Does it make anyone else mad to see these 6 yr old girls in beauty pageants wearing swimsuits - Page 2

[limabean]

Originally Posted by Joyster

Some of the men in the documentary posted were really creeping me out. Like the father and the guy who was singing to the girls.

It's been a while since I saw that documentary (and I don't have time to click on the links just now) -- is it the one where the moms coach their daughters to "flirt" with the singing guy when he leans down toward them?

[theatermom]

Originally Posted by mtiger

Be aware that community theater is a HUGE time commitment. And no, the kids don't get cut any slack on the hours.

It totally depends on the production, the part, the director, and the particular theater community. It can be a huge commitment, but there are usually many opportunities for smaller parts, or smaller shows with shorter runs. Even as an adult theater professional, I've taken part in productions that had two or three rehearsals, and one or two performances. I've also acted in many, many shows with children, and the vast majority of the directors were very considerate of the time factor where children were concerned.

You might also check out some theater or storytelling classes (sometimes you can find one session workshops, too). If you live near a university with a film school or telecom department, the students there are often in need of actors to make short films/commercials for their classes.

On the subject of beauty pageants, I think it's a convention from the past that has yet to die. Talent contests would be okay, and even contests concerning poise and dressing nicely. Anything else offends me at best, and usually disgusts me. Sometimes I'm glad that I won't have to deal with *this* particular issue.

[Joyster]

Originally Posted by limabean

It's been a while since I saw that documentary (and I don't have time to click on the links just now) -- is it the one where the moms coach their daughters to "flirt" with the singing guy when he leans down toward them?

It wasn't the mom, it was the partner of the father of one of the little girls, who is also a "coach". Still, creepy, the kid is all of 8 if she's a day.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by Petersmamma

Maybe we need more "Little Miss Sunshine"'s out there!

That was my first thought, too. When we saw "Little Miss Sunshine", dh commented that he couldn't understand why parents who wanted to dress their kids up like that and parade them around in swimsuits would be bothered by a girl dancing a burlesque, yk?

I have trouble with beauty pageants, in general - the ones with little girls make me sick to my stomach.

[maplesugar]

Wow.


That documentary was so sad! So sad. I cant believe someone would do that to their child.

I was also thinking of Little Miss Sunshine as I watched it!

[Starflower]

I also find these pageants (all ages really, but especially the kids' ones) to be very disturbing. Eeew!!

[jorismom]

Originally Posted by harleyhalfmoon

Living Dolls: Part One

Living Dolls: Part Two

Living Dolls: Part Three

Living Dolls: Part Four

Living Dolls: Part Five

Living Dolls: Part Six

Living Dolls: Part Seven

Living Dolls: Part Eight

I've only watched the first link, I'm thinking I should stop now. I don't think I can handle it. What a mean mom.

[Imogen]

Originally Posted by becoming

This kind of thing makes me sick. And I have an insider's view.

I stupidly entered my DD in three little community beauty pageants when she was a tiny baby. I did pageants when I was little (small, fun pageants in our hometown), and I just thought it would be something fun for she & I to do together. The first two we did were sweet and fun, everyone won something, very non-competitive, etc.

The third one we did was called a Candyland pageant, and I had been told that it was a very natural, relaxed pageant. We got there, and it was like something you'd see on one of those documentaries. There were girls there with SUITCASES full of makeup and hair products and $2,000 dresses. Two of the girls in my DD's age division (0-2) were wearing hair extensions! Against my better judgment, I decided to stay since we had already paid a $60 entry fee. My DD won her division wearing a $15 Wal-Mart dress, no makeup, no hair accessories or anything. Those mamas were ready to throw me down, I could see it in their eyes.

Anyway, when we got up on stage for the "overall" competition (DD was "nominated" for overall best smile), there was a mama & her 2-year-old next to us on stage, and she was whispering to her DD in a very mean voice, "Shake your butt, Haley! Shake your booty RIGHT NOW." I wanted to RUN from that stage.

I have never even considered doing another pageant since that day, and I am horrified that I ever thought it was okay to do them in the first place. *shudder*

Good grief... that's so disturbing : Telling a 2 yr old child to shake her butt.

[limabean]

Originally Posted by Storm Bride

That was my first thought, too. When we saw "Little Miss Sunshine", dh commented that he couldn't understand why parents who wanted to dress their kids up like that and parade them around in swimsuits would be bothered by a girl dancing a burlesque, yk?

Exactly. I happened upon an episode of that Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie reality show last year, and they were at a camp, teaching a bunch of little beauty pageant contestants random stuff. Well, Nicole taught them how to flip the bird, and of course their mothers were horrified. I thought it was inappropriate too, but Nicole's comeback was kind of awesome -- she said something like, "Oh, sorry -- I thought that since you treat them like little grown-ups, you wouldn't mind..." in this ditzy yet somehow wise way. It totally reminded me of the whole Little Miss Sunshine concept.

