The high frequency of kids masquerading, or seeing their partners act, as celebrities of the opposite sex in the first Vietnamese season of “Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids” as well as several other entertainment programs has created unease among many parents, viewers, and educators.

The season is an adaptation of the Portuguese reality TV show for children.

It requires contestants to disguise themselves as celebrated singers regarding their appearance and voice and airs on national television channel VTV3 at 9:00 pm every Friday, starting October 3.

Six kid contestants, aged from nine to 15, team up with six adult contenders from the first and second series of “Your Face Sounds Familiar” to perform in duos, masquerading as iconic musical performers of different eras.

The six adult contenders, who mentor their young partners from all along, include Kyo York – an American who speaks impeccable Vietnamese and has worked in Vietnam as an English teacher, singer, and actor for the past few years – and local actors and singers.

The show’s organizer made it clear right from the beginning that boys are not allowed to dress up as female stars to avoid controversy and a public backlash, though young girls can impersonate male celebrities.

According to a number of TV viewers, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper readers, and Quynh Nguyen – a Tuoi Tre reporter who has covered the show – the program has a few strengths, including thorough preparation, the use of striking visual and audio effects, and the staging of several emotional acts on familial bonds.

However, many are of the opinion that the show’s minuses outweigh its pluses. Apart from its inappropriate airing time of 9:00 pm, which is quite late for most kids, the show’s most worrying shortcomings are the high frequency of opposite-sex impersonation and undue mimicking.

Psychologists and parents have expressed concerns that excessive imitation can be a major impediment to kids’ creativity, and opposite-sex impersonation which involves the kid contestants themselves or their adult partners can leave a lasting adverse impact on the children’s growing awareness of their own gender orientation.

Is it fun?

Local TV viewers and the Tuoi Tre reporter have observed that almost all of the 10 aired episodes feature at least one opposite-sex impersonation stunt.

Seasoned singer Minh Thuan, who skillfully mimicked female celebs in the second season of the show’s adult version, kept masquerading as a girl character in Doraemon – a hit Japanese comic – as well as local and international female artists.

Chi Thien, a young male pop singer, also kept up his opposite-sex impersonation from the adult version.

In this show, he turned himself into American legend Marilyn Monroe, South Korean beauty Lee Hyori, and expat Vietnamese singer Y Lan.

Kyo York, who also dressed up as pop singer Ho Ngoc Ha and other female stars in the adult version, went on to astonish viewers in this show with his “reincarnation” as a Hanoi girl, a member of China Dolls – a female duo from Thailand – much-loved American singer Katy Perry, and veteran Vietnamese singer Anh Tuyet.

The program’s female adult contestants also disguised themselves as rock ‘n’ roll king Elvis Presley and members of international boy bands Backstreet Boys and One Direction.

Young girls also did not hesitate to dress up as male celebs, such as Vietnamese rocker Pham Anh Khoa; Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor Paul Anka; and a member of Big Bang – a hugely popular Korean boyband.

While the contenders disguise themselves as opposite-sex stars as they are required by the roles they assume, several guest performers chose to impersonate opposite-sex icons mostly to entertain viewers.

Opposite-gender impersonation is also rife in other TV singing and comedy shows such as the local versions of the British singing contest “Just the Two of Us” and Australian comedy series “Thank God You're Here.”

A Tuoi Tre reader nicknamed Hoa Buoi said she usually bans her child from watching children’s plays produced by Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV), as the plays usually feature male artists playing fairies or female characters.

Public backlash, expert opinion 

Though the program has drawn quite a large number of viewers, many have expressed concerns.

Nguyen Huu Chien Thang, editor of national television channel VTV6, said his eight-year-old son once watched an episode of “Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids” for a while and then switched to another channel.

The little boy then asked Thang why the kid contestants in the show kept mimicking adults.          

Thang noted excessive mimicking and opposite-sex impersonation can be detrimental to children’s psychology and considerably undermine their creative power, as they are misled into believing good imitators can easily win applause and compliments.    

Several other Tuoi Tre readers and him agreed the exaggerated girlish gestures of the imitators are quite unpleasant to look at, and can also offend members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Readers and psychologists also voiced their concerns that the organizers do not allow boys to dress up as female stars but young girls are not banned from doing the other way round.

Young girls’ sexual orientation can also be as vulnerable from playing male stars as that of boys acting as females, psychologists warned.

They noted that the boys, though not allowed to act as females in the series, can also pick up undesired habits later on in their life or be psychologically vulnerable just by constant exposure to the inappropriate images of their adult teammates-mentors as members of the opposite sex.

According to Associate Professor Huynh Van Son, vice chair of the Vietnam Association of Social Psychology, kids can notice their gender behavior as early as two years old.

Their gender behavior begins to take shape from years three to six and develop more distinctly when they enter elementary school.

“For young children, allowing or exposing them to behaviors or acts which go against their natural sexual orientation can be detrimental to their gender shaping process in the long run. Elementary students are more aware of their gender orientation, but they too can easily be influenced by the opposite-sex tendencies,” Son stressed.

To Nhi A, a psychology lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City National College for Education, pointed out that families and schools also need to shield children from behavior which can do harm to their gender orientation later on.

Bich Tram, a Ho Chi Minh City housewife, said the producer of “Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids” should be held accountable for the rampant opposite-sex impersonation.

Many readers agreed the ploy has long been abused to boost ratings and has lost its initial, short-lived appeal, just as reality shows have recently lost their luster due to repetition and scandals.

The rampant opposite-sex impersonation is also indicative of the producers’ lack of inventiveness, they added.

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