NEWS: Kiddie Pageants: Creepy? Harmless? What?

CULTURE: Kiddie Pageants: Creepy? Harmless? What?

Feministing offers the heads up on the latest god-awful reality show, "Little Beauties: Ultimate Kiddie Queen Showdown":

Hmm. Not comfortable with the juxtaposition of "gorgeous," which has definite overtones of very grownup beauty, and "Pixie Sticks," which is obviously intended to cuteify the whole thing.

On the other hand, you know, is it really so bad to have what are, in effect, organized games of dress up? Dress up is a perfectly fine childhood pastime, one that--for the record--little boys ought to be allowed, even encouraged, to play as well. After all, kids like sparkly things, they like pretending, they're pretty narcissistic; let 'em don the Hello Kitty nail polish and rhinestone crowns and mama's "real gold!" jewelry. Ooh and ahh over how adorable they are--god knows I tell my son he's adorable, cute, and/or beautiful about a thousand times a day.

So okay, maybe

and it's not worth getting all worked up over.

But then again.

Nope, back to creepy. "The circuit"? Spray tanning? Fake teeth fittings?

Come on, people. Dress-up is harmless play. Turning dress-up into a for-profit industry, where elementary-school kids are indoctrinated with expensive "beauty" treatments and the implication that there's something wrong with how they look (omg, you're six years old and you're missing a tooth! omg, you're a light-skinned kid and you need a tan!) is just godawful.

Not to mention the bigger issue: the investment by grownups--"the fabulous Mr. Tim," "the incominatble Miss Nikki" and, needless to say, these kids' own parents--in the Vital Importance of Looking Pretty!!! Little girls do not need that shit, people. That shit is fucked up.

Even my own kid, who is not above raiding my jewelry box or asking me to paint his nails, recognizes that "even if foofy things are fun sometimes, it would suck to feel like you had to be foofy *all the time* for people to like you."

Amen. Let the kids be kids: give 'em a box of costume jewelry, a rhinestone tiara or two, a couple silk capes they can pretend to be superman or a fairy princess with. Paint their nails, help them braid their hair. Don't forget to let them turn cardboard tubes into swords, shoebox tops into shields, the bottom of the shoebox into a robot mask, and paint whiskers on their cheeks with eyeliner after you put their hair into high ponytail "ears." Hell, let 'em watch you put makeup on before the babysitter gets there on the one night a month you go out, and go ahead and let them try a little lipstick and mascara too--it won't hurt them, and you can wash the pillowcases later.

But for heaven's sake, people, remember that you're adults; your job is to give them something to admire and aspire to other than the reflection of their own (bizarrely doll-like) faces in the mirror.

Bitch_PhD's son actually thinks she looks kind of "weird" with makeup on.

the saddest part about all this is that most of the kids don't even want to participate. it's usually the moms driving them to excel at something they never could themselves.

Under the show's "Who we will meet"...

Creepy.

On the link there it has this to say

Who We Will Meet:
Joanna, 6 years old - The Reigning Champ
Aleena, 6 years old - The Flirt
Kynnedy, 6 years old - The Diva
Jordan, 6 years old - The Longshot

THE FLIRT!!???

So fucked up. That shit makes me so angry I can't even make a reasonable comment here. Disgusting.

I remember when my little brother was 3 or 4 he would play dress up with the girl next door. One day they were Aladdin and Jasmine.
It was so cute.


Anyway, those kid pageants are stupid. Most of the time the kids seem to hate it and the parents have to force them to do it.

That's beyond disturbing.

Grown-up beauty pagents are creepy enough, but child beauty pageants are just exploitation. And they're even more sickening as they pretend to be wholesome and positive.
Goddamn, people suck.

That is so fucking sad.

Not cool.

I have seen interviews where the pageant moms claim their daughters are the ones who want to do it. I cannot fathom any child wanting to do that without influence from a fucked up and misguided parent.

It's 2007, why do we still have pageants of any kind still? I don't even know one person who still watches the Miss USA and/or other pageants either.

It's like 1998 in this article.

It reminds me of Little Miss Sunshine, I love that movie, peagants for little girls suck

Amen.

"I'm gonna live vicariously thru my kid, because I failed at this when I was their age."

the same goes to parents who are hellbent on their kids winning at sports and academics all the damn time.

I can't help but think of the pageant scenes from "Little Miss Sunshine" and the quiz show kid from "Magnolia"

Middle America. The same people that watch Springer, Entertainment Tonight, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and whatever other meaningless crap shows are on today.

We can blame the parents, or the kids, or the organizers, but the sick and disgusting thing is, it's on TV for a reason. Because people out there WILL watch it....

Agreed.

I would suggest she play sports. That builds self esteem and teamwork.

Creepy.

Sexualise kids, and wonder why there are more paedophiles coming out of the woodwork than there used to be.

The picture at the top of the article weirds me out big time.

My little girl did Judo for two years. Confidence building is a great thing, especially for girls and especially where their bodies are concerned.

Morgan, I can't even watch those documentaries, they make me want to punch people.

Indeed, even better.

Humanity makes me sad sometimes....

The picture for the article alone is enough to creep me out.

They aren't pretty like "awe cute kid playing dress-up" they are "teenager jailbait" looking! It's so disgusting. Don't those parents realize that every kiddie porn perv/molester out there must know about these shows?! Aren't they afraid for their child's safety?

I know if I had caked on that much makeup and worn those kinda outfits as a teen my mother would not have let me out of the house.

Are there any documentaries/interviews out there that talks with adults who were put through that stuff as kids?

I don't really see how anyone could think this is okay. Pixie sticks for energy?

Wrong. On so many levels.