The end must be nigh. TLC’s hit reality show Toddlers & Tiaras, featured a 4 year-old contestant, Maddy, who was dressed up as Dolly Parton. Complete with fake boobs and butt. Please tell me someone around this kid was creeped out by this.
Of course not. Her stylist Michael confesses that he’s not a fan of “the boobies.” But Maddy thinks she looks cute in her outfit, boobs ‘n all. When Michael asks if she thinks she’d be just as cute without the fake boobs he gets an emphatic “No!”
And the mom, Lindsay Jackson, is no help at all, she went on The Today Show to defend her weird desire to dress her toddler up like a miniature tart in rhinestones.
TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie asked mama Lindsay and grandma Barbara what children get out of putting the little girl in pageants. “They win money,” said grandma Barbara. “Scholarship money.”
Lindsay defended putting her child in pageants by noting what other parents have said before: It’s what the kids want, it’s no different from any other passions they may have, like playing soccer or cheerleading, and they’d stop when Maddy wanted to.
“To some people, it’s over the top, to us it’s just what happens,” said Lindsay. “It’s just normal.”
Barbara noted that when Lindsay was doing pageants, things were different.
“When Lindsay did it, we didn’t do all big hair, we just did natural hair,” said Barbara. “There are natural competitions now, but they also have the glitz.”
Yes the creepy freaking glitz that puts toddlers in full makeup, wigs, prosthetic boobs, and high heels. They make the Irish travelers on My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding seem staid and normal.
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But wait there’s more, Toddlers & Tiaras this week featured an even younger show contestant — 3 years old — who apparently dressed up as a prostitute, emulating Julia Roberts’ character in the movie “Pretty Woman.” Now the PTC is up in arms.
Melissa Henson, director of communications and public education for the PTC: “We have a serious problem when The Learning Channel features a toddler, who probably hasn’t even learned to read, dressed as a prostitute showing off her sexy strut. There’s no question, TV executives are complicit in robbing these small kids of their childhood. For years we’ve seen adults’ sexuality being inappropriately and aggressively foisted on innocent young children, but children today are being sexualized at younger and younger ages. All available data suggests they will suffer for it later in life.”
Finally I agree with them on something, but the PTC also needs to blame the crazy ass parents for being complicit in all this.