CLICK HER TO READ THIS AT THE DENVER POST! What did Santa bring the little girl in your life? A Barbie or an American Girl doll? Perhaps it was a gift certificate for a manicure or a facial? Don’t be surprised if it was the latter, as girls young as 6 are making appointments at [...]
Princess means that you’re a loser! A lot of feminists might agree with this sentiment– especially with the recent release of Disney’s newest princess targeted at the preschool set, Sofia the First. But it was a child beauty pageant mom who uttered this line during the continuing fourth season of TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras, which [...]
I recently published a book review of Francesco Duina’s new sociological investigation on competition in the latest issue of International Review of Modern Sociology. You can read the review by CLICKING HERE. While it did appear in an academic journal, I believe the review (and the book itself!) should be accessible to a non-academic audience. [...]
You’ve seen the four-year-old dressed up as Dolly Parton (complete with “enhancements”), right? And, of course, you’ve seen the images of the three-year-old dressed up as Julia Roberts’ prostitute character from Pretty Woman, haven’t you? Judging by the ratings for TLC’s fourth season of Toddlers & Tiaras, it seems you have. Each week over two [...]
This has certainly been the summer of stage mothers– at least on television. We have the Dance Moms on Lifetime, who continue to bring the crazy. If anything, it’s ramping up as the Abby Lee Dance Company prepares for its big “nationals” in Tahoe. Stay tuned for a smackdown with Crazy Cathy from Candy Apples… [...]
The tension has been building for months — the online protests started in April, and then there were the rallies in May. Not to mention the Facebook threats and numerous complaints to public officials. Despite all the brouhaha, an “American-style” child beauty pageant sponsored by Texas-based Universal Royalty took place over the weekend in Melbourne, [...]
Wednesdays at 10 pm are really must-see-TV for me. Thanks to my DVR I can watch TLC’s tried and true Toddlers & Tiaras and Lifetime’s newcomer, Dance Moms. I’ve long said that in many ways competitive dance and child beauty pageants have a lot in common. Imagine if JonBenét had been a competitive dancer and [...]
It’s been a big week in beauty pageants, especially with the Miss USA Pageant and the return of Toddlers & Tiaras. Last week’s TLC hit featured a “showdown” between two of the most well-known queens featured on the show– Eden Wood and MaKenzie– and this week’s featured a Pentecostal, praying pageant mom and a pushy, [...]
Over the weekend I was contacted by the group Australians Against Child Beauty Pageants. I have been reading about their protests of a child beauty pageant that will be held in Melbourne in July for a few weeks now. Basically a US pageant system, Universal Royalty (which I write a bit more about below), is [...]
It’s Wednesday– one of my favorite TV nights. But, alas, no new episode of Toddlers & Tiaras tonight. This post is in honor of the conclusion of the third season of the TLC hit. Everyone who has been making money off of child beauty pageants, like TLC, owes a huge debt of gratitude to JonBenét [...]
