WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CHILD BEAUTY PAGENTS?
by Mary 31 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
stillconcerned
...yea... and 'just her childhood floating down the commode'..
-
Billygoat
During my first full blown trial as a 'baby lawyer' in federal court (at 27 yoa), the federal judge looked down his nose at me, underneath his reading glasses, and said,
"Do they let pretty little baby girls like you practice LAW now?"
This was before my client, the jury, opposing counsel, and a full courtroom, immediately prior to my opening statement.
I wanted to floor to open up and CONSUME me.....
(and i think that was his intent.)
Kimberly,
That's when I might have said, "Yes, your honor. Beauty AND brains. There are some of us WOMEN that have the whole package." I imagine you would have at least won points with the female jurors.
But then again, my mouth gets me in trouble a lot.
Andi
-
stillconcerned
yup. Have replayed that scene a thousand times, and re-played what i WISH i had said.In actuality, all i said was 'yes sir, they do.'
(However, my opposing counsel, who was old and bald, turned and said, "..and they still let bald old men like you and me in the courtroom as well, your Honor".) I've loved that old fart ever since...
-
delilah
I saw something on t.v. awhile ago, about these pageants, and I was sickened by how the mom's were SO competetive and all the little girls wanted to do was go and play. They were fidgety and fussing while having their hair and make-up done. I really thought those mom's were living their lives through their daughters. The ungodly amount of money they spend on these shows was ridiculous, to say the least. I would not want my child to be involved in them. I can't help but think of JonBenet Ramsey every time I see or hear of a child pageant. She paid the ultimate price.....
-
Saoirse
"Do they let pretty little baby girls like you practice LAW now?"
Ugh. What a chauvinist pig. That reminds me of my first day in one of my engineering classes. I was the only girl in the class. My professor got up in front of the class and said, "there is a lady in this class and I expect you all to act appropriately." He then went through a list of things that they shouldn't do - dirty jokes, cursing, fart jokes, etc. I wanted to DIE.
"..and they still let bald old men like you and; me in the courtroom as well, your Honor"
He sounds like a real gentleman.
-
somebodylovesme
Just to throw in a personal experience ... (note that I was never a Witness)
When I was a kid, I didn't do pageants -- but I did dance, baton, and modeling, which is a lot of the same stuff. Make-up, "flirty" dance moves and poses, very short and shiny skirts, hours spent on hair (I got a perm twice a year from the age of 7 until the age of 11) ... all of that stuff. It wasn't quite as obsessive as pageantry is, but my dance teacher was a pageant mom. Her little girl was a national beauty queen and actually ran in the same circle as JonBenet Ramsey.
Hours in the car to go to a fashion show ... missing the occasional school day to go be in a magazine ad ... practice sessions every day after school ... until I hit adolescence and wasn't skinny and beautiful anymore, and then it all sort of went away. I focused on school instead and, if I may say, did just fine for myself.
The end result? Actually, when I watch these documentaries about pageants, I see a lot of my childhood in them, and all I remember is how much fun it was. I LOVED doing it. I loved being on stage, I loved dancing and twirling my baton, I loved putting on make-up and getting pretty outfits and listening to the audience applaud. I think if the KID -- not just the parent -- truly loves doing it, then so be it. There has to be balance, though. I knew growing up that brains were important, that this was just a game for fun, and hey, it put some money in my college account, which I subsequently used.
The little girl who was the national beauty queen is now a very ordinary adolescent who's outgrown pageants and is instead focused on school and going to college. She seems pretty normal.
Can it be extreme? Yeah. Does it go too far? Yeah. Do some parents pursue it for the wrong reasons? Heck, yes.
Should childhood pageants, modeling, dancing, et cetera, be banned? I personally don't think so. I would compare those obsessive pageant moms to the obsessive soccer moms I see down the street, screaming about how hard their kid can kick. I could complain about the cheerleading moms and the violin moms and the theatre moms and the equestrian moms ...
All of it is about balance and making sure a kid has a hobby because THEY want it, not because their parent does.
SLM
-
stillconcerned
I danced as a child, continued up til my 2nd year of college..Then figured I'd need to earn a living somehow.
I enjoyed it too. BUT, i had an instructor/mentor who was very classy and fairly severe insofar as the moves and selections we could dance.
I think what gets gross is when little bitties are practically pole-dancing to the cheers of leering adults.
Seriously, have you been to a competition lately? First graders 'bustin' a move' straight outa MTV..
-
jonsey
I MC'd a couple of them and I can tell you that the mothers throw a fit if a score is not correct during the competition. I had not done one in over 10 years. I think that the girls are freaked out to see thier mothers go APE at these events. Let them grow up naturally...they have plenty of time for make up and competition later down the road.
MJ
-
LDH
I watched a documentary on them a few years ago, and was surprised that the audience was so small, mainly just the other mothers and siblings. Very few men in the audience.
Yep. I saw that too.
I have very sensitive eyes, and don't wear a lot of eye make up, just mascara. If I even try to use eyeliner, tears well up and ruin the whole thing. I can't imagine having to hold my eyes open while someone layered on that crap.
Lisa
