Recent beauty pageant contestant. She is two years old.
Dear Producers of Toddlers & Tiaras, TLC, and Discovery Communications LLC:
It is an extremely thin veil that hides the atrocious “Toddlers & Tiaras” as a documentary-style show for your network. For the past four seasons the show has done a good job, not so much with teaching, but of giving viewers a voyeuristic peek into the children’s beauty pageant world. We don’t need to see anymore. As Season 5 reaches its midpoint, the show now continues to do little more than become complicit in the exploitation of the little girls at its center. At best, it is now a mockumentary of the visibly unbalanced mothers (and a few fathers) who force their children to spend long and uncomfortable hours participating in these expensive pageants. Many of these children are too young to say whether or not they want to participate. When these children act out and demonstrate they do not enjoy what is happening, or do not want it to happen any longer, they are still made to participate by their pageant moms. Let us be clear from the outset that after this season it is time to cancel the show.
I’m sure inside your producer heads you think this is crazy, especially as the show has received some buzz-worthy, controversial attention recently and continues to pull in advertisers and an average of 1.3 million viewers each week….but as your mission statements goes, it is the job of the Discovery channel family to satisfy curiosity. TLC has done its job with this show, as almost everyone who has been exposed to the program finds it distasteful and widely condemns the child beauty pageant circuit. Our curiosity has been satisfied – as demonstrated with the several thousands of negative and disapproving comments left in the last couple of weeks alone. We’ve seen it. We don’t like it. We’re over it.
The idea of two year old girls strutting around with cones protruding out of her bustier and five year olds who sit trembling and screaming in a chair at a salon as she is enticed into a painful beauty treatment will tend to leave a bad taste in our mouth. It leaves us less interested in the pageants themselves, but more interested in gawking at and judging the deranged mothers who subject their poor daugthers to this twisted world of judged fake beauty. That might make for good ratings, but it doesn’t make for a happy and healthy childhood of the young girls who hold the title of this show. Just like their overbearing mothers, you exploit these children. A shameful act on both parts.
The duration of this show has coincided with a large effort by a small group of dedicated experts to raise awareness to the general public about the sexualization of girls. The parents we have reached now understand the emotional, psychological, and physical harm a young girl is exposed to when she is sexualized. As the 2007 American Psychological Association’s task force report showed us, early sexualization can lead to self-esteem issues, depression, eating disorders, and early promiscuity.
Contestant on the children's beauty pageant circuit.
“Toddlers & Tiaras” is a petri dish of sexualization. Little girls are taught, often times forced by their domineering mothers, to act coquettishly, learn suggestive dance routines, wear sexualized costumes and bathing suits, endure hours of hair and make-up, and are even put on restrictive diets in order to lose weight for competition. This is perverse. While TLC continues to air “Toddlers & Tiaras”, the network becomes an agent of this sexualization.
The toxic culture of the pageant world, the judging of beauty, is confusing to young children who have not yet reached the emotional-intellectual milestones of understanding reality and competition. These little girls become infantilized women as their parents and coaches do whatever it takes to win that crown and of course, the money. The time alone spent prepping for pageants robs girls of their childhood, time that should be spent learning and playing and socializing with friends. Teaching young girls a very narrow version of beauty, transforming their bodies so that their beauty can be measured and judged, or to use their sexualized bodies to earn money for the family is disgusting. I take great offense to this. When you add to this the chemically dangerous spray tans, butt glue, nail glue, eyelash glue, hairspray, and cosmetics applied to these tiny, developing bodies, it is not a stretch to say these pageant programs are both emotionally and physically abusive.
The content of the show is reprehensible and the time has come to stop being a complicit entity to the unfair and unhealthy treatment of these little girls. Surely the world holds more intersting storylines than overdone, unhappy toddlers wearing hair pieces and sequined Vegas showgirl costumes while their obnoxious mothers puppet unimaginative talent routines as they pathetically live vicariously through their very young daughters.
TLC and Discovery’s decision to not renew the show certainly won’t stop these families from exploiting their daugthers, but we don’t have to give audience to it. Please cancel “Toddlers & Tiaras”.
Sincerely,
Melissa Wardy
owner, Pigtail Pals LLC
Its time we change the way we think about our girls.
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Want to contact the show? Have at it:
Producers: ToddlersTiarasCasting@authentictv.com
Owners: Discovery Communications, LLC Viewer Relations 1 Discovery Place, 5th Floor Silver Spring, MD 20910
Discovery Ethics Hotline: 1-800-398-6395
181 Responses to “An Open Letter to TLC: Cancel Toddlers & Tiaras”
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In New Mexico, a 72-year-old man got put in the federal slammer for watching child porno on his computer in the privacy of his own home.
These people are openly making and broadcasting and profiting from child porno.
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I’d like to thank TLC for bringing this type of child abuse to light and now hopefully we can be the fighting voice for the lives of these young girls who have no choice but to succumb to their parent’s selfish desires.
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*****standing ovation*****
I am going to share this on Facebook and my blog. The Mom-blogger sphere has created enough buzz to get t-shirts pulled from department stores and major news outlets to issue retractions and apologies for misleading articles. You’re absolutely right that it’s time for us to turn our attention toward this issue.
