During a time when Blue Ivy Carter should be celebrating her big premiere for “Mufasa: The Lion King,” she’s unfortunately having to deal with online detractors who’ve taken issue with how she decided to show up for the momentous occasion. And it’s time we talk about it.
As evidenced by countless tweets and comments, a handful of folks feel like the 12-year-old’s dress and makeup were completely inappropriate—despite the fact that she was showing up to a major Hollywood event and is one of the most famous preteens in the world. Take for instance one X/Twitter user who posted a side-by-side photo of herself at that age in a school, retail photobooth-like picture and Blue Ivy at the premiere.
“Me at 12 vs Blue Ivy at 12 Are you picking up what I’m putting down?” she wrote before following it up with another tweet showing more “age appropriate” dresses.
“Honestly the way blue Ivy a 12 year old is over sexualized by her parents needs to be studied because she still a child and they’re dressing her like she’s 17-18 year old,” wrote another user.
“This is insane for obvious reasons but i also think we need to acknowledge that blue ivy is 12 and putting her in a dress like that is fucking weird sorry,” said another.
First things first, let’s all be transparent here: there’s a HUGE difference between dressing up for a Sears or JCPenney’s-esque photoshoot and dressing up for a major movie event. There’s an expectation to dress up for one whereas the dress code for the other is more inherently more relaxed. These are two incomparable situations.
Secondly, how 12-year-olds dress and make up now are miles away from how they used to back in the day. As my colleague Senior Writer Angela Johnson can attest, the preteens of today are some of the main consumers in places like Sephora and Ulta, consistently buying the latest products and tools. And thanks to social media, the pressure to present yourself in a certain way and be up on the best of the best makeup and fashion goods is a big part of girlhood in a way that it didn’t used to be years ago. So when you add that along with the fact that Blue Ivy is a pretty tall celebrity pre-teen with way more access to all of that and more: wearing a sweetheart neckline ball gown, a little bit of colored lipgloss and some false lashes for a Hollywood event shouldn’t be that far-fetched.
What’s more is that the unfair scrutiny being lobbed against Blue Ivy has been going on before she even took her first breath. Once the news broke that her mother Beyonce was pregnant with her, she faced concerns from “fans” who questioned if she would come out looking like her mother or her father Jay-Z. Fast forward to her toddler years, comments about Blue Ivy’s hair started to take over with many making derogatory remarks about how unkempt it appeared. Jump to 2023, many had negative words for her when it was revealed she was performing alongside her mother during the “Renaissance World Tour” with reactions ranging from claims of nepotism to her not being as good of a performer as her famous mother.
It’s very obvious that Blue Ivy isn’t your average preteen due to the fact that she’s in the public eye way more than other kids her age, but that doesn’t mean she should be subjected to online discourse that’s aimed only at tearing down her self-esteem. We already know that young Black girls don’t get the luxury of being viewed as being young thanks to the history of oversexualization and adultification that tends to happen. But because we know that, shouldn’t we be more cognizant and deliberate about making sure other Black girls don’t have to go through that—no matter how famous they may be?
This is a tired experience that too many Black women (including this author) have had to deal with and it’s beyond time we call out the perpetrators on their misogynistic BS. Blue Ivy and all other Black girls like her deserve better.