TLC - Toddlers and Tiaras - group trying to cancel show

[Catty1]

http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/toddlers-tiaras/toddlers-tiaras.html

Facebook group seeks to remove show from the air.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/506914

"I was completely disgusted. Just the way they seem to be sexualizing the toddlers ... The way they gyrate their hips, the way they open their mouths, the way they pucker their lips at the cameras, the judges.

"These girls should not be moving that way."
Karrin Huynh, 17

http://media.hamiltonspectator.topscms.com/images/07/75/200c35d14bfea738fa2f57bed9a8.jpeg


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090204.TOTS04/TPStory/National
Student sees red over tiny girls dancing in bikinis
St. Catharines teen starts Facebook group to have the program Toddlers and Tiaras removed

KATE HAMMER

February 4, 2009

As though the hair extensions, fake eyelashes and skimpy bikinis weren't enough, hip-grinding dance moves were the final straw for 17-year-old Karrin Huynh. But she wasn't the one being asked to preen, dance and smile for the cameras: It was a four-year-old girl on the cable television show Toddlers and Tiaras.

Ms. Huynh, a Grade 12 student at Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catharines, was so disgusted by the show that she started a Facebook group to get the show off the air. Barely a month later, the group has more than 600 members in Canada and the United States.

"It's The Learning Channel, and it's a family channel, so you have little kids watching this show and seeing these living dolls being paraded on stage," she said. "And society wonders why girls have low self-esteem and low self-confidence when they're sitting at home wondering, 'Is this what I'm supposed to look like? Is this what I'm supposed to be?' "

After seeing commercials for the show's premiere, and then watching episodes posted on YouTube, Ms. Huynh started a petition to have the show removed.

A classmate, Lesley Cornelius, helped start the Facebook group, and hundreds of people became members.

One member e-mailed Discovery Communications, the media company that owns TLC, and received a thank you for the remarks, but the company didn't address any of the group's concerns.

"Maintaining the integrity of all of our networks is our primary goal," reads the e-mail, from viewer relations. "It is these types of comments that contribute to creating change and improving our programming."

Ms. Huynh said that though some feel the show is only examining, rather than glorifying, children's beauty pageants, their minds are changed when they check out the Toddlers and Tiaras website.

There, in a feature called "Rate the beauty queens," visitors can score photographs of pageant contestants on a scale of 1 to 10. Many have an average score of below 4.

[pomtzu]

I agree!!! It should be taken off the air. I can't believe the way the mothers exploit these children. Perhaps Jon Benet Ramsey would still be alive today if her mother hadn't taken her down the same road that these little girls are on! The true beauty of children is their natural beauty - not being made up like Anna Nicole Smith! :mad:

[caseysmom]

Good for them!

[Grace]

Many years ago, while working in the ER, a mom brought her daughter in because she had knocked out one of her front teeth. Now these were baby teeth, so a permanent would be coming in one day. But the mom was hysterical - the little girl was going to be in a pageant in 2 days and had to be perfect. She wanted us to put that tooth back in until after the event.

Needless to say, we did not do it.

[Twisterdog]

What is wrong with people?

I was shopping for my great-niece's birthday present a few years ago. She was six years old. So, I think I'll get her some clothes ... wrong. I seriously could find nothng in the store that was remotely age-appropriate - I found belly shirts, booty shorts, shirts that said, "I LOVE FOOTBALL players!" and "SEXY!!" and "I'M A FLIRT when my boyfriend's not looking!" - all in a child's size 6X mind you, for a child in kindegarten. I gave up.

At one time people sexualizing of young children were called perverts or pedophiles ... now they are mothers and primetime TV producers?

[RICHARD]

Agreed,

People should wait until the kids are at least in Jr. High school to let them wear a shirt like this one I saw-


I am home,
Take me drunk.

---------------

Then they wonder why kids are victims of perverts.

Morons.

[Karen]

I have heard of the show and resolved not to give it one minute of airtime in my house. Who the heck decided little girls need make-up and hair extensions to be considered beautiful? Most little girls are already beautiful just the way God made them - "tarting" them up just makes them scary!

[Taz_Zoee]

I hate to admit it, but I actually did watch one episode of this show. The episode I saw showed the youngest girl at 7 years old. And she actually didn't wear a lot of make up or poof her hair three feet out from her head. I did not watch the entire show though, now that I think about it. Because I don't know who won.
But I agree, it is horrible. And the moms say - She loves it!! Really? I've seen other specials on this where the little girl is crying her eyes out and the mom is screaming at her. The problem is they wanted to be beauty pagent queens but couldn't so they are living vicariously through their daughters. Its just sad. :(
Oh, on Toddlers and Tiara's the mothers compete too!! They are ALL competing for the $5000 prize. Not in separate age groups, but all together. There's only ONE winner. Can you imagine being happy that you beat out a 4 year old???

[Catty1]

They have little boys too. But I think this is a show that 60 minutes should do. :mad:

Nothing like feeding the pedophiles in our world....

[Daisy and Delilah]

I mentioned the questionable shows TLC is running in another thread. Okay....so they're going for the big ratings......have they considered the messages they're sending out? As if we don't have enough problems raising our children anyway. Why would anybody want to cram this nonsense down young children's throats? It's insanity!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

[cassiesmom]

I mentioned the questionable shows TLC is running in another thread.

D&D, where is the other thread? I saw a commercial for this show with the preschool girl beauty pageants. It's not the show that makes me as mad as the idea of what these little girls are expected to do.

[Daisy and Delilah]

D&D, where is the other thread? I saw a commercial for this show with the preschool girl beauty pageants. It's not the show that makes me as mad as the idea of what these little girls are expected to do.