[NiteNicole]

"Oh, sorry -- I thought that since you treat them like little grown-ups, you wouldn't mind..."

Sometimes Nicole Richie rocks.

I am not a pagent person. I did a few when I was young (like, 8, 9, 10) and if you watch the tapes you can clearly see I had no idea what was going on. I just kind of wandered around the stage in my flouncy dress, waving to people I knew. Occasionall talking to myself. Perhaps picking something from my teeth... I did not win.

My mom and her sister were both pagent queens, but they were competitive in high school and ended up in the state pagents. Naturally, they thought that it would be fun to put their kids in pagents. My mom quickly discovered that you can lead a little girl to mascara, but you can not make her give a damn. My cousin really took to it. She's won tons. I am still not a fan. She's in her mid-20s and still trying to win one last title.

There are really two kinds of pagents. There are your local festival types - and I can KIND OF see how people get sucked in: you get to put on makeup, wear a pretty dress, and if you win, your dad drives you in a convertable in the parade. Maybe you go to other parades and festivals. I still thinking lining up a bunch of girls and picking the prettiest is just flat WEIRD, but I can sort of get those. It's your community, everyone else is doing it, you probably dit it yourself, blah blah blah. If you win, you get to do stuff. Not for me, but I can kind of see it.

The others are the creepy ones held in hotels. They have made up names like Little Miss Princess Sweetheart Darling Southeast General Regional Junior Queen. Or whatever. Those are the ones with hair extentions, fake teeth, booty shaking, and swim suits. They have umpteen jillion categories because you have to pay to enter each one. They are just money makers, an industry unto themselves, they lead nowhere and represent nothing. Well, nothing good.

I just don't get it. The very idea of dressing my child up for someone else's approval and hoping she'll be prettier than ten other little girls is just...ugh. It turns my stomach.

[OhDang]

ugh when i see little girls in pageants all dolled up with makeup and hair extensions i just want to yell at their mom's "Your daughter is not the barbie doll or a fashion accessorie!!! (sp)"

[allegra]

Beauty pageants for young kids make me angry, period. They teach little girls that they have to be good-looking and all tarted-up for people to value them. It's disgusting.

[Aleo]

I'm bumping this old thread, it will be interesting to see more opinions on this matter.

First of all, I used to do pageants as a kid : from 1992 to 1997. Being from Boulder, guess why mom pulled me out??'
I LOVED doing them. I loved the idea of looking for my customes, I loved rehearsing my routines, I loved the spotlight, I loved the competition, I loved getting my pictures done, and I...
HATED the make up Even though I only used eye make up, blush and a tiny bit of lipstick

I've seen several documentaries, like Painted Babies. Compare Painted Babies to this documentary called Little Beauties(it aired in VH1) and you will definately see the difference. The pageant industry has changed, the "glitz" pageants from the 90's are different from the "glitz" pageants now. The costumes were different, the swimsuits, everything was different. As a kid I used to say "my daughter is going to do pageants" but heck that will not happen. The routines are over the top now, the make up is over the top. Not to mention the tanning, that wasn't used when I competed. The fake eye lashes, the extremely airbrushed pictures, the hair extensions, the hair dyes. Some kids even wear eye contacts...

But, I'm going to accept that in my case, my childhood revolved around pageantry. But I grew up to be pretty normal, and I'm not obsessed about my looks. To tell you the truth I don't even use make up I didn't cared about my looks as a child and I don't really care much now. I mean I care just like every woman does, you know I want to look good for my husband, end of it And as a child I wanted to show my friends my trophies, sashes and tiaras. I felt that I was good in something.

My mom didn't pushed me to do them, I did my first pageant when I was 3. It was my grandma's idea and I won that pageant. And my mom and grandma got a little bit obsessed with them. I did around 60 pageants (rolleyes yea or jawdrop maybe lol).
But pageantry is not only about looks, it's about the "whole package". Personality, talent, attire, enterview, portafolio, modeling and of course the "worst" of all. Beauty, or how good you look in your beauty dress

And I didn't participated in those natural pageants, I participated in those "creepy ones held in hotels" or you know "ala JonBenet Ramsey", her routines were like seeing a baby crawling compared to those of nowaday pageants.
The "weirdo" singing to the girls is Mr Tim. I have pictures of me with him, he's a very nice guy. He's like the Santa Claus of the industry. To have a picture with Mr Tim after a pageant was the best thing for all the girls

You spend tons of money on pageants, the modeling, the coach, the make up artist, the entrance fee, the portafolio, the dresses. Everything i extremly expensive. Not to mention that the good pageants are all held in the south and you have to travel.

