Anon NY Times Article on Girl Influencers and Leotard Brand Reps

[Anonymous (d462)]

Did anyone else read the NY Times article titled A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men? I have seen first hand the realities of this disturbing world and I am thrilled to see it being brought to light by big mainstream sources like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (Who also recently ran an article about child influencers).

I wondered if we could have a little conversation about this on here. What have you seen of this world? Do you believe this article is exagerating the issues or are they really this bad? If you feel like me and see this as a real problem, is there anything we can do? Personally, I am trying to limit my leotard purchases to brands that don't use child influencers for marketing.

So much to discuss... Let's do it!

 

[Anonymous (2ef0)]

Definitely an issue. Girl came to my daughter's team after having been a mom-run "influencer" for awhile with a lot of followers. Mostly repping leotards and whatnot. But at 10,11,12 posing in leotards on the internet just felt so wrong. It definitely should not be allowed.

 

[Anonymous (4cc7)]

Of course its a problem. The moms say the block creeps that follow their daughters everyday. How many are just looking and not following? I will say, i see some accounts thats are tastefully ran. No spilts in leos, leo pics are waist up, mainly showing skill level.

It's the ones with little girls dancing in booty shorts and sport bras i have a problem with.

And yes, children should be able to having fun and post because its such a big thing now but parents have to protect them from the dangers of the world.

 

[JBS]

Here is the article...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/instagram-child-influencers.html

And more...

Response to: “A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men” - Child Mind Institute

The sexualization of teen and preteen girls has been a growing source of alarm. That concern has been supercharged by the fact that social media seems to amplify the pressure on girls to look —as they would put it — hot!

childmind.org

 

[Anonymous (0a93)]

Try so much as taking a photo of your own kid inside our (UK) gym and you'll be pounced on by staff in seconds. I realise a lot of these accounts feature pics from home but I'm genuinely shocked when I look at Instagram and see how many US gyms are happy to have people openly filming little girls in leotards. Seems such a basic safeguarding issue.

 

[Anonymous (c04f)]

Boy gymnast and diver accounts are also followed by a disturbing number of men who are clearly not family members or members of the gymnastics community.

It's clearly not a good idea for young people to be posting some of the poses they do.

 

[Anonymous (d462)]

Here is the article...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/instagram-child-influencers.html

And more...

Response to: “A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men” - Child Mind Institute

The sexualization of teen and preteen girls has been a growing source of alarm. That concern has been supercharged by the fact that social media seems to amplify the pressure on girls to look —as they would put it — hot!

childmind.org

Thank you!! I applaud all of the mainstream news sources bringing light to this growing problem!

 

[Anonymous (d462)]

I see moms not "blocking the creeps" but marketing to them to get their numbers up. It is so disturbing. I think leotard companies should look closer at their reps accounts... if the child is being followed by suspicious accounts or if dirty comments are left on the childs posts then a leotard company should drop that child as a rep.

 

[Anonymous (0e7e)]

Its a societal problem. When we collectively decide to not value "influencers" then we can stop this, until then, there is little to do unless we are willing to continue to give up our freedoms to a nanny-state type government. I dont like it, but there is real money, like generational changing money, to be made if one is so fortunate to hit the right mix. That's awfully hard to turn away from. Even knowing there are going to be perv gawkers out there (easy to see one reasoning that there will always be perv gawkers). Maybe we can start by not holding Livy Dunne or Sydney Smith as some role model of successful gymnasts?

 

[Anonymous (d2e5)]

So sad. But if we're going to be passing blame, then let's look at the leo companies, not just the moms. Obviously many of the leo brands are fine and in good taste but some seem (to me) to be sexualizing young girls in the way they market the leos, and that's not only gross, but just so exploitive. One thing we can do as a gymnastics community is stop supporting these brands, or perhaps call on the companies to stop doing this. If you're buying a leo from a brand that markets by putting young girls in leos at the beach or in the forest giving sultry looks into the camera -- almost as if they're inspired by the SI swimsuit issue -- and does this almost exclusively via instagram -- then perhaps ask yourself if this is something you want to be a part of.

 

[Anonymous (d462)]

So sad. But if we're going to be passing blame, then let's look at the leo companies, not just the moms. Obviously many of the leo brands are fine and in good taste but some seem (to me) to be sexualizing young girls in the way they market the leos, and that's not only gross, but just so exploitive. One thing we can do as a gymnastics community is stop supporting these brands, or perhaps call on the companies to stop doing this. If you're buying a leo from a brand that markets by putting young girls in leos at the beach or in the forest giving sultry looks into the camera -- almost as if they're inspired by the SI swimsuit issue -- and does this almost exclusively via instagram -- then perhaps ask yourself if this is something you want to be a part of.

YES!!! I have quit buying brands that market this way.
I know that GYMGEAR specifically does NOT use ambassadors and they have gotten my business by doing that.

 

[Anonymous (d462)]

Its a societal problem. When we collectively decide to not value "influencers" then we can stop this, until then, there is little to do unless we are willing to continue to give up our freedoms to a nanny-state type government. I dont like it, but there is real money, like generational changing money, to be made if one is so fortunate to hit the right mix. That's awfully hard to turn away from. Even knowing there are going to be perv gawkers out there (easy to see one reasoning that there will always be perv gawkers). Maybe we can start by not holding Livy Dunne or Sydney Smith as some role model of successful gymnasts?

