Did Nobody learn anything from the JonBenet Ramsey case?

[Stingo]

The artists are brilliant, photographers who chronicle the disease that is little girl pageants. What could possibly cause mothers to do such a thing as sexualize their daughters in such a way?

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-16119-Philadelphia-Fatherhood-Examiner~y2009m8d10-Mamas-dont-let-your-babies-enter-beauty-contests

[MineralMan]

1. No, pretty much...

The bogus children's beauty pageants are just that...bogus. They are built around getting entry fees, selling clothing, etc. that nobody would wear anywhere else, and hiring "consultants" to help sell both. It's an obscene business, even if you disregard the sexualization of small children.

As you look at the photos, you'll see the parents of some of these children. Most are obese, living vicariously through their offspring.

It doesn't end with childhood, either. The beauty pageant industry hooks 'em early, then continues to promote such competitions right through the teen years. It's ugly, ugly, ugly.

[Stingo]

2. Agreed about the obesity

Some comment about fathers living their competitive lives through the sports exploits of their children. this seems far more dangerous.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes, there is that, too. Especially with the for-profit

sports teams so many people get their kids involved with.

[Stingo]

4. Yeah, but

the pageants with little girls seems to be grooming them for prostitution or at the very least soft-core porn. At least sports leagues don't dig that low for exploitation.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. So, what's the deal with obese people?

Kind of like gay pedophiles or black pimps with big floppy purple hats, right?

--d!

[Stingo]

9. Please explain comment

[Quantess]

29. Maybe you have clues about what you THINK you are talking about...

if you only READ about what you think you know everything about!

[SacredCow]

6. I think you nailed it re "living vicariously through their offspring"

as far as the parents are concerned. I saw a documentary about this some time ago, and most of the little girls were indifferent at best to their life on the pageant circuit. Some were downright combative against it, but Mom (Dad was usually keeping out of it, but not always) would play the guilt card ("Look how much money we've spent on you! We're doing this for YOU! Why are you being so ungrateful for all I've done for you? etc...). It's a highly specific form of child abuse, IMHO. Some of the moms that were focused on were absolutely psychotic.

This documentary didn't go into the business end of it, but I'd imagine that the consultants and people who make pint-size evening gowns are perpetuating it.

Whether these pageants box these girls into a life of porn or prostitution, I can't say. I'm sure that some come out fine on the other end. But seeing these little kids dressed up like that has always given me the heebie-jeebies.

[MineralMan]

10. I saw a really sad thing a couple of years ago at LAX.

We were flying back to Minnesota from a Thanksgiving visit to my parents' home in California. As we waited at the gate for our Northwest flight, we saw a family with a teenaged girl. The girl was dressed in evening clothes at noon, and was wearing a sash that said "Miss All-American Teen Minnesota. She had a tiara on, too. She was reasonably attractive, but not a standout. Her parents were dressed like normal people getting on a plane, and there were a couple of others travelling with her as well.

My curiosity was piqued, so I started doing some research when I got home. I found the website for the Miss All-American Teen pageant and found a story in a small town newspaper here in Minnesota about the young woman. What I discovered was that there were no preliminary competitions to become Miss All-American Teen Minnesota. The first person to cough up the entry fee was it.

The national pageant, held in some hotel in California, had divisions ranging from babies to a division for married women. All of this was done by contestants who had not competed in any regional competitions.

So, for the entry fee, which I don't remember, six airline tickets, money spent on clothing, makeup, etc., an entire family traveled to a bogus pageant. There were no news stories, no publicity, and this young woman hadn't won anything. She paid all that to be Miss All-American Teen Minnesota and got her photo in the local newspaper.

And there she was, in LAX, wearing an evening gown at noon, with a sash proclaiming her bogus status, a cheap-ass tiara, and nothing else.

I followed up with some research a year later, and found her advertisement in a pageant magazine. Now she was a "pageant consultant." I'm sure she's also working at the local Dairy Queen. I found the whole thing to be incredibly sad and pointless. I will never forget the beauty queen at LAX.

