DA:NCE (sexualization of children in dance)

Friends, do you have 20 minutes? It’s time for a showing of our new DA:NCE resource. Grab some pop-corn and educate yourself as you watch ‘Healthy or Harmful Children’s Dance: What Do the Experts say about Hypersexualization?’ It’s been quite a journey to produce an original resource for DA:NCE. Our staff has been working full-time since July to create this video. Special thanks go to Neal Thibedeau who filmed experts at the 2019 CESE(Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation) conference last June and who worked tirelessly with me to edit this project. An interesting sidebar to the process involves the child you see dancing in white.  Although we had many experts talking about the differences between healthy and harmful dance, we [...]

“Over the past decade, the sexualisation of children has become a fiercely debated topic around the globe, with national inquiries recently conducted in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. We’ve also seen some spectacular retail fails. In 2006, UK chain store Tesco advertised a pole dancing kit in its toys and games section, labelled as suitable for children aged eleven years and up. In 2009, British bookstore WH Smith stocked a selection of Playboy-branded stationery products, marketed to school-age girls. And in 2011, US clothing label Abercrombie & Fitch released a range of push-up bikinis in their children’s line, said to be appropriate for girls as young as eight years old. Each of these products was eventually recalled [...]

It’s November 2019. Thanksgiving is a wonderful month that allows me to take time to reflect over many blessings for DA:NCE! I am so thankful! We have captured national experts on film with solid information as to why hypersexualized children’s dance is harmful. On the other hand, we have also captured expert thoughts on healthy, educational  dance which they recommend. And now it’s time. Take a sneak peek at the opening of our new resource: ‘Healthy or Harmful Dance: What do the Experts Say?’ “Why are we doing this to children? What is it in our culture that wants to sexualize children not only in dance but in advertising and clothing........” Kristen Jenson, Founder, Protect Young Minds “I’ve just kept [...]

In the yet unreleased opening of ‘Harmful or Healthy Children's Dance: What do the Experts say about hypersexualization?’ Kristen Jenson shares her heart with a profound question: ‘Why are we doing this to children?'She is the founder of Protect Young Minds™ and best-selling author of Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids as well as Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.: A Simple Plan to Protect Young Minds. Kristen serves on the Prevention Task Force of the National Coalition on Sexual Exploitation. She received her bachelor’s degree in English Literature and her master’s degree in Organizational Communication. Kristen grew up in both Wyoming and Massachusetts, is the mother of three awesome children, and currently lives with her husband in beautiful [...]

We are continuing to film our new resource. In June we interviewed many national experts about hypersexualization in children’s dance. Let me name just a few: Dr. John Foubert, Dr. Donna Hughes, Dr. Walter DeKeseredy, Dr. Sandra Morgan, Dr. Celina Pina Shemo, Dr. Laura Clark, Dr. Don Hilton, Dr. Brook Parker-Bello, and many more. Now we plan to include the most important person in our new DA:NCE resource: the child who deserves our support, our love and our protection. In the film we are producing, one child will serve as the symbol for innocence: a child who needs to be protected from adult costumes, choreography and music. She is a little girl who loves to dance. She’s real. What a [...]

I’ve had a wonderful summer that has raced by. In June, I flew to Washington DC to attend the National NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation) Conference and got a great response from leaders to film their observations about hypersexualization in children’s dance. In July, I taped 10 radio spots for national release through Westar Media, wrote an article about hypersexualized dance in our local paper and completed the necessary resources for the fall DA:NCE Newsletter.  When the newsletter comes out in September 2019, expect some wonderful articles from dance educators (Dr. Judith Hanna and Dance Professor Lisa Long of Cal State Fullerton), as well as another recommendation for a healthy dance studio that allows children to develop with age-appropriate [...]

  The 5th annual End Exploitation Global Summit was held in Washington DC from June 12-15, 2019. The gathering attracted over 625 experts from all over the world to speak on the issue of sexual exploitation and its inter-relationship to sex trafficking, pornography, prostitution, child sexual abuse, violence against women, sexual assault & violence, sexualization of children, sexual addiction & compulsivity, violence against women, child pornography, and male and female objectification. Although I spoke briefly at the conference, I flew there with film-maker Neal Thibedeau with a clear focus: to film remarks about healthy versus harmful dance from experts in the field. While there, we captured comments from expert leaders and researchers about their observations and personal experiences articulating the [...]

Listen to Mary’s interview on The Eric Metaxas Show at the NRB Conference. The topic was on the hypersexualization of children in dance with adult costumes, choreography, and music.   Your browser does not support the audio element. * Trouble loading the audio? Click Here to download .MP3 Eric Metaxas is the author of the New York Times #1 Bestseller, Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.  Named  “Book of the Year” by the ECPA, Bonhoefferalso won the 2011 John C. Pollock Award for Biography awarded by Beeson Divinity School and a 2011 Christopher Award in the Non-fiction category.  Called a “biography of uncommon power,” Bonhoeffer appeared on numerous 2010 “Best of the Year” lists and was featured in the Wall Street Journal,Publishers Weekly, The New Republic, Harper’s, Kirkus (starred [...]

Can I encourage you to join the conversation about DA:NCE? We continue to work hard to educate the public about the damaging effects of hypersexualized children’s dance. I am so appreciative of your support of our work and the energy you bring to this important issue. I wanted to let you know we recently released a new video called ‘Coffee and Conversation’ that you may find motivating to share. It is a short and sweet 45-second teaser inviting adults to join the conversation around the hypersexualization of children in dance. We need to get this message in front of as many people as possible in order to educate and raise awareness around this issue. Can you help us share it? [...]