And my mom is a good mom, and my grandma was a good grandma. It was good becuase I got to spend a lot of time with her as she died in 1999.
And I'll say it again, I don't care what people think about me, honestly they can think whatever the heck they want. I have my own insecurities just like everybody. I'm normal (kinda).
Well not really, in my teens I was the biggest hippie ever, I didnt used any make up or nail polish, I was weird lol


:

[Turkish Kate]

Kinda on topic but not really. While channel surfing with a lap-sleeping toddler a few weeks ago, I managed to land on an old episode of "Wife Swap" where one wife was a pageant-mom and the other was a total uber-MDC mom. At the end, where they talked about the differences between the families and what each mom has learned and is taking with them, the uber-MDC mom admitted that she may have learned a few things, none of them good (except that lipstick makes good fingerpaint ), and she wouldn't be bringing anything from the other family's lifestyle home with her. I wonder if she really *is* an MDC mom? Hmmmm . . . .

[caitryn]

Pageants have always bothered me. I mean, as a kid I wanted to do them because I wanted the big pretty dresses, but I had no idea at the time what all went into them. I guess I'm lucky that my parents were poor and couldn't afford any of that stuff anyway.

I also wasn't allowed to wear makeup until junior high when I was given mascara because I begged. When I started high school, mom took me to the Clinique booth for a free makeover and bought me my first full face of makeup. I was determined to wear makeup everyday of my freshman year. Since then, I've only worn it for special occasions. It's too much of a pain to deal with on a daily basis. Certain colors were also off limits to me such as bright red (because it made my mom think of prostitutes).

Coming from that sort of background, it sickens me to see small children dressed up like that. Most of the makeup-a-holics I've known wouldn't wear that much. There are some children who want to do this sort of thing, but it's mostly for the parent. There is a strange sort of high that comes with having it confirmed that you have the cutest baby in the world. Of course, I think every mom believes hers is the cutest anyway.

Still, these little girls (and some boys) should be playing with toys and getting messy out in the yard or something. They shouldn't be paraded in front of a panel of judges and a possible large number of pedophiles. Who else looks at a child of five and thinks "sexy"? Of course, I think the same thing about alot of popular kids' clothing (like having "hot" written across the bottom of a girl who should be in kindergarten).

I never really liked the movie, but this thread has definitely given me a new appreciation for "Little Miss Sunshine."

[LavenderMae]

I think they are sick and wrong for many reasons.
Mr. Tim might be a nice guy but he comes of as really really creepy.

[mrspineau]

It is all very sad. I do not have a problem with beauty pageants for older children, but I don't think it is right to force them to do it (or anything else for that matter) when they don't want to, or to take it so far! The money that is spent on these children for pageants is crazy and the pressure to win and look perfect. It's just horrible.

[nextcommercial]

When I was about 19, I dated a guy who always wanted to pick me up at the daycare center that I worked at. I kinda thought it was odd, but never gave it much thought.

One night, he had too much to drink, and told me that he went to children's beauty pageants because he had sexual fantasies about little girls (under ten yrs old) and the bathing suit part of the pageant was his favorite part.

OBVIOUSLY, I broke it off.

[Jennifer3141]

I think child pageants are disgusting and are completely contradictory to what I want my son and daughter to learn about childhood and feminism.

[NYCVeg]

Originally Posted by Sionainne

I have a theory about why people are disturbed by seeing little girls wearing makeup. Sometime ago, I read that the whole effect of facial makeup on a woman is to mimic the appearance of a woman having an orgasm: flushed face and blood-swollen lips, dilated eyes. This "look" on any Cosmo magazine cover is what western society has grown to value as beauty. It seemed to corroborate what I know, separately about ,makeup and sex.

My theory is that the connotations of this "look" is ingrained in everyone. So when 98% of people see a small girl painted in this manner, it inherently feels wrong and is mentally disturbing to acknowledge. So this is why I don't admire child beauty pageants.

Anyone with knowledge of feminist theory chime in? (I could extend my theory onto why bikinis on little girls is wrong too. Bikinis are supposed to show off big boobs and wide hips -- coming of age hallmarks of birthing ability and fertility.)

This is interesting, but my objection to little girls in make-up is much more general. The whole idea behind make-up is to alter the natural appearance to conform to a socially constructed ideal of beauty. The idea that we teach toddlers and young children that their natural appearance is not "good enough" and that they must alter their appearance in order to 1) make themselves appealing to a set of external (and in this case, quite literal) judges and 2) look MORE like everyone else is beyond distasteful.

But you are right that the make-up IS sexualizing, that it enhances features in a way that we associate with women who are sexually available or aroused.