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Toddlers & Tiaras: Ruining Young Lives or Harmless Competition?
Should Toddlers & Tiaras be canceled?
The Toddlers & Tiaras controversy continues, with People magazine‘s cover asking “Gone Too Far?”. The feature takes a closer look at the reality show that delves into the world of kiddie beauty pageants.
The show has been taking a lot of heat, as it recently has hit some new lows, including a 4-year-old dressed like the hooker from Pretty Woman and a child’s Dolly Parton costume including boob and butt padding.
Still, the pageant mommies seem quick to defend this sort of competition, saying that their kids love doing pageants and they can quit whenever it’s not fun anymore.
Meanwhile, pageant parents have the kids’ eyebrows waxed, get them spray tans and fake teeth and wigs. And don’t forget the ultra mega-glam, whoreish makeup. Gotta have that because that’s what beauty is all about, right?!
Many would argue that the participants on Toddlers & Tiaras are engaged in child abuse, while others note that these kids don’t have a proper childhood and will face some serious self-esteem issues.
Clinical social worker Mark Sichel tells People, “Little girls are supposed to play with dolls, not be dolls,” adding that all of the crap that goes along with pageants “causes the children tremendous confusion, wondering why they are not okay without those things.”
Check out the pageant mom in the video clip below, who shares, “I’m not a crazy pageant mom – I’m an insane one.” Yikes.
While she may be a little kooky, she’s still a decent representation of the pageant moms who force “encourage” their daughters to do this.
The mom is seen telling her pageant diva (as she’s tightening her corset dress), “It doesn’t matter if you can breathe or not! It only matters if you look beautiful!”
What’s your take on Toddlers & Tiaras? Should they cancel the show?
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4 Comments
Bunnytwenty commented on Sep 15 11 at 1:28 pmThese shows give nutty pageant moms the attention they obviously crave… but I’m not sure they’d stop if they didn’t have that spotlight. I’m also not sure how you could really stop the pageant phenomenon, either. It’s obvious that it’s not good for the kids, and in some cases seems to make them genuinely miserable, but it’s all along the continuum of how compulsory beauty standards and a twisted societal view of female sexuality screw up the lives of girls and women. The horrors of child pageants are a symptom, not the disease.
Long story short: I’d rather this stuff didn’t happen, but I’m not sure what the answer is. Banning things never really seems to work for, well, anything.
Anon commented on Sep 15 11 at 1:49 pmIt’s a free country. It does not take a village. It takes parents taking proper care of their OWN kids. We are each responsible directly for our own kids. We are not responsible for these kids. I wouldn’t worry about what “other people” do. You don’t like it, don’t watch it, don’t put your kids through it.
Shandeigh commented on Sep 15 11 at 2:19 pmBeing on TV is making these people do even more outrageous things. STOP WATCHING! It will go away if it has no ratings. But nooo… just like a car crash everyone’s stopping to watch the insanity.
Scotty White commented on Apr 25 12 at 10:29 ami hate i just seen it and it needs to be banned. i just saw where a five year old is getting her eyebrows waxed. to me this is a legal form of child exploitation
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