8-year-old YouTube sensation raises questions about appropriate lyrics
Posted: 10.19.2011 at 5:05 PM
Dr. Kristen Bohan, watching YouTube Sensation Sophia Grace Brownlee
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In the background of the Learning Tree in Surfside Beach, you can hear the nursery rhymes many of us sang as kids.

"We sing songs like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" right now because it's close to Halloween," said Antonia Lozano.

She teaches three to five-year-olds the basics. "I try to make the kids act like kids, because at that age that's what they're supposed to do."

"Adults don't think like children, and children don't think like adults, and music should be appropriate for them," said Lozano.

More than 14 million people have watched 8-year-old Sophia Grace Brownlee on the video website YouTube.

The popular song's lyrics contain references to selling cocaine, taking off underwear, slapping women and descriptions of sexual activity.

"We're so eager to take girls from potty training to training bras. Where did childhood go?" said Clinical Psychologist Dr. Kristen Bohan.

Bohan runs the MyTERMS Camp which helps girls understand and deal with pop culture. She's one of the 14 million who have watched Sophia's video so far.

"It's a very tricky issue, because on the one hand, I can understand why people thinks it's cute. Here you have this very talented-adorable-cute girl with a ton of spunk. She's courageous. She's talented. She's everything we want little girls to be, and yet at the same time, she's talking about very adult content, and really, content that isn't healthy for adult women."

The video's page on YouTube includes comments of "That's sooo cute", "She sings amazing", and "She's so awesome."

But the page also includes critics with comments of "She has an amazing voice, but she shouldn't sing 'when he give me that look,then the panties coming off' part."

"When children are listening to popular music, parents should ask themselves of what exactly their kids are learning," said Bohan.

"So much of the reason that we don't have a negative response to this is that we've been desensitized," said Bohan. "We see this all the time. We see girls younger and younger being portrayed as older women and being portrayed in sexy ways. Not only does it not shock us anymore, we tend to think it's sort of cute. Part of the reason is there is this sort of feeling that we have that girls are becoming more empowered."

But girl empowerment is not obtained through sexuality, said Bohan. "If that were part of what I was trying to teach my daughter, say who the "F" I am, and there's no cute music, and there's no cute costume. I'm just teaching my 6-year-old these things. I think people would think this is horrible. What's wrong with this woman? Someone lock this woman up."

While society may have become more accepting of popular music with adult content, the campus of the Learning Tree is sticking to nursery rhymes.

"Do you really want your child talking like that?" said Lozano. "I don't feel it's beneficial to the child. They're not learning anything. It's not going to benefit them when their older either. How can you think it's cute when it's not appropriate?"

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