'Toddlers and Tiaras' and sexualizing 3-year-olds

[ThatsMyBarack]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/12/opinion/henson-toddlers-tiaras/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2

I had to share this because THIS little girl looks like she's had collagen injections done on her lips. Gross!! :puke:

[virgogal]

1. It's child abuse IMHO.

[Donnachaidh]

2. I want to line up each and every Mom and slap the shit out of them

What they subject their daughters to is obscene. And every one of them needs to be psychologically evaluated.

[TheWraith]

6. Finally, you and I agree wholeheartedly on something. nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. The one episode I watched featured a mom who did a prayer circle before the pageant

That's when I had to turn the channel.

[ThatsMyBarack]

13. Prayer circles are on too many FAKEality shows these days.

Makes 'em way too hard to watch!

[Liberal_in_LA]

44. How about the boy contestant? it often seems that the mom didn't have the girl she wanted so

she'll enter the boy into the contest where he's THE ONLY BOY! Yet, they are happy when he wins best male. lol.

[mzmolly]

30. Hear

hear!

[WinkyDink]

33. Where's Dad, I'm afraid to inquire.

[Liberal_in_LA]

43. sometimes dad is there in audience. Other times he's the pageant dad

picking the clothes and fixing the hair.

[LynneSin]

49. Why single out the mothers? The Dads should be berated for not putting a stop to this

Many of these dads just don't seem to care or perhaps they're just tired of being henpecked to death by their wives so they ignore what's happening.

[LeftyMom]

3. Putting a small child in trophy wife drag is bizarre, at best.

Grown women do all that crap to themselves to try to look younger, why should kids do any of it at all? They don't look cute, they look like shrunken reality show contestants.

[ThatsMyBarack]

4. It's not at all attractive...

The way this little girl has been "dolled up" like a Barbie!

[NYC_SKP]

5. And also this poor child dressed as, literally, a hooker (warning, graphic and abusive)

:puke:

I would remove these children from the parent(s).

x(

[ThatsMyBarack]

8. Oh, yeah...for the pro-life cause.

That little girl just looks like a creepy fake doll.

What a waste it all is! :eyes:

[tblue37]

15. And she WON--because the judges, who I assume are all parents of

former child beauty contestants and therefore eqally disturbed, thought her hoker look was adorable and creative.

Bleah!

[Gemini Cat]

29. Wow.

That's sick.
I'm not sure what little girls should be doing at that age, but I know they shouldn't be dressed like hookers or in beauty contests. That's sick twisted crap. Poor little girls.

[LibertyLover]

38. To be fair, I think she was supposed to be Beyonce (sp?)

or one of the other one-name female singers currently on the pop charts and not a hooker per se. I happened to catch her while viewing a clip on AOL of another little girl whose mother had dressed her up as, no joke, Dolly Parton, complete with fake boobs. I cannot watch those children's beauty pageant shows at all. A friend of mine from high school used to do the pageant thing with her two young girls (I should mention that they are adults now and one just graduated from law school). One time I was visiting her and she pulled out one of the ugliest dresses I had ever seen. It was cheap sateen and machine lace in a harsh electric blue color that she had gotten from one of the approved pageant dress shops. She told me she had paid almost a thousand dollars for it and that she had not told her husband, who was a hard-working small farmer, what she had paid. I choked back my immediate response of "That is one of the ugliest things I've ever seen." and finally said something about I thought the color was interesting. At the time only her 5 year old was doing pageants, but she about to get her 14 month old baby involved as well. I was appalled. I've never really spoken to her again.

[demmiblue]

39. No, she was supposed to be a hooker:

[KamaAina]

41. Is that a rug, or did she borrow Chris Matthews' hair dye?

:wtf:

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. One of the most disgusting shows on TV

Every single one of these parents should be reported for child abuse.

[ThatsMyBarack]

10. Including the mom....

Who spray-tanned her 3-year-old "beauty queen" at an auto-body shop! :yoiks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44FrivOAUJs

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. OMG not watching.

[LeftyMom]

14. That poor little girl.

They sell home spray tan stuff- completely aside from the issue of spray tanning a toddler, why would somebody go to an auto body shop instead of picking up a spray tan kit at the nearest drug store? They're cheap.

[jmowreader]

25. It was a 2-year-old, not a 3-year-old

For extra entertainment, look at some of the other videos--the ones where the kids are being spray tanned. The moms are all "she loves it!" and the kids act like they're being beaten.

I don't know, though...you'd probably be better off, if you HAD to get your daughter spray tanned, taking her to the auto body guy who knows how to paint, than to let your sister or the $19.95 Spray Tans! place do it.

[Initech]

16. I honestly wonder if these things are more for the parents or the kids.

[LadyInAZ]

31. So am I...

I witness a family member go thru this cause she happened to be in commercials. One day standing in store, I was told my kids should be in commercials or on tv... I carefully waited it all and decided it wasn't worth the trouble nor having my kids in some body-complexed disorder...

[Stinky The Clown]

9. This is the most squick-inducing show I can recall, ever.

I agree with those who view this as child abuse.

[Marie Marie]

17. Wanna bet that it is the Pedophile demographic keeping the ratings

high enough to justify this abuse. Disgusting!