[SacredCow]

11. Parading her around LAX in an evening gown....

:eyes: Stay classy, folks.

Just bizzare behavior.

[Stingo]

13. Demographics

Are the demographics from which these people spring the same demographics that supports Palin?

[MineralMan]

14. I'd imagine so. Out of small-town America and the trailer parks

of big-town America come the beauty pageant contestants of tomorrow.

[SacredCow]

18. I would expect so....

It's stereotyping on my part, but frankly I'd be shocked as hell to hear that any of these people are progressive.

[Stingo]

20. Yeah, the trailer park thing might be sterotyping

but I'd also say progressives don't put their little girls in pageants.

[SacredCow]

21. If they did, and are calling themselves "progressive"....

I'd have to suspect the absence of a dictionary in their home. Or perhaps they define "progressive" as not wanting to shoot "dem dern libruls."

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. Watch 'Toddlers & Tiaras' on TLC. Parents pay $900 entry fee for chance to win $1000. Everyone gets

a crown. Everyone gets a title and ribbon. 'junior all supreme', 'grand supreme' 'princess supreme'. Enough titles for every girl. These pageants are held in hotel conference rooms. Parents spend 1000s on the dresses, fake hair, makeup, lessons and EVERY girl comes home with cheap crowns and trophies.

The boy's competition is even weirder as there are only 3 boys, at most, and the mom of the winning boy is ecstatic to see her boy win against TWO OTHER BOYS.

It's bizaaro world.

[MineralMan]

17. Yeah, I saw that one. It's an amazing phenomenon, in my

opinion. Nothing quite like it.

[Quantess]

27. Yes, it is obvious that most of the moms have let themselves go

yet obsess over their own daughters' appearances. They treat their little girls like barbie dolls.

[Hepburn]

5. Yes, I found the best QD expert ever!

Howard Rile, Long Beach, CA. He busted the nonsense about the hand written ransom note. I have now been to his forensic lab and met with him and I find him to be totally, totally awesome. Besides...he is a liberal Dem!

:hi:

And...I saw at the very beginning of the Ramsey case the consequences of painting a female toddler like a street walker.

[Stingo]

7. But this isn't really about JonBenet

It is about the dressing up of children for beauty pageants. An ugly practice I would not write laws against, but ugly all the same. The people involved should be massively shamed out of business.

[Hepburn]

24. Discovering whether her parents were involved in the alleged ransom note....

...IMO, that most certainly is about her. Frankly, that lends a hell of a lot to the issue of dressing female children as mini hookers. Anyone who is doing shit like that needs to have his/her head examined and the kiddo taken away.

JMHO

[Echo In Light]

12. Harlan Ellison has a fantastic article on these pageants in his 70s Glass Teat

He points out that the horrible, phony smiles of beauty contestants are joyless, humorless, and make it look as though they have a huge clothespin fastened to the back of their necks forcing the ghoulish gesture.

[Stingo]

19. Ellison wasn't writing aqbout children

Though he is right about beauty contests in general.

Who was the protester in the 80's who showed up at pageants wearing a suit made out of meat?

[Echo In Light]

22. Yes, he was specifically writing about a pre-teen beauty pageant

I'm currently at work and don't know the name of that chapter in the book...but yeah, that's what it was. I don't recall the protester you mention.

[slackmaster]

16. I already knew that exploiting children was wrong

So no, I didn't learn a thing.

[Quantess]

23. Looking at some of the photos...

did anyone notice the incredible manicure on that big haired brunette in red-white-and-blue? How does a little girl keep perfectly, creepily long, nails? Does she never go out and play?

[Stingo]

25. Just plays

doing Barbie's nails, I suppose.

[Odin2005]

26. That's sick.

:puke:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. Is this guy saying that rape/murder is the logical consequence of little girl pageants?

That the perp was some deranged fan rather than just some random deranged intruder?

If we banned little girl pageants then this would never happen again?