Carnival controversy over seven-year-old girl chosen as samba queen

Americans have not cornered the market on awful parenting.

Do you just love Toddlers & Tiaras? Can’t get enough of garbage people pushing their children onto shoddy stages, dressed like whores and instructed to dance accordingly? Then you can’t miss this year’s Carnival parade in Rio, where seven-year-old Julia Lira is set to perform as her samba school’s drum corps queen. Surely you’re familiar with Carnival: the costumes, the dancing, the tits.

From the Daily Mail (emphasis mine):

A row has broken out in Brazil over plans to make a seven-year-old girl the ‘queen’ of a samba school in this year’s Rio de Janeiro carnival.

The role of ‘drum corps queen’ is normally given to a barely-clad model or soap opera star.

The decision to appoint Julia Lira to the coveted role has caused such controversy that a judge is considering blocking her participation.

A state agency that defends children’s rights has also said she’s too young to take on the role.

But the child’s father, who happens to be the president of the Viradouro group, says Julia is a natural who can easily samba through the 80-minute parade route in Rio’s sweltering summer heat.

‘Any man who looks at a seven-year-old child and feels any sort of excitement should go see a doctor,’ Marco Lira said before rehearsal this week…

Brazil has long had a problem with sexual exploitation of children, especially in the lawless Amazon region. Allowing Julia to be a drum corps queen ‘would increase the treatment of children as sexual objects in Brazilian society,’ said Carlos Nicodemos, director of the Rio de Janeiro state Council for the Defense of Children and Adolescents.

‘We’re not against kids participating in Carnival; it’s part of Brazilian culture,” Nicodemos said. ‘What we can’t allow is putting a seven-year-old girl in a role that traditionally for carnival has a very sexual focus.’

I haven’t experienced Carnival in Rio, but I’ve been to Trinidad for the insanely fun — and highly sexualized — multiday bacchnalia. It’s run differently there, but the core idea is the same: Thousands of people don costumes, dance in the street, drink all day and fuck all night. (My goodie bag included a Red Bull and a condom.)

According to the Daily Mail, judge Ivone Ferreira Caetano has taken an interest in the case and is considering what, if any, action should be taken to protect the girl. According to the father, judge Caetano has asked for more information about Julia’s function and costume — and what time she would be dancing. At present, her team is scheduled for midnight on February 14.

By the way, this particular samba school is no stranger to controversy. A few years ago, they attempted to stage a performance with a dancer dressed like Hitler — on a float decorated with naked mannequins and dolls representing dead Jews. Then, as now, a judge intervened.

Row over girl’s Rio carnival role as samba queen | Mail Online.