[tabbycat31]

48. It's the "trainwreck" demographic

Most people have a trainwreck TV show. For many, it's a show that I absolutely refuse to watch due to the horrible reputation it's brought my state/area (Jersey Shore).

Toddlers and Tiaras is my trainwreck. I want to strangle every one of the parents. If the kid is 10 and really wants to do pageants that's one thing but a 3 year old does not choose this.

[Initech]

18. It's seriously sickening and freaky.

I've actually seen it in person - I was staying at the Tropicana in Vegas a couple years ago and there was one of those pageants being held on the strip. Seriously, let these kids have their childhoods, don't subject them to this crap!

[JI7]

19. i can't understand how any parent would be ok with this

and of course these parents aren't just ok with it, they push it.

[Marrah_G]

20. I find this whole thing very very fucking disturbing

The little girls will be screw up for life.

[provis99]

21. let's call it what it is: child porn.

Imagine you were at work and the guy with the locker next to yours had that picture of the little girl on his work locker door. Wouldn't you immediately call the police?

[Lionessa]

22. Please note the error of your title, not 3 yr olds, only 3 yr old girls.

As far as I'm aware boys don't have anything like this, do they?

[NYC_SKP]

23. Actually, one episode featured a little boy who enjoyed the hell of it all.

Or really seemed to.

ETA: His name is Brock:

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. Yes they do

I had a neighbor who put her son in pageants.

I also have a friend who has hired an agent for her son and flies him to auditions all over the country.

[polly7]

26. How the heck do they give them fake teeth? That's just so weird.

Part of the cuteness of kids is their teeth.

[JCMach1]

32. They call them 'flippers' and they cost hundreds of $$$

[polly7]

34. I've never heard of them. Is there anything natural about these children those

parents and judges actually like? I can see presenting nice white, well-taken care of teeth, but fake ones, on small children ... that is so ridiculous. Good lord!

[JCMach1]

35. It's all ridiculous... my sister-in-law and mother-in-law put my neice

in these pageants. I won't say which state, but I can't say anything or it would end in a shouting match.

It's vanity dress-up for adults. The kids really don't factor at all.

Here is a contestant putting her teeth in...

[polly7]

36. I think it's just sad. These little girls (and boys) are going to grow

up believing they aren't good enough. We all change as we grow, if their features decide to more resemble grandpa rather than the much more photogenic grandma, or whoever, ... what then? I just think it's sad and puts so much pressure on children who have a tough enough time growing up as it is.

[Liberal_in_LA]

42. They are made the same way as post-braces retainers. Made in a 1/2 hour

plastic material that slips over the whole teeth like those halloween teeth.

[mn9driver]

27. I get a completely different message from this show

My young daughters enjoy watching it, and neither one would ever dream of putting themselves through what some of these poor kids endure. They watch it with a sort of delighted sense of horror. From my (normal?) adult viewpoint, the show is much more about the parents than their unfortunate children.

There are many close edits of a mother or father saying the "right things" about the meaning of the pageant life and what it does or doesn't do for their daughter, followed immediately by video of their actions which shows them to be hypocrites and liars. This happens multiple times per show.

There are also examples of parents who actually do maintain a sense of perspective, protect their daughters in this often strange and sick environment, and who try to teach them valid things about winning and losing. In my opinion there are certainly much better vehicles for teaching those lessons, but the show makes a clear distinction between the the really crazy parents and the ones who are (in my opinion, anyway) simply choosing an unfortunate cultural way to give their kids some life lessons.

It's an interesting show to watch if for no other reason than as an illustration of how crazy some of these folks are, and how their sickness is legitimized by the culture they live in.

[Name removed]

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[Johnson20]

37. The parents must truly be sick. n/t

[guitar man]

40. Disgusting and ridiculous

My little girl looks better than all of them put together without even trying. What was she doing this weekend? Playing in the dirt with her dump truck, playing with her dolls and doll house and trying to scam daddy out of a dollar to put in her piggy bank so she can add another pillow pet to her collection. Things a little girl should be doing. this shit is just too...out there for me to even try to comprehend. :banghead:

[catchnrelease]

45. My favorite todders video

Be sure to watch all the way to the end........



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPLWKBWkn3s

[seabeyond]

46. that was funny. hey people... it is long, but good. hanks and howard. sexy baby

thanks. that was cute.

[demmiblue]

51. That was hillarious!

:rofl:

[LynneSin]

47. I've seen some of these shows and this is what I see when I watch them...

and excuse me for being extremely judgemental.

But I see alot of sad looking mothers, many of them look to have serious self-esteem issues. And the fathers look like they are extremely pussy-whipped. I guess they put their frustrations out on their kids trying to live some sort of glory that as parents they never achieved.

Ultimately these contests are a money train for the people running the industry. Parents will spend tens of thousands of dollars each year for a contest that usually rewards a few hundred dollars and really big gaudy trophies.

Personally I think these things should be banned, they are totally unhealthy. Or if we allow them - the kids who enter must look like kids and not gussied up tots looking like hookers and call girls.

[AngryAmish]

50. My kids model

They are little - 3.5 years and 8 months old. People need cute kids for their ads.

I am terrified that I am going to turn into a giant stage mother. But it is fun, the people are mostly nice.

This show grosses me out.