.
But is an event in which young girls in decorated underwear dance seductively to thumping music in front of adults and other children an indecent exhibition or just a day of care-free fun?
The Revealing Costumes
The adult version of the Notting Hill carnival typically features curvaceous women in ornate costumes and head gear. Originating in the Caribbean and South America, bikini-style carnival costumes- usually featuring tall and heavy pieces- display the imagination and creativity of its designers and also allows for comfort in the heat and the long carnival route.
The Kid's Parade also features similarly revealing costumes, but this time on young girls aged between four and sixteen. The ornamented bra-tops and small shorts/panties on the under-developed (and sometimes precociously developed) bodies of pubescent girls is a sight to behold, and as a sea of young flesh jiggle past, some adults turn away and children giggle at the rare sight of other children dressed so seductively.
All were aware that such provocative dressing in daylight, in public and cheered on by adults is a 'carnival-only' event, but won't such approval of barely-there attire encourage children to wear similar clothing at other times that can lead to danger?
The Sexy Dance Moves
Steel-pan bands and Soca, Calypso and other Caribbean music from huge sound systems accompanied the parade, and lively DJs atop the moving music trucks encouraged the gathered crowds to dance along. Dance leaders at the head of each procession introduced various moves that the children copied, most of which involved gyrating bottoms and shaking hips to pulsating beats.
The teenage girls especially delighted in showing off their seductive dances, one even got on all fours, legs splayed out behind her, and did a bottom-jiggling dance on the floor. One small boy would now and again make eye contact with someone in the crowd and as they watched he'd stop and do the 'tick-tock' - a slow, sharp thrust of the hips to the left, front, right and then back; and some girls had guys cling to them from behind and both slow-danced together, reminiscent of the dances in the adult carnival. Coupled with their tiny costumes, the sexualisation of the parade was obvious.
However, the questionable children's dancing and costumes is one aspect of a largely enjoyable event. The jubilant atmosphere, bright colours and outlandish designs of the parade, good-natured crowds and exotic foods is a feast for the eyes and drew a crowd of over 200,000, with three times as many expected for the main event. ("Huge Numbers to Attend Carnival", BBC News, August 31, 2009)
But in an age of heightened sexual images in the media, the Kid's Day at the Notting Hill Carnival may be adding to the early sexualization of its participants and the young viewers.
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