I agree that it is a societal problem but I also think there should be a strictly enforced minimum age.
The entertainment industry as very specific laws set up to protect children. There are no laws yet around child influencers and their work. I am not one for a lot of government involvement but when it comes to protecting children I think we may need the governement to step in!

 

[Anonymous (7ff4)]

I have definitely commented on that here and on facebook groups before. I agree with the article. I strongly dislike all aspects of exploiting children in this way. I don't honestly understand how so many moms are okay with this. But if you question it in one of these groups and/or point out how icky it is that they are basically trying to attract likes and followers by exposing their daughter, then you are called out as being the problem for thinking like that. And then they'll often go on to say something like "You don't know how many requests from undesirables or perverts we block every day. It's so hard and so much work. I wouldn't do this if my daughter didn't love being an ambassador for xx". Yuck. Like someone said, even if they don't follow or comment, unless the profile is private (which it obviously won't be since they wouldn't help sell the product would it?) these same creeps can still see the pictures, save them and use them for whatever purposes they want and there isn't really anything you can do. Maybe I'm just old, but wouldn't it be easier and better to not put the images out there in the first place?

 

[Anonymous (490d)]

I am a millennial who spent a lot of time on social media when I was younger. This was back when the average consumer was naïve to the business model of Facebook and algorithms that drive it. Things have changed now. We all know the mechanics of social media platforms. Some people enjoy gaming the algorithm to make money. Some people chose content creation as a legitimate career or supplementary source of income.

To the poster who said “I dont like it, but there is real money, like generational changing money, to be made if one is so fortunate to hit the right mix.” This is almost a good counter argument against the majority consensus in this thread…except for three points:

1. The probability of making a significant income from being an influencer is quite low. The median wage of an influencer is $22 an hour. [1]

2. The probability of child model attracting pedophiles is hard to measure, but definitely higher than we would care to admit (as discussed in the NYT piece).

3. The accountability of social media platforms and brand agencies in protecting children from sex predators is close to zero.

This is a very high risk and low reward scenario in my opinion. Do you really want part of your $22/hr wage be funded by pedophiles? Do you really want to expose your child to even the possibility of being groomed? I can think of a lot of careers and side hustles that don’t involve soft core prostituting a child. They have the rest of their adult life to go into the sex industry if that is what they want to do when they grow up.


[1] https://www.franklin.edu/career-gui...y-markers/how-much-salary-do-influencers-make

 

[Anonymous (c04f)]

You only need to read the bit where the mom says her daughter now thinks her only path in life as an adult is to do only fans to know how damaging this is.

 

[Anonymous (5906)]

Absolutely

Its a societal problem. When we collectively decide to not value "influencers" then we can stop this, until then, there is little to do unless we are willing to continue to give up our freedoms to a nanny-state type government. I dont like it, but there is real money, like generational changing money, to be made if one is so fortunate to hit the right mix. That's awfully hard to turn away from. Even knowing there are going to be perv gawkers out there (easy to see one reasoning that there will always be perv gawkers). Maybe we can start by not holding Livy Dunne or Sydney Smith as some role model of successful gymnasts?

Livy Dunne and Sydney Smith are adults...and as parents, its our role to ensure our children understand the difference. You can look up to someone and not copy them at a young age. While there may be societal issues, there is still responsibility that lies with each parent that sets up a social media account to market their child.

 

[Anonymous (0a93)]

This is a very high risk and low reward scenario in my opinion.

I can't help but see the read across to a sport in which hundreds of thousands of families invest a vast investment of time and money but from which only a tiny, tiny fraction of a fraction ever see anything approaching a substantial reward.

 

[RTT2]

I can't help but see the read across to a sport in which hundreds of thousands of families invest a vast investment of time and money but from which only a tiny, tiny fraction of a fraction ever see anything approaching a substantial reward.

For nearly any kid in any sport the reward is not going to be financial. Parents can choose to spend the money on gymnastics or not, but exploiting their kid bc gymnastics is expensive is absurd.

 

[Anonymous (0a93)]

For nearly any kid in any sport the reward is not going to be financial. Parents can choose to spend the money on gymnastics or not, but exploiting their kid bc gymnastics is expensive is absurd.

I wasn't justifying it, quite the opposite. Just noting that risk/reward imbalances are common in both the sport and the associated online silliness.

 

[JBS]

This was back when the average consumer was naïve to the business model of Facebook and algorithms that drive it.

Love your post... however... the average person just does not understand how Facebook works. The average are still very naive to algorithms and how they work.

Anyone that doesn't understand or hasn't read in depth about it... just Google "Facebook Algorithm" and start reading various articles and content. Here is a little bit for you...

2024 Facebook Algorithm: Tip + Secrets Revealed

Find out how the Facebook algorithm ranks content in 2024 and learn what it takes to get your posts seen on the platform.

blog.hootsuite.com

No algorithms here on ChalkBucket. The discussions are not hidden or shown based on how much money that particular conversation will make for ChalkBucket. The discussions are bumped to the top when people talk about them... simple. If something is removed or hidden... it's because a human did it... and it was thought about first.