Julia Lira is a beautiful girl and beautiful girls have always served as drum corps queens in Rio de Janeiro's annual Carnival. The problem is that Julia Lira is 7.
According to an article in the U.K.'s Daily Mail, the girl's father, Marco Lira, chose Julia to lead the Viradouro group for the length of the 80-minute parade feeling that she would be a natural. But not everyone shares the elder Lira's enthusiasm: child advocates are saying that the role, known in Brazil as the rainha da bateria and which normally goes to scantily-clad adult women, is a highly sexualized, one and at the very least, inappropriate if not exploitative.
Brazil has long been plagued with sexual exploitation of minors, and to allow Julia to hold the role of samba queen would "increase the treatment of children as sexual objects in Brazilian society," according to a quote in the Daily Mail article attributed to Carlos Nicodemos, director of the Rio de Janeiro State Council for the Defense of Children and Adolescents.
The Viradouro group, according to the article, has found itself in hot water in the past over Carnival-related controversy: in 2008, one float featured a dancer dressed as Hitler and fake naked bodies meant to represent Holocaust victims. A judge banned the float and the group marched with an anti-censorship-themed float instead.
A judge, while agreeing that children traditionally participate in Carnival, will decide whether it is appropriate for young Julia to march as samba queen.
A YouTube video discussing the controversy has itself generated some 200 comments, and numerous news organizations and bloggers have also weighed in on the issue.
A YouTube video discussing the controversy has itself generated some 200 comments, and numerous news organizations and bloggers have also weighed in on the issue.
