WUNRN
SEXUALIZATION OF YOUNG GIRLS - CHILD BEAUTY PAGEANTS, FASHIONS, PRODUCTS
+
_________________________________________________________________________________
SO SEXY, SO SOON - Video - Book:
_________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20527816,00.html
Child beauty queens
are taking the pageant world by storm with pushy moms, temper tantrums, spray
tans, fake teeth, and risqué costumes. This week's special double issue of PEOPLE examines the popular TLC reality TV
series Toddlers and Tiaras,
which has reignited controversy over a culture made notorious by the Jon Benet
Ramsey tragedy. Critics of the child pageant industry warn that the stresses of
competition, coupled with an extreme focus on physical appearance, can have a
negative effect long before these girls will be eligible for Miss
The parents behind these pageants continue to go to extreme lengths to win.
Their behavior, broadcast each week to more than 2 million viewers, is often
outrageous (waxing screaming children's eyebrows; booking pre-pageant
chiropractor visits), and, to some, alarming. In an August Tiaras episode,
Lindsay Jackson outfitted daughter Madisyn Verst, then 4, with faux breasts and
padding for her derrière to more convincingly portray the curvaceous Dolly
Parton; a week later, Wendy Dickey dressed up her 3-year-old daughter Paisley
in Julia Roberts' streetwalker costume from Pretty Woman, complete with cut-out
dress and over-the-knee boots. (She won.)
Many critics of the show, which has long showcased the behind-the-scenes
tantrums and controversial onstage moments, were outraged. "This is the
most blatant example of sexualization of a child that I have seen," says
Melissa Henson of the Parents Television Council, which is calling for the network
to cancel the series. "There has to be a lesson here. This has gone too
far." The network, for its part, denies any wrongdoing. "Some of the
costumes the families come up with may be deemed inappropriate, but we're just
observing and documenting. We're not costuming the kids," Amy Winter,
TLC's executive vice president and general manager, says of Tiaras. "We're
not passing judgment and we're not condoning anything."
Madisyn's mother, Lindsay Jackson, herself a former pageant queen from
"You are always going to have that one person who takes things too
far," says Annette Hill of Universal Royalty, a Texas-based "glitz
pageant" featured on the series. "This is sensationalized because
it's a TV show. People want to see outrageous," she adds. "These are
just costumes. The kids are fully clothed. What girl doesn't want to play with
Mom and do dress-up?"
But child development experts point to a difference between playing dress-up
and making a career of it. "Little girls are supposed to play with dolls,
not be dolls," says Mark Sichel, a NY-based licensed clinical social
worker, who calls the extreme grooming common at pageants "a form of child
abuse." Playing dress-up "is normal and healthy, but when it's
demanded, it leaves the child not knowing what they want," he says.
Accentuating their appearance with such accoutrements as fake hair, teeth,
spray tans and breast padding "causes the children tremendous confusion,
wondering why they are not okay without those things."
Conversely, many pageant parents argue that there's no better confidence
booster than winning a pageant. "My daughter is much more confident and
outgoing than other kids her age," says Dickey, who first put
___________________________________________________________