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.