Save the Toddlers!
Amy Austin´s last blog ..Grandpa, Bearing Gifts
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This program is boring and exploits children to an abusive and intolerable degree. The network should be held accountable in any financial settlement in addition to the sponsers who advertise their products. Please stop airing this program in the future.
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[...] Of course, there are those, mostly pageant moms and directors, who insist that pageants are not about sexualizing the children involved. Oh, really? How about the 3-year-old dressed up as Julia Roberts’ character from Pretty Woman? Or the 4-year-old dressed up as Dolly Parton—complete with fake breasts and padded bottom? Or the 2-year-old in the gilded-cone bustier, dressed like the outrageously sexual Madonna? [...]
I have watched this show less than a handful of times. I was appalled at the way the parents pushed these pageants on the poor toddlers. I would never treat my child that way. I honestly felt so bad for those children. we should let children be children for as long as possible. There is enough crap out in the world, on television and in magazines and also in school to force them to grow up way too early as it is. I remember as a child playing with dolls at age 11. You don’t see that anymore. It is a shame. Lets let children be children and take that show that exploits our little girls off the air. It also taunts the pervs and pedophiles. I would be afraid one of them would find my child and do harm to her or him. These parents need to realize what they are doing to their children.
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Mike Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Bravo, Sheila! Well said!
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Never have now never will watch that obscene show. It is child abuse as far as I am concerned. These parents belong in therapy along with the poor children.
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You have written my exact thoughts — especially regarding child abuse. This is a form of sex trafficking. We condemn it when it is done to children in another country, but then watch it voyeuristically when it is done through the medium of a reality show in America.
LakeMom´s last blog ..Moody Mamma
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I confess that I had no idea what butt glue was… let’s just say that I googled it and now I’m sorry. Anyway, the other day at a kids’ football game, (5-7 years age group) a mom actually spanked her kindergarten-age daughter because she said, “I don’t want to be a cheerleader!” The mom said, “You ARE going to be a cheerleader whether you like it or not!” and absolutely tore that little girl’s legs up. Seriously. Those girls were being encouraged/forced to go out in front of people in short skirts and shake their… pompoms.. and do suggestive dance routines for the crowd to watch. At 5 years old. I don’t really see how that is any different than Toddlers and Tiaras.
I decided never to watch that show when I saw a quote from one of the moms who said something like, “She doesn’t only do pageants. Her activities are really very diverse. She also does tap, ballet, and modern dance!” Puh-leeze.
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Absolutely right! I will be writing a letter as well!
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This is just plain disgusting. Taking sweet innocent ‘baby’ girls and turning them into self-righteous nasty little snobs. This has GOT to stop. I’m looking at the picture of the 2-year-old with the CONE BUSTIER on this page!!!! Are you kidding me??? This is pretty darned close to a form of child abuse. These little girls couldn’t care less about these ‘pageants’..this is all for the glory of the almighty dollar and the huge egos of the nasty, viscious, greedy moms and dads who think little Suzie will rake in the bucks through this pathetic ritual.
MAKE IT STOP…NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I just e-mailed the producers a not so nice note on this, hope something will change, this has gotten too crazy, is very disturbing from so many angles.
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Horrified, outraged, this is utterly disturbing and undoubtedly sick. TV has become a dangerous tool, not only an entertainment asset. It appeals to our most basic instincts of voyeurism, and the audience is as guilty as the producers. I say boycott this show, nobody should watch it.
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Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common way of life in some parts of the country. I grew up in the South, where fully half of our grade participated in pageants – including my cousin, who got started at age 6 and despised every minute of it. Her mom kept a trophy case in their entry way and my cousin would make it a point to bring friends in through the back door. Aunt tried to get me to do a pageant and I responded by not washing my hair the night before and wearing my brother’s Transformers t-shirt to the audition. :b
Sorry, tangent there. Every pageant we had to sit through, you could tell the girls were *not* having fun. Spending your afterschool hours perfecting dance routines (in 100 degree heat) so you could perform for 15 minutes – it’s no wonder my cousin keeps those trophies in a box in the basement. Her daughters have no idea about her pageant days. Hopefully, these moms will get a clue (but probably not, they’re pimping their daughters on stage *and* on television).
Take back childhood!!!
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I COMPLETELY agree with this letter. I watched a couple episodes recently to see what the hype was all about. I didn’t see one child that was happy. Pageants are just find for older girls who have A CHOICE in participating, but these girls I promise you didn’t say “I want to be a pageant queen” when they started speaking (and I’ve seen some children on there who don’t even speak yet).
PLEASE cancel this show and stop giving attention to this practice.
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I have to admit I have watched it quite a few times but it was more like a train wreck, discusted but just can’t look away. With the outragous things I have seen this show should not be aired. Little girls hitting and yelling things at thier mothers without any discipline. Without the discipline these kids need, they are gonna be trouble when the grow up. But then again you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Think this show is making public the thin veil between these pagents and child labour.
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This is SICK that poor defenseless child is gonna end up with PTSD if she does not already suffer from it of another emotional disorder, and the beautician should LOSE HER LICENSE!
