Little girl primping

Sitting behind my daily feed,
I´ve fallen over an article.. I simply can´t get my mind to it.

Be sure to get your eye on the following links and tell me what pops to mind;

Playing around?

Freakshow

Who-ever wants to read more, here´s a quoted text about a woman pushing her daughter into a beauty contest, as heard/seen in a show by Dr.Phil:

´My daughter is a beauty queen," says Bonnie, of 8-year-old Madison. Her child has won 40 crowns and 50 trophies competing in high-glitz beauty pageants. "The first pageant Madison ever entered was at 4, and she won. We were hooked." Now, Madison competes in a dozen pageants a year, and this is causing a rift between Bonnie and her sister, Kari. "We get so much hostility from my sister," Bonnie says.

"My sister is exploiting my niece. Madison is totally being over-sexualized," says Kari. "The enhanced photos of Madison make me sick, because I don't understand why you have to put on the fake hair, and the fake lips, and the fake tan. She's Caucasian. I mean, she looks like she's a Samoan." She also disagrees with Madison wearing fake teeth.

Madison's grandmother agrees with Kari. "This is not my granddaughter. This is a creepy rendition of what an adult would be if you shrunk them into an 8-year-old suit," she says. "She is scary looking, somebody who I would prefer not to have in the family."

Bonnie has an explanation for Madison's appearance. "You do the fake tan to compliment your child," she explains. As for the fake teeth, she admits, "We do use a prosthetic piece that helps her look really pretty." Bonnie wants to give Madison every opportunity to excel.

(Her aunt says)

"I have seen Madison cry before she has to go onstage. I have seen firsthand Bonnie telling Madison, 'Stop the theatrics. Stop crying. Suck it up. Get up there and it'll be over and done with.'"

"Madison's job is to be on for two minutes. You are spending a lot of time and money for two minutes. I don't think that is asking too much," Bonnie says, defending her actions. "Madison is out there accomplishing these great things and not getting any pats on the back from my family. They do act like I'm doing a disservice to my daughter."

"You said, these are your words, 'I am addicted to these pageants,'" Dr. Phil says to Bonnie. She denies saying it in that context, so Dr. Phil reads directly from her letter. "You said, 'Madison was 4 years old when we entered a pageant. I, not Madison, I was hooked. I knew that I wanted to do glitz pageants. I like the dresses, hair and makeup. I wanted to know how they got that flawless look. I was in awe. I did a few pageants on my own even without a coach. For me, it was a rush to come up with the most unique, creative ideas for costumes. I started doing a lot of the coaching. On the day of the pageant, I get a rush. I can't sleep. When it's over, I have a pageant hangover. I feel like I can't get off the couch. When it comes down to me, I end up doing it all,'" he reads, noting that Bonnie said the word 'I' 15 times. "I didn't see anything in there about Madison. That's all about you. True or false?"

"I would say that's false," Bonnie replies, as the the audience groans.

"You won't let her ride a bike or a skateboard two weeks before a pageant in case she might scrape her knee. She can't wear tight clothing in bed the night before because it might leave a crease," Dr. Phil points out. "I mean, come on."

"When you're spending money on pageant fees, you definitely want to take out the element of running the risk of her really injuring herself," Bonnie replies. "You can't put Swarovski stones on a cast." She laughs again.

"This is letting a kid be a kid?" Kari asks.

Bonnie assures Dr. Phil that Madison gets down time to just be a kid. "It's not like I'm putting her on a shelf and saying, 'Don't do this.'"

"Actually, you are," Dr. Phil points out. "For like two weeks she can't do any of those things that might scrape her because you got to drape her in Swarovski crystals. Right?"

"Everything looks better in Swarovski crystals," Bonnie says, smiling.´


Really, what kind of world do we live in? What is important to us nowadays?
Striking fear, trying to control our bodies and neglecting our true wishes...
When will we learn to accept ourself, respect eachother and do what we were meant to do: celebrate life, ´cause we´re not death!