Elyse, I think it was the one about the woman that recently gave birth to octuplets. I can't seem to remember for sure. TLC is seemingly supporting the family with 18 children, men with multiple wives, etc.

[blue]

Wasnt it HBO that had the show about the poligamist family?

[Medusa]

Wasnt it HBO that had the show about the poligamist family?

That's a series called "Big Love". TLC did a show where a journalist interviewed polygamist family.

[Medusa]

Beauty pageants for children send the wrong message not only to the children but, as others have mentioned, they encourage pedophiles. It's always creeped me out. I read just yesterday that My Space has removed 10,000 registered sex offenders from their site. It's mind boggling and so scary to raise kids today. Parents need to be hypervigilant.

[moosmom]

Out of curiosity, I watched one episode. The youngest was carried onto the stage (she was only 5 months old). :eek: The gyrating and sexual implications really made me uncomfortable. It was quite obvious that it's the parents who get more out of beauty pageants than the kids do. It's child exploitation, plain and simple.

[Sirrahsim]

I tuned in for all of about 2 minutes simply because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Disgusting.

[pomtzu]

Maybe I'm super, overly cautious, but I would never post any pictures of my grandchildren on any public website for people to see - even on PT. I have a very beautiful 16 yr old granddaughter, and a very handsome 12 yr old grandson, and I don't feel at all comfortable having their pictures for all to see. There's just too many sickos out there that are able to track people anywhere. I don't know how they do it, but it's done all the time.
That's why I can't understand these mothers parading their children on t.v. - dressed and made up to be provocative and sexy way beyond their years. Don't these mothers know that they're just inviting trouble - or is it that they just don't care??? Is that trophy and prize money worth the chance they take??? :confused::mad:

[Catty1]

Link to the Facebook site:


http://www.facebook.com/s.php?q=toddlers+and+tiaras&init=q&sid=8cf9401284d9d4bd82c7bab17b941e41#/group.php?sid=8cf9401284d9d4bd82c7bab17b941e41&gid=48970115964

[blue]

That's a series called "Big Love". TLC did a show where a journalist interviewed polygamist family.

I didnt know that, I havent had cable for 6 years.

[Karen]

I didnt know that, I havent had cable for 6 years.

Oh, and the series "Big Love" is fiction, as well. The main character is played by Bill Paxton.

[Daisy and Delilah]

The show that I was talking about is:

Forbidden Love: Polygamy

It's a true story. TLC ran it on 2/04 and they're running it again on 2/19.

[Twisterdog]

People should wait until the kids are at least in Jr. High school to let them wear a shirt like this one I saw-

I am home,
Take me drunk.

What? Junior High? A twelve or thirteen year old wearing a shirt proclaiming that they are drunk?! I am going to assume you are joking.

No child of mine would wear that shirt in my presence until he or she was twenty-one years old, and even then I would comment negatively on it.

[moosmom]

Amen Twisterdog!!

[Pembroke_Corgi]

I have never heard of this show, but I find the idea of child beauty pageants bizarre and repulsing to say the least. Heck, I really find any beauty pageant weird and kind of sick, but if the contestants are adults at least they have a choice. I wonder who would actually want their child to compete in something like this? It sounds disgusting.

I find it really sad that we live in the 21st century and woman are trained by the media from a young age to believe that what is really important is their sexual appeal.

[Karen]

I find it really sad that we live in the 21st century and woman are trained by the media from a young age to believe that what is really important is their sexual appeal.

Oh, gosh please amend that to say "SOME women"! I certainly had drummed into my head "pretty is as pretty does" from earliest childhood! As were, I bet, lots of people here! :)

[K9soul]

I think Pembroke meant not so much parents are bringing up their girls in such a way, but more that media, movies, games, music, advertising, and even some parts of society in general perpetuate these ideas and ways of thinking.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Oh, gosh please amend that to say "SOME women"! I certainly had drummed into my head "pretty is as pretty does" from earliest childhood! As were, I bet, lots of people here! :)


I think Pembroke meant not so much parents are bringing up their girls in such a way, but more that media, movies, games, music, advertising, and even some parts of society in general perpetuate these ideas and ways of thinking.

Yes this is exactly what I meant, thanks. :) I think most parents probably teach their kids similar things to Karen's parents, which is good. But, I think that society sends a different message in many ways. Women on tv, in ads, movies, etc., are almost always young, thin, and beautiful (though this is not true of men). It's like women who are not these things are not valuable.

[pomtzu]

I was watching Entertainment Tonight and The Insider last night before the dog show, and they did a short feature on this t.v. show, and other shows like it. Not only are these girls being made up to try to look like Miss America (and that's being complimentary on my part), but those fancy hair styles aren't necessarily their own hair. These little ones are wearing wigs and hair pieces. Come on - how stupid!!!! And one little girl had lost one of her front baby teeth, and the mother had a retainer made with a tooth to fill in where the missing one had been. These mothers need to prioritize - I'm sure these shows need to be at the bottom of the list. I wonder how much the rest of the family is neglected so the beauty queens can be pampered beyond anything reasonable.
These kids sure are being taught a very wrong set of values. :mad:

[cubananglgurl]

How can any decent mother put her children through that?! Don’t the know the damaging phsycological and emiotional effects it has on childeren as they grow and develop??? Every ounce of those childrens self esteem is measured but how many crowns and titles they win. These mom’s are trying to live through their children and using them as cash cows. It sickens me to no end. most of those little girls you see right now are going to be battling anorexia within the next few years over their selfish parents. The children no nothing about manners and to be polite, what they need is a good spanking. These parents should be ashