There's trouble brewing in the lipsticked and hairsprayed world of toddler pageants.
Little Madisyn "Maddy" Verst is a now-6-year-old little girl who has appeared on the popular TLC (un)reality show 'Toddlers & Tiaras'. You may remember her even if you don't watch the show because she appeared on the cover of People magazine a while back with the headline "Gone Too Far?"
Well Maddy's mom and dad are currently locked in a custody battle and one of the dad's fuels for his fire is a Dolly Parton costume the little girl wore on the show that featured a padded bra and butt.
A Kentucky court-appointed psychologist is siding with the father, Bill Verst, saying that the child’s participation in beauty pageants, and in particular the Dolly Parton and a "sexy" cop outfit, are damaging to the girl and is recommending that the parents share temporary custody with the father getting primary residential custody.
Lindsay Jackson, the girl's mother, told the media on Saturday, “If [the judge decides] that Maddy needs to live with her dad because she does pageants with me, then that opens the door for any parent to challenge anybody on activity that a kid does, period,” Jackson said. “We could really open up Pandora’s Box to set a precedent all over the world. What if years ago Gabby Douglas’ father said, ‘She’s not going to be a gymnast. She’s not going to move away from home and practice gymnastics because I won’t allow it,’ and he and Gabby’s mother got into a fight? We wouldn’t have gold medal winners, we wouldn’t have Miss America, we wouldn’t have Miss USA.”
The next hearing is scheduled for August 31.
A Mom put her kid in a Dolly Parton costume on Toddlers and Tiaras, one she wore as a child herself, so why would she think it was wrong. Now her ex wants to take the child away from her. Well, it seems her ex is a felon and was arrested a few weeks ago for DUI. Even if the judge thinks what she did was wrong, she should JUST be told not to do it again. We can't worry about pedophiles watching, they see our children, at the beach, cheerleading, gymnastics, etc. So does this mean that parents will lose custody of their kids if a judge doesn't like their Halloween costume? This is a slippery slope.
Posted by: Cookie Cohen | August 22, 2012 at 04:53 PM
This is so disturbing. Sexualizing todlers and children, even teens, is so wrong. It sends them the wrong message -- and at a time when they are mentally and emotionally too young to even grasp what they're being exposed to. It encourages them to focus on and draw attention to their young bodies in a sexual manner and that is perverted. Pageants that have them dress up in pretty dresses are one thing. But dressing them up like prostitues, in daisy dukes, in flesh-simulated outfits, and making them wear fake breasts and butts is perverted. These are children. They are supposed to look like children, not like sexually, over exposed adults.
Another thing to think seriously about is this: Who are the judges in these pageants? They are adults, not children. Children may not realize how wrong this is. But Adults do. Now, why would a...n adult want to see a child dressed up like a prositute or see a child that looks like they have large breasts and butts, or see a child wearing an outfit that deliberately makes it appear as though she is naked? Because they are perverted adults. Yes, any judge who approves of such perverse and inappropriate themes and who does not show a no tollerance stance against such by immediately disqualifying those who dress in such a manner, are perverts, both male judges and female judges.
So although the parents of these pageant contestants claim that this is all "innocent," it's anything but innocent. They are whoring their children out and in the process, fulfilling the sick inner desires of these perverted judges, just to win some cheap crown and gain some twisted sense of self success by living through and literally off of their impressionable children's bodies. That is just sick. These judges and these parents should be charged with producing, promoting and distribution of child pornography, and the children should be placed in the care of more stable minded adults.
Why would any normal parent deliberately sexualize their own child and make them the fuel that pedophiles thrive on? The answer is NO normal parent would. Only a sick, selfish, and twisted person would do such a terrible thing.
Posted by: Gabriel | August 22, 2012 at 07:46 AM
The Mom who put her little girl in the hooker costume based on Juia Roberts character from "Pretty Woman"; should also be looked into by CPS.
Posted by: Lisa Holley | August 22, 2012 at 07:06 AM