Bad Parenting at Star Wars Celebration (and almost any other place that has cosplay…)

Today at Star Wars Celebration I saw something that made me cringe.  My stomach actually turned at the sight.

A guy was standing in front of the Anaheim Convention Center with his daughter, who was posing for pictures.  Her cosplay was amazing.  Not only did her costume look great, but she really did look like a mini version of Princess Leia.  Yep, she was dressed up as Slave Leia in a skimpy chain metal bikini.

And she was 9.

Now, even if we lived in a pure world without violence toward children, I’d still cringe.  No one needs to see that much of your 9 year old daughter. 

Unfortunately, the world we live in is not as pure-hearted as we would like, and giving people an opportunity to photograph a 9 year old in a Slave Leia costume is just a bad idea.  It’s not that the people taking pictures are necessarily bad, rather those pictures invariably end up online for everyone to see, and they will end up in the wrong hands.  Another way to think of it is that you wouldn’t allow a stranger to photograph your daughter in her bathing suit at the beach, so why do it at a convention?

I’m not old enough to be a true curmudgeon, and I’m not a parent.  However, I just don’t see how this ends up well. 

Just my two cents…