A five-year-old girl has become an overnight internet sensation for sharing video make-up tutorials online.
The Daily Mail reports:
Danna Gomez wields a mascara wand like a pro and knows the exact method for creating the illusion of high cheekbones - but this hot new YouTube star is only five years old.
And the precocious make-up expert, from Colombia, is at the centre of a debate that such a young child should be offering beauty advice in online make-up tutorials.
Now I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I'm not sure I see what all the fuss is about.
I would have LOVED this sort of thing when I was little - I was *that* girl who clattered around the house in my mum's high heels and decimated her very expensive Chanel lipstick by grinding it all over my chops. (Sorry, Mum.)
And while I'm usually the first to decry anything that sexualises children, I'm inclined to think that the over-reaction to this is bigger news than the story itself.
Perhaps there's some wisdom in the argument that encouraging a love of make-up in a little girl is not the same thing as encouraging her to 'flaunt' that on the internet for all to see, but we live in a different age to the one we all grew up in.
Is the problem here that she's too young to become an internet celebrity? Should there be an age limit for posting such things online?
On the other hand, I wouldn't post videos like this of my daughter online. But I wouldn't have a problem with her indulging in a love of make-up at a young age. For me, it's harmless fun, but the danger lies in it opening that up to public scrutiny and intrigue.
The little girl's aunt, who filmed the tutorials and shared them online with the permission of the girl's mother, said:
'Danna loves showing off and enjoys being on the camera, and as long as she's having fun and doing it on her own initiative then what is wrong with it?
'Children have always played adult games like pretending to be doctors and nurses, or mummies and daddies, or even fireman or cowboys.
'So what is wrong with imitating an adult in playing around with make-up?'
What's your answer to that?
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