The American media has invented its next villain, and in short, it’s us:
This weekend, the Associated Press launched a story similar to “MySpace and Facebook will sell your children into sex slavery” (remember that one?) claiming young fashion bloggers were at risk for pedophilia, kidnapping, sexual abuse, and also ruining their chances of getting into an Ivy League college – seriously. Our favorite line in the whole story is, “You are what you post online… Is it how you want to be remembered when your tuition scholarship person’s going to review you for Dartmouth?”
That’s actually in the article, and unfortunately not an article appearing in The Onion.
As for the sex abuse and pedophilia of aspiring fashion bloggers, it seems unlikely that a young girl astute enough to self-publish her thoughts about the fashion industry (like Tavi, at left) would also be daft enough to follow some grown guy into a minivan because he promises her a puppy or a new pair of Marc heels.
But we won’t lie – if you’re shipping your 14-year-old kid off to the New Faces board at an agency, she’ll probably be photographed nude, offered drugs, propositioned, and ruined as far as most major churches are concerned.
Though she would have a decent shot to make the tuition money it takes to go to Dartmouth – although if she blogs about her experiences on the runway, she’ll never get in anyway.