It's the beginning of Buddhist Lent and temples across Thailand are hosting fairs with similar spectacles. The dancers, however, may not be what you'd expect; they are five to seven years old, dressed to look at least a decade older.

In light of the recent arrest in the Jonbenet Ramsey case in Bangkok, the issue of paedophilia has come to the fore once again. Editorials are seething with condemnation at the portrayal of Thailand as a haven for paedophiles.

However, these pieces ignore the opportunity the arrest in the Ramsey case affords to discuss issues around the sexualisation of children in this country. Whether or not the sexualisation of children might be linked to this image of Thailand as a "paedophile's paradise" is worth examining. At the very least, we should be prompted to question whether displays of children in full makeup and hair, gesturing in sexy adult poses are simply fun games of dress-up, or if there is a subtler message here.

When the Jonbenet case broke in the US 10 years ago, most people were shocked by the subculture of pint-sized beauty queens that the case revealed. Children painted and dressed in high-society fashions were new to most and there was a general furore at the stolen childhood these pageants represented.

In Thailand, child beauty pageants are not as prevalent as adult ones, but the general tarting up of children for concerts, fairs, and various contests is an everyday affair.

The question is at what cost to the children?

Playing dress-up is part of being a kid, but when adults step in, apply the makeup, the clothes and instructions on composure, posture, and gesture the game becomes something else. A new version of the child as both she and others perceive her emerges. She is no longer a kid having fun but a sophisticated lady. Where did the child go and can she return to childhood?

Are parents deliberately sexualising their children? Of course not, says Carina Chotirawee, professor of gender in Thai Society at Chulalongkorn University.

"Grown-ups seem to enjoy seeing their kids acting like adults. They don't see anything wrong with it," says Chotirawee. "What they don't realise is that it's not just the clothes, not a costume you just put on and then take off, once you put it on you're inculcating certain values, mannerisms and expectations including the jealousies and rivalries that come with it."

Cultural events, such as the opening temple fair sequence, provide fertile ground for such performances, which blur the line between the adult and child worlds. "I often see it in shopping malls. Events parade the kids while moms apply makeup to their upturned faces," says Chotirawee. The demarcation between adult and child has been breached by popular culture and it is this blending of once separate and distinct spheres that has lead to the sexualisation of children in Thai culture according to the professor.

"In the past there was not the same emphasis on glamorising children. We took part in cultural events but it was pretty innocuous." The shift began about 20 to 25 years ago when people started to identify more with what they saw on television and then tried to replicate it in their children.

In many instances the presence of "little women" is seen not only as harmless but as a propagation of Thai culture itself - teaching girls the finer points of Thai dance, feminine mystique and behaviour. While this may indeed be an expression of Thai culture, it's just one version. Culture is continuously evolving, and these days Thai culture is so adulterated, you can't say what is truly Thai, admits Chotirawee.

"Where's the harm?" might be the cry issuing from the mouths of lipstick touting mothers. The kids enjoy dressing up and having fun. The consequences, warns Professor Chotirawee, may be long-term and negative. "Kids aren't allowed to be kids. They emphasise and promote a sexual image at an early age, reinforcing gender stereotypes and confining children's expectations for themselves and what they can do to make it in the world."

Children begin to think of themselves in the manner in which they are valued, in other words, in terms of surface beauty. Their lives become an act, a mask of grown-up affectation that they are unable to remove after the performance ends.

Thailand has long been fighting its image problem on prostitution and child trafficking. Touted as the "Brothel of Asia" both government and private citizens have resisted and taken counter measures to remove the stigma.

While the statistics related to child prostitution and trafficking are down, the image of Thailand as a proving ground for paedophiles continue to persist, as made abundantly clear with the arrest of John Mark Karr and the slanted reporting that followed.

Even though the between sexualisation of children does not equate with their exploitation, it is already worrying enough that most Thais are oblivious of harmful consequences of such displays on children's development and self-esteem.

To be fair, sexualisation is not unique to Thailand. The sexualisation of children in Thailand or in any other culture in the world is a problem that needs to be addressed. If any lessons can be learned from the murder of Jonbenet Ramsey, let it be that that kids are kids not miniature adults.

Canadian national Lois Ann Haley-Dort is a mother of one and has been a resident of Thailand since 1998. She holds a master's degree in Thai Studies from Chulalongkorn University.

Lois Ann Haley-Dort Special to The Nation