Someone is finally saying "enough" on those kiddie pageants.

[Archae]

Like the ones on "Toddlers and Tiaras."

On ABC news they showed a guy who is trying to get custody from his ex-wife.
The ex is putting their little girl into those kiddie beauty pageant, including dressing up the preschool girl as Dolly Parton, complete with fake boobs.

I hope the Father gets custody.
From what I saw, the Dad looks like he'll do a better job raising the little girl.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. That entire situation is sickening to me. I hope those kids can get back to some sort of normal life

after all of that.

[dogknob]

2. Spent a summer with a German photographer...

...whose grad-school project was American kiddie-pageants. He worked his ass off on it. The stuff I saw on a near-daily basis was absolutely mind-blowing. Here's some of it:

http://hahn-hartung.com/2012/04/tim-hoffmann-–-queen-inside/

EDIT: Link is getting munged in DU, you might have to copy/paste.

[Archae]

5. I just looked at that site, and the last photo there disturbed me.

That little girl was made up to look just like someone in thier late teens or early 20's.

[dogknob]

8. Yeah. Major ick.

The mom pics were the scariest. The story he ended up telling in his thesis was mostly about the moms. Some of the pics that aren't on that site will haunt me for who knows how long.

[dballance]

9. All Those Pictures Disturbed Me

The first little girl made up to look like a "jungle girl" and the last little girl who also think if you only had her head-shot you might think she's 18-20.

Come on - in a high chair? Starting that early? That's crazy.

[Care Acutely]

3. Good for him!

[jberryhill]

4. There's nothing fake about the boobs who do that, sadly

[seabeyond]

6. without knowing the particulars, this gives the father a huge boost in being the better primary

parent, for sure. i am glad to here this, for the little girl.

[Raine]

7. Those contests are DISGUSTING. nt

[dballance]

10. It's the Bristol Palin "Turn Your Kid into a Meal Ticket" Crowd.

Heck I read even Levi was going to sue Bristol for custody after seeing some of the "Life's a Tripp" episodes.

This would have been shameful and disgusting for a parent to do this to their children when I was growing up and those parents who did were really frowned upon.

So what is driving this? Is there just a whole new market segment of little girl's clothes, makeup, shoes and "charm schools" now? Who are the people sponsoring all this?

[HiPointDem]

11. pageants for little girls have been around since at least the 50s. they've gotten more attention

lately because of the show.


Beauty pageants started in 1921 when the owner of an Atlantic City hotel struck upon the idea to help boost tourism.

However, the idea had already circulated through "Most Beautiful Child" contests held in major cities across the country. The Little Miss America pageant began in the 1960s at Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey. Originally, it was for teenagers from 13 to 17 years old, but by 1964 there were over 35,000 participants, which prompted an age division.

The modern child beauty pageant emerged in the late 1960s, held in Miami, Florida. Since then, the industry has grown to include nearly 25,000 pageants. It is an increasingly lucrative business, bringing in about a billion dollars a year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_beauty_pageant

[FunkyLeprechaun]

13. For me, I thought these pageants got a lot of attention

Due to the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey. A lot of the news programs at the time were talking about the beauty pageants after her murder. I was 15 at the time and I was pretty shocked these things were going on in America.

[HiPointDem]

14. you're probably right. but after that died down i never heard anything about them until 'tiaras'.

[Art_from_Ark]

15. My county fair had a "Tiny Tot" pageant in the '60s

I was even entered one year, when I was five years old (and I'm a guy). The first prize of $25 was enough to buy 100 gallons of gas back then, so that may have been the incentive for getting me entered. I didn't win anything, though.

[pansypoo53219]

12. before the dark ages i hope in the 70's. i went to school w/ a girl who had done those as a kid.

she was pretty. but the puberty + zits. must have been hard.

[genxlib]

16. These pageants disgust me

I am disgusted by these pageants. I find it horrific that parents would sexualize these children to make them look and act like tramps.

Reality TV has made it worse because the more outrageous the behavior the higher the ratings and attention.

I am waiting for the time that they just go ahead and erase all the boundaries by joining "Toddlers and Tiaras" to "To Catch a Predator". That way they can use these tarted up children as molester bait.

And to think that TLC used to stand for The Learning Channel.

Yes, America is SO exceptional.

It makes me want to vomit.

[HopeHoops]

17. The entire concept is disgusting.