Unless you’re an avid fan of MTV’s hit US reality series Teen Mom, you’ve probably never heard of 25-year-old Farrah Abraham and her 7-year-old daughter, Sophia.

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But you’ll know her name now - as the controversial reality star (see: her expletive-filled appearance on Celeb Big Brother) recently ruffled some feathers with a pic posted to her Instagram account.

Farrah, who has said that Sophia wants to be a model when she’s older, shared a ‘modelling’ image of her daughter to the photo-sharing app.

In the professional snap, Sophia’s seen wearing a pink tankini top and what appears to be make up.

Farrah captioned the pic: “@rlsmodelsphotography great work with @sophialabraham ? can't wait for more of Sophia's model photos to be out! #mylittlestar #proudmom”

The image quickly caused controversy, receiving well over 1000 comments – and there was a huge divide between commenters who thought the image was ‘adorable’ and others who thought it was ‘overly-sexualised’.

Those who didn't like the pic said...

“Pedophiles everywhere are probably so happy. If u wanna have pictures of ur kid like this then fine but don't post them for the world to see especially when you're a pornstar and thousands of creeps already follow you!! Common sense. Worst mom ever,” one Instagram user fumed.

“Poor Sophia I feel so sorry for her having to be your daughter unfortunately. This picture is so wrong....just let her be a little girl....why make her grow up so fast?? Ugh,” added another.

One naysayer even accused Farrah of only trying to make money from the image: “How stupid are you to do this to your underage daughter? Do you know how many friggin pervs there are out there? As long are you make money off her I'm sure you don't care though.”

    Fans defending the photo said...

    Some, however, were quick to point out that lots of little girls like to experiment with make-up and wear similar swimming costumes.

    “Lol y'all are flipping out for no reason,” one commenter began.

    “I have a 6 and 5 year old nieces who both love when I put makeup on them who ALSO wear bathing suites.

    “There's honestly nothing wrong with these pictures. What about the little girls who do pageants and wear three cans of hairspray and 5lbs of makeup and parade around a stage just to be judged?

    “This was all for fun, there's no harm here. You guys need to chill. It's not that serious, or even scandalous.”

    One of Farrah’s fan summed up the theme of all the comments in her defence quite succinctly:

    “These comments are disgusting. This is a typical child model pic. Uhh hello. What do you think are in magazines and billboards. She looks beautiful.

    "There is nothin sexual about this pic. And if you think so you need help. I don't see any of you going on Gap and making rants about their magazine spreads. It's just because it's Farrah. Get a life. Get God. And get a hobby. Stop criticizing a child.”

    What we think...

    Navigating issues like how much make-up your child can experiment with, and when, can be tricky. We recently saw that Gwyneth Paltrow admitted it was something she struggles with.

    We say it's up to the parents to decide what they're comfortable with their little one wearing, even on special occasions like a modelling shoot.

    But seeing some commenters trolling little (and completely innocent) Sophia over her appearance is totally uncalled for and unacceptable.

    Have your say

    What do YOU think of this controversy?

    Are these people over-reacting or do they have a point? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!

    Images: Instagram/Farrah Abraham

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