Hotsy Totsy

 
I have never watched an episode of TLC's popular reality show, Toddlers and Tiaras, which tracks teeny tiny beauty pageant contestants and their often pushy, projecting mothers. I still can't get images of JonBenet Ramsey out of my mind.

Well it seems that beauty pageants have come a long way, baby -- accent on the baby. Parents are spray-tanning and hair-extending two year-olds, and sometimes even younger, turning them into mini Vegas showgirls-meets-Boca-Raton-divorcees.

It's just a little -- oh, okay, a lot -- sick.

Now Los Angeles photographer Susan Anderson has just come out with a book about this children, High Glitz: The Extravagant World of Child Beauty Pageants. I haven't seen all the photos but Salon's Amanda Fortini has.

Are the girls being objectified -- by us, or by Anderson, or by the pageant industry, or by their parents, who have involved them in it? Are they simply dressing up in fancy clothes and makeup, as little girls do, albeit in a formalized way? Are they being inappropriately sexualized, and if so, will this have any lasting consequences for them? Likewise, will there be any psychological fallout from the emphasis on looks and weight starting at such a young age? (A study conducted by the American Psychological Association in 2007 found that premature sexualization of preteen girls and “frequent exposure to cultural beauty ideals” was linked to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.) Will these girls grow up to be women who believe, like so many do, that their looks are the measure of their self-worth? What about the narrow aesthetic these pageants peddle: Are our collective notions of female beauty so impoverished? And then, the shadow of JonBenet Ramsey looms large -- who can forget those videos of the 6-year-old victim-to-be prancing like a showgirl? -- raising the worry that the tiny contestants might be prey for some sicko voyeur.

Oh no doubt they are.

Ramsey's murder was never solved.

Comments

[mb]

I have watched some episodes of Toddlers and Tiaras with my 12 year old daughter, for the purposes of discussion, and we have alternately laughed at and been horrified at the ridiculousness and abusiveness of it all. One mother exhibited her 2 week old baby. Another spoke candidly to the off camera interviewer about her twin daughters, one who made the grade and the other who didn't. She actually pitted them against each other. Overtired, screaming children are bribed, cajoled and threatened while their hair is teased, makeup applied, and skin spray tanned. To see 5 year olds wiggling their butts and pursing their lips while dressed in confectionary coloured frocks their parents can ill afford is nauseating. Not to mention the nastiness that goes on between the stage moms and their spoiled monsters in training. The funny thing is, none of them seem to realize that most who watch this series do so with condescending amusement at best and disgust at the worst. There is little commentary by a narrator to sway the viewers towards believing that this is simply plain wrong; just put these people in from of a camera, give them a mike, and they indict themselves. I will never understand the mindset of those who would sexualize and exhibit young girls like this. It's repulsive. And I'm happy to report that my daughter and all of her friends think so too.

[twitter.com/shellygrrl]

Yeah, I'm not into little kids in beauty pageants, either. Why can't we (in general) just let kids be kids?

Meanwhile? I still think someone in the Ramsey family or very close to them was involved.

[Jim M]

The following CBC news segment shows an example of a similar type of entertainment, minus the sexualization of the children involved and minus most if not all of the other negatives. Tiny Talent Time was an entertaining show that I saw nothing wrong with and still don't. I would like to see it back on the air, actually, same host as original, if possible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg96did00ng

[...pat.]

I watched an episode or two. It was like slo-mo car crash. Mothers and fathers teaching two, three, and four year olds how to do hootchie-cootchie come-hither moves. The hair (which brought the kids to tears, frequently), the rehearsals, the fake tans, the make-up. Kids are willing to put up with it, because as long as they are the glorified centre of attention, who wouldn't? They don't have enough discernment at that age to argue against or complain. And especially little girls... well, we're frequently taught to comply and not argue, are we not?

[jb]

That pic is like something out of a horror movie, and it's not just the hair and make-up; that 'smile' is disturbing.

[Ashley]

Sexualizing young children like that should be considered child abuse. I wonder if anyone has done a study on the long-term psychological effects of putting children through this, I can bet it would be a real eye-opener.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

"Why can't we (in general) just let kids be kids?"

Wonderful idea. And let's get rid of sex education in schools below, say Grade 10 or 11 (and I'm NOT being sarcastic).

[Kat]

That photo is scary. That's not a kid dressed up to be a pretty kid, but a pint-sized adult, and what's super-scary is that at a quick glance she would pull it off.

To the Stygian and anyone else thinking the same thing: Grade 10 or 11 is too late, unless you're in a neighbourhood with very slow-growing kids. Grade 10 is typically when the dropping out due to pregnancy starts. That means they got pregnant in Grade 9. That means you have to educate in Grades 7 and 8.

[stageleft]

There are not enough levels in the known universe to count just exactly how wrong that is - what parent in their right mind thinks painting their 4 year old daughter up like a trollop is a good idea?

[CatBoreal]

Dear Stygian (how funny, that means you're in the dark),

It's never too early to educate children about where they came from and how they got here. It's been proven time and again that teaching children about healthy sexuality from the time they're old enough to ask questions reduces the rate of pregnancy and increases the age at which they initiate sexual exploration.

For more information, please learn about Our Whole Lives: http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/

PS. That poor baby in the picture. She looks like one of the Real Wives of (insert town here). That's just wrong.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

A Chait A Tuath,

(how funny, that means you're in the dark)

Actually, it's a land ruled by a cult of giant snakes (and I do gravitate to the reptile house in zoos!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stygia_(Conan)

When I was at school there was no sex ed (they were talking about introducing it at the time), and there were hardly any - maybe even none- teen pregnancies either.