I have always been appalled by ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’, the ‘reality show’ of the awful and mentally twisted parents and over-indulged babies who are dressed like 18 year old beauty pageant entrants and strutted around on stages. If this is truly where our country is headed, let me off at the next stop!
As if it couldn’t get any worse, today in the Daily Mail we hear about a little girl named Maddie:
Barely out of nappies, four-year-old Maddy Jackson is already on the road to womanhood.
Sporting fake C cup breasts and padding on her bottom, she is the latest shock contestant on Toddlers and Tiaras, the U.S. reality show revealing the surreal world of beauty pageants.
In an attempt to mimic her curvaceous icon, country singer Dolly Parton – who is known for her ample cleavage – the toddler is shown sporting detachable bust and butt enhancements, before performing live on stage.
With the extra padding concealed under her Barbie pink Lycra catsuit, Maddy’s tiny frame is transformed into an hourglass silhouette.
Barely able to string a sentence together, many will be shocked by the images of the peroxide blonde trying to emulate the appearance of a woman in her late 20s.
And what does the mother say?
When questioned on NBC’s Today show, her mother Lindsay, who entered her first pageant contest when she was nine months old, defends the enhancements used by her daughter.
She tells presenter Savannah Guthrie: ‘To some people, it’s over the top, to us it’s just what happens… It’s just normal. When she wears the fake boobs and the fake butt, it’s just like extra bonus.’
… so apparently this is just an escalation – the mother was a ‘baby beauty contestant’, and so the shock of kids in diapers fully made up strutting around like Britney Spears is old hat, so we need to up the ante with fake boobs and butt enhancements?!?
She also says:
Despite criticism Lindsay is happy for her child to be glamourised and states that her daughter thoroughly enjoys it as a hobby and can stop competing at any time.
She added: ‘With anything people are going to think things are over the top but with gymnastics or dance or competitive cheer-leading you wear hair, you wear make up.’
Sure … she can quit anytime. Yeah, right! I have only briefly come across these shows, and the mothers are often worse than the kids and erase any doubt who this is all about. As for those other activities, I have no idea about other folks, but with kids in gymnastics at age 4 there isn’t anything like what we see on the Tiaras show … and let’s be honest, a gymnast is there to show off a technical routine (Nadia Com?neci didn’t get a deduction for issues with eye liner)!
Well … over at the New York Post they are noting a much less positive reaction:
It is normal? Yea I bet her daughter being eye candy to pedophiles might be normal too.
What do you think? Are you appalled at the basic premise of ‘Toddler beauty queens’ in makeup and dresses strutting around making moves based on ‘sex objects’ like Britney Spears or Marilyn Monroe or Dolly Parton? Do you think that fake enhancements to make a 4-year old look post pubescent are … well, disturbing? What are your thoughts?
This totally kills me. I already didn’t like the show, but this boggles the imagination. =/