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This show is stupid, why is there even more than one season??????
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i completely agree!!! i am so glad i found this and see others who agree as well. this show is disgusting and unfortunately our youth is the main target audience. this is exactly why there are pedefiles!!! this is why jean bennet ramsey was brutaly murderd. you can make a 3 year old look 20 its not cool… its nasty!!! i would glady sign a petition or join a campaign to add this sexualizing of babies
heatherlynn morrison
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I agree with this letter as well. I am tired of seeing girls being primped fod a pagent by having makeup being put on, fake teeth, and the provocative outfits that they wear! One day they are gonna think its alright to dress that way, and then its gonna bite them in the behind.
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As women, we are sexualized from the time of birth by pedaphiles until the time
of our passing by necrophiliacs. Throughout history we have been abused, molested,
taunted and compelled to perform for other women and most of all, for sick and
disgusting men.
Men love to molest us as little girls because it gives them a superiority complex.
So hey, that daddy wants to buy the diapers that make his little baby boy or girl have
a sexy ass. As they get older, those nasty parents teach thier little girls and some
times even little boys, how to put on make-up and how to start acting like adults.This
gives the parents the ability to teach thier children everything they can in order to
gratify thier sick and twisted love affairs of lust.
Heck, my mom had me waxed down there when I was a toddler and I’m now in my
twenties and I still don’t have any hair down there now but, when I was between nine
and eleven years old, I was also raped because thats what daddy and his
“business associates” wanted to feel when they abused me.
But hey, my folks taught me how to dance like a stripper and they told me what
what to expect and what I had to perform as such. But at least they taught me a good
profession that I am good at despite the abuses and incest I had to go through
to get here.
So hey, taunting our kids may not be socialy accepted but it is still a reality that
has existed from the book of Genesis all the way up to today. It has not changed,
it will never change and despite all the protests and complaints, it still exists.
So why complain?
Kids have and always will be exploited, just ask Lewis Carroll or Oscar Wilde or if
you are more up to date you can talk with Peter Townshend or Madonna, they all “love”
kids and still no one cares. So is it really child abuse and child exploitation or is it just a
social reality that we don’t know how to label?.
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Please take this show off the air. It’s so wrong in so many ways.
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I feel disgusted by these parents and the whole concept of child-pageants. It’s child abuse and should be punished. Though I watch many shows on TLC, I think they should be ashamed of themselves for featuring this particular one as a glam show. It could have been a documentary to inform people, but this show seems to glorify these events. Shame on you!
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I would just like to say that I understand not everyone is happy about the pageant industry and that many feel that it “is a petri dish of sexualization” of our daughter. However, ask yourself this…is it not the same for those fathers who make their sons join the football league and all other sports the same thing? There are many boys out there that are pushed and coerced into sports that they do not enjoy, “often times forced by their domineering fathers”. Lets also look at the swagger and pompous attitude that these boys are being led to believe is socially acceptable! The majority of them walk around like the cock of the walk and figure they can have any “hot babe” they want, and become complete womanizers. Why then is it okay to teach our sons these traits and to feel entitled to “beautiful women” but it is not okay to make our daughters into confident women that can combat these males we have pumped into society?
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bree Reply:
July 16th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
no, i dont think its the same. Being forced to play a team sport or being forced to prance around and shake your bottom to please a crowd while wearing fake hair,eyelashes,teeth..and revealing outfits. Not even close. Abuse is abuse, wether it be a mean father or mean mother. Lets get one thing straight, this is not going to make confident women. how about when these girls loose these competitions? How can a mother deal with that? “sorry hunny, the other little girl was just better then you..she was prettier” Girls are already jealous and competitive by nature. These pageants just make girls not like eachother. I think pageants are the worst thing you could ever do to your daughters.
Ps
Strippers dance infront of crowds with fake hair,eyelashes and globs of make-up.
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I just saw an infuriating preview of Toddlers and Tiaras. It was of a little girl,of course,in a Playboy bunny costume. I can’t even believe some sick person would even create a costume like this for someone under 18. Parents often argue back and forth how costumes they put their daughters in are not sexy,they are cute. In this case however,I do not think it’s debatable. The sole purpose of a Playboy costume is to be sexy. There is no two ways about it. Children are not sexual. Petioles probably watching the show,are salivating. It’s sick and twisted. Most men don’t even want to see their grown daughters in a Playboy costume. Playboy does not allow persons under the age of 18 to be in their magazine. The reason for this is because,IT”S AGAINST THE LAW! Also,what was that again? Oh yes,little girls are not sexual!
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[...] An Open Letter to TLC: Cancel Toddlers & Tiaras – Pigtail PalsJan 18, 2011 … Melissa Wardy. owner, Pigtail Pals LLC …. It appeals to our most basic instincts of voyeurism, and the audience is as guilty as the producers. [...]
[...] http://blog.pigtailpals.com/2011/01/an-open-letter-to-tlc-cancel-toddlers-tiaras/ [...]
If this show wins or gets nominated for a single Emmy, what a sad day that’s gonna be.
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