In her weekly iVillage blog post, the 33-year-old actress and mother of a three-year-old daughter slams the popular show for sending inappropriate messages to young girls.
"I watched with open-mouthed amazement as girls as young as seven were encouraged to dress provocatively and shimmy around a stage doing a dance performance that could just as easily been a burlesque routine," she writes.
Wonder if she's seen Toddlers & Tiaras.
Katherine Heigl
"I kept thinking all these girls were missing is a pole! I was also horrified by the way their instructor spoke to them when she felt they weren't up to snuff," Heigl writes.
"It was demeaning, belittling, and downright unkind."
"There is no reason to break anyone down in order to prepare them for inevitable disappointment or unkindness. There is no reason to diminish anyone's self-esteem in order to get them to try harder next time. Especially not a child's."
The One For the Money star is bothered by "the amount of value we place on a woman's looks, body and ability to drop it like it's hot on the dance floor."
"It's one thing to walk into a club and see 20-somethings embracing their sexuality and having fun, but it's another thing altogether watching 7-year-olds."
"Shaking their booties, bellies and nonexistent boobies on a stage in a room full of adults and be handed a trophy for it? What in the world are we telling them? That sexy is the prize and is the talent they have?"
Heigl doesn't place the blame on the children, however.
"The young girls on Dance Moms are wonderfully talented, spirited ladies who should be encouraged to perform," the Grey's Anatomy alumna explains.
"I just wish they were being inspired, instructed and supported for their gifts as I was when I found my creative path."
What do you think? Is Katherine on point?
