Saturday, January 15, 2011

Poor little girl

Here's a sobering video clip of an interview with the mother of a toddler who does (cough) children's beauty pageants. Okay, I don't think much of children's beauty pageants anyway, but the outfit this TWO YEAR OLD wore just floored me.

A cone bra! Like Madonna!


This interesting thing is how vociferously the mother defends her daughter's wardrobe.


She claims that since other mothers dress up their daughters like tramps on Halloween and such, then it must be okay. Right. To paraphrase the old cliché, if other mothers pushed their toddlers off a cliff, would you do it too? Just because other people do stuff to their children doesn't make it right.

Speaking of simplifying one's life through making good decisions - what do you think will be the long-term impact on this little girl's life? Her ego? Her self-esteem?

The mother claims her daughter enjoys the pageants. Well sure, of course she does. Everyone is smiling and clapping and making a big fuss over her. But does anything honestly think this atmosphere is healthy for a child?

I dunno, I find the whole thing vaguely nauseating.

28 comments:

  1. Treating a child like a show dog is never a good thing. I had the misfortune to occupy a hotel full of preteen "cheerleaders" who were some of the most self-centered, spoiled brats I've ever encountered, and I work at a high school. These kids grow up with an "it's all about ME attitude" that is enough to make you want to slap their parents for they have brought this on their children, and those who are forced to be around them. Oh, if only more parents were like you Patrice...but that is just wishful thinking.

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  2. Only "vaguely" nauseating? PUKE.

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  3. - what do you think will be the long-term impact on this little girl's life?

    First and foremost - her purity, unfortunately.

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  4. Once, and only once, I watched an episode of the series Toddlers & Tiaras. What I saw were several little girls who dressed and acted like callgirls (I'm guessing, I've never seen a real callgirl as far as I know) and some mothers (mostly) who lived vicariously through their little daughters. Most of the mothers were overweight, less than beautiful, and not at all "beauty queen material." The whole thing was sad and appalling, simultaneously.

    The beauty pagent mothers reminded me of "stage mothers" who push their children to get into show business because they couldn't.

    Wouldn't society be better off if parents acted like adults and left kids to be kids?

    After having said all that, I have no children so I probably should not condemn any parent for wanting to show off his/her child. But as a member of society, it seems perfectly appropriate for me to voice my opinion about the junk that appears on TV these days. Thankfully, I can always turn it off.

    Anonymous Patriot
    USA

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  5. Where is social services when you need them? Oh, yes, they are busy looking in the cupboards of modestly dressed homeschoolers. Beam me up!

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  6. Patrice,
    I couldn't watch the video, because I am on a really OLD computer, but I tried to keep telling myself this girl was T W O....my youngest right now is 4...and my oldest is 16...I cannot imagine letting an 18 year old child were this, much less justifying why it is good for a two year old...I am truly appalled.

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  7. In a society where homosexual sex is deemed acceptable it is not long before child sex will be OK. NAMBLA is giddy I am sure. Welcome to the Pagan America.

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  8. Little girls should stay little girls. I have no idea what this is. Poor child. Honestly I'd have to smack someone who tried to dress my child like that. What an insult to an innocent child.

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  9. I'm reminded of Jon Benet Ramsey and what happened to that poor little girl. Only six years old. So tragic. Please, everyone pray for this little girl and her misguided mother.

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  10. When such children get raped, their families just can't understand it. "Who could do that to my precious baby?" Look at Jon Benet Ramsay. I read of a (no word for him) who was NOT convicted of rape or even molestation because the judge said the victim of his attention was "unusually promiscuous". ("The slut led me down the garden path and then played the innocent, Your Honour.") The child was five years old. The toddler in the video should be taken into care and the parents sterilized, and jailed in a common cell with sex offenders.

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  11. Officer, I don't understand why my daughter went into hookering! says the mother. I am sorry what is next for this poor little girl, the Cher leotard, you know the one that only covers a string on the breasts and a string on the whoohaaa. ( the ship one for the sailors)

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  12. Amen to all the above (Man I love this bunch!) and I would add...

    [[Everybody stand by for patrice to maybe have a little cha-ching moment, here....]]

    I didn't get to run the video yet...does it mention the cost of that little Hussy-Madonna-soft-porn-wannabe costume??? HMMMM?

    I'm betting in the two thousand dollar range.

    Anyone?

    Yes, patrice...a good quality hand pump.

    Gasp.

    Back to the world...time to pull the cornbread out of the oven and put supper on the plates. Check y'all later.

    A.McSp

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  13. I. Just. Don't. Get. It! Why, why, why would anyone think it's okay to do this to a two year old. Not just the outfit, but the makeup and hair as well. And unfortunately it is not just this poor girl. The pageant organisers, judges, etc have a lot to answer for as well!

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  14. The whole thing is so sick and revolting. The entire thing--from the parents to the judges to the sponsors to the audience. What sin! Pray for the little girl!

    I guess the mother will be surprised when she has a baby at a young age...or maybe the next pageant will be too important and they will have to just kill the baby!

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  15. These crazy pageant things are rediculous.It is one thing if a girl wants to be the local jr Corn Queen/ Dairy Princess/ whatever it is but these things are nuts. Definitely not something I would let a kid do. However the really sad part is that it's the parents encouraging them into this.

