The Hitching Post

Do you enjoy watching reality TV? I myself have been guilty of binging popular shows like Dance Moms, Teen Mom:Young and Pregnant, Toddlers & Tiaras, and more. But, what are the true realities behind these popular shows?

Many popular reality TV shows are guilty of exploiting many of the children that are featured in them. One of the biggest and well known being Dance Moms. The show was built on the  exploitation of child dancers; who are often scolded harshly  to the point of tears. 

Fairly often the dance teacher, Abby Lee Miller, would gather the children and present a pyramid she had made, ranking them from worst to best of the dancers. This is wrong for so many reasons., By doing this the girls are forced to compare themselves to each other. The dancers are also often chased around with cameras when they are crying after being shamed by Abby. This  was horrible for the girls' mental health and showed them that they couldn’t process their emotions properly.

Children need a safe place to be able to express their emotions. So when they are constantly followed by cameras every time they shed a tear, they start to feel trapped and like they don't  have their own space to freely express themselves. This is especially harmful because most of these children are so young and cannot handle the weight of being torn down on reality television, purely for the enjoyment of others. This also causes trauma that they have to work through later in their lives. 

Every child reality TV star is opened up to the internet, where they are watched by millions of fans, creeps, and haters, putting these children in danger of potential stalkers. 

The effect of being a star at such a young age is something that follows them through the rest of their lives. Children should not have to worry about what the public has to critique on them.

“Children can’t give informed consent by definition, only the parents can do that- and reality shows generally don’t cast adults who have the highest level of mental health. They are severe narcissists who are obsessed with celebrity.” says American specialist, Drew Pinsky. 

Children deserve to be children. Being on reality TV at such a young age rips away their childhood. Reality TV is a very toxic industry that needs to be changed so that their stars aren’t harmed and damaging behaviors aren’t normalized.

Are Reality Shows Exploiting People?

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jul/12/reality-tv-participants-hasselbeck-ziegler

https://www.thewrap.com/consequences-children-reality-tv-4288/

https://www.psychologs.com/article/reality-shows-psychological-impact-on-participant-children