Mommas Who Let Their Daughters Grow Up To Be Bait

It’s All About the Benjamins and the Bills

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My friend John Butler was spot on a few weeks ago, only I didn’t know better. I wrote a post about the FDIC, the agency charged with overseeing banks, yet has a toxic culture for young women that would make most people blush from anger.

John perceptively wrote, “I hate to be the contrarian, but is there anything new under the sun?” I pushed back a little, feeling good about myself. Yet, the FDIC Chairman continues to draw a paycheck, sweetening his retirement. Oh, and I wrote my senators and got squat.

Chagrin City—there isn’t much new under the sun, after all.

It still rankles. Because it’s there and because it gets worse. The Wall Street Journal reported a story that shines lights on who really watches all those Instagram videos of preteen girls dancing. If you’re like me, you probably didn’t even know they were out there; you probably thought the feeds were cat videos, or crazy golf ball-bouncing-on-golf club videos or other silly stuff. Preteen girls dancing? It’s an industry.

Many girls and their mothers start posting as a hobby, but the entrepreneurial spirit takes hold and they evolve to spend hours every week to create content for viewers. Some girls dream of making a living as influencers.

How to rise to that level? The rules are the same for adults and preteens. The more viewers, and the more engagement by the viewers, the more the algorithm rewards the post, offering it up to additional viewers as suggested content. Which leads to growth.

The more viewers, the more sponsorships, deals, and paid subscriptions. In other words, more money. And closer to the dream of making a living as an influencer.

Yet, the reality is there are only so many “model scouts, agents and brand owners.” The number of male viewers far exceeds the agents, etc. Comments such as “You’re gorgeous,” as well as clearly inappropriate fare leave no doubt what perversions these male viewers are interested in. As for the algorithms, it makes no difference if the commenter is a kid or an adult male.

Creeped out yet? It gets worse.

The parents know who the audience is. The parents who are working side by side with their kids to produce videos know that the eyeballs that bring in the money are adult guys and what they want. They know it from the comments and the data. That’s the market! And they’re feeding it!

It’s easy to blame Meta/Instagram and the other platforms and their algorithms. That’s like blaming Bourbon Street in New Orleans for every social ill in the city. I grew up there, would on occasion venture down to Bourbon Street and its seedy bars, its dancers, some of whom were women, some dressed as women. Of course, we never told our parents. Those dancers were entrepreneurial too. It didn’t take long for us to realize the posters on the outside of the bars portrayed a better representation than the actual dancers.

You know what? We never saw kids dancing on Bourbon Street.

Here’s the cynical view: some of those girls will grow up and write their memoirs about how their mothers pimped them out for online viewing and how it adversely affected their lives. They’ll want to expand their audience to a more respectable segment of the population.

Here’s another: Imagine seedy Bourbon Street having higher standards than some parents. If you know any such parents, call them out, because this sounds despicably new under the sun.

The kids deserve better.

All the Best,

Geoff

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