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  16. How sad for this little girl. Dressed like a porn star by her mother, and then the mother does interviews and tries to justify her horrible judgement.
    Any sensible, discerning parent can see where this type of thing is going to lead. Those who want 15 minutes of fame or just want attention, are willing to sell out the innocence of children. How vile, repulsive, disgusting...not enough negative adjectives to describe these loathsome creatures that will do this kind of thing to a child.

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  17. I can't add much that hasn't already been said....geez. It does bring up rather bad memories of attending the dance recital of a friend's daughter. I ended up leaving in tears because of the audience's reaction (hoots and catcalls) during a 9YR OLD's routine?!?!?!?!?

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  18. Sickening. Rotten parents will someday stand with trembling knees before their creator and try to lie thier way through an impossible situation. It is a terrible responsibility.

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  19. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the girl in the picture is TWO YEARS OLD!

    Laurie

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  20. I've never been a fan of baby beauty pageants (or adult beauty pageants, for that matter). Seeing that baby girl dressed in that fashion gives me a distinct impression that the parents need psychiatric evaluation.

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  21. That is utterly insane. And now I have to quote one of my characters in one of my stories:
    "Nothing beautiful would debase itself. You want to be beautiful? Then you must guard your virtue--your honor."

    I have to say the cone bra looks just plain STUPID. Yeah, beauty is graceful, not vulgar.

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  22. What that mother and so many like her are doing is shameful. They are teaching their daughters to be self-centered and, at the same time, to have no self-worth. They are dangling them as bait before who knows what type of creeps. And, they are teaching them to purposely entice and tempt boys and men. Sickening and shameful.

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  23. Can we also discuss what appeared at the beginning of the clip--the two year old being forced to have her EYEBROWS WAXED?!?! I know grown women who won't do that because of the pain. They're making a TWO YEAR-OLD have it done while she screams and cries. Seriously. What is the matter with these people?

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  24. We as a nation are becoming more and more desensitized to this stuff. We need to be shaken! It is not ok for a 2-yr-old, it is not ok for a 10-yr-old, it is not ok for a 17-yr-old, and it is not ok for an 18-yr-old or any age over this. And it is not ok onstage or on Halloween or any time or anywhere else. Past generations recognized that this type of sexualized display, whether imposed by another or chosen by oneself, was degrading, exploitative and harmful. How did we get so clueless?

    On a related side-note, when the story about the "Pedophile's Guide" on amazon broke, I joined in writing letters and the boycott and was happy with their final decision to remove the book...until a blogger I read pointed out that this was far from the only pro-pedophilia book on their shelves. If you want a horrible wade through literary swill, type in "boylove" in the search box--four pages at last count. (Exploitation of little girls is there as well, but a little trickier to find--look for books tagged "lolita" or "coming-of-age".) Amazon is not the only bookseller to allow it. The only pedophilia "clean" mainstream sellers (with a clear and somewhat enforced policy on this type of material) are ebay and Borders. I was horrified and became more so when my letters were ignored or brushed off. I had innocently assumed that pedophilia was something our society still did not countenance. It turned out that this was due to my naivete --likely granted by my intentional avoidance of much of contemporary media. With a little research and several discussions with friends I discovered that several popular, "good" (non-raunchy) shows regularly depicted underage girls and boys in inappropriate and illegal relationships with adults (a theme you discussed in one of your columns, Patrice) and that a popular "comedic" animated series has a pedophile character. So, apparently, it has become ok in our culture to be entertained by this type of material? If this is so, how long can our existing child-protection laws stand if, apparently, they do not reflect our true values? I keep thinking of Alexander Pope: "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace." Parents need to be aware that we are sowing the wind and unless we stop and reverse course, some future generation will reap the whirlwind of mainstreamed and legalized child sexual abuse.
    jcd

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  25. I detest beauty pagents of any kind. Why on earth would any person/parent think that "showing" your child or yourself in that fashion would be good or enjoyable amazes me. I believe those folks have some deep seated problems. No one should look at the applause/attention in those situations as an evaluation of your worth. Although, expressing negative thoughts about beauty pagents makes the parents really get on the ole soap box and defend what a wonderful experience their child is having; I say BS, the parent is the one who craves the attention and is using the pook kid as a means to get it. Shame on them.

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  26. One of the earlier comments linked Pagans and child molesters. Pagan does not equal child molester. Oh, and homosexual does not equal child molester either.

    I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I saw the pictures of this poor child. It is completely inappropriate. The Mother needs to let her daughter be a child.

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  27. I don't mind the idea of beauty pageants because there are some out there that are supposed to show off people's natural looks without any makeup and flashy suggestive clothing. But I am against them when it comes to anyone below the age of adulthood. It can be used to make children seem sexy when that is NOT how we are supposed to perceive children as, and especially not encourage it. I wouldn't mind if they didn't take it too far, but no one is checking out the real reasons WHY the girls want to do it or even if they want to do it and what impact it has on those who lose. Fine if the winners go away and become successful whatevers because the pageants gave them the confidence, but what about those kids who are walking away after being told by their mothers that winning and looks is EVERYTHING and without that they are nothing, then being told they aren't good enough by the judges. I think it's become a bit of a sick industry

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  28. Funny, yes, but I remember watching an episode of the Pokemon television show... It actually made me feel a bit physically sick because of what was put in a FLIPPIN CHILDREN'S SHOW. In that one alone, there was a doctor hitting up on a ten year old, and a moment where gayness was suggested.

    Do you think I kept watching the show for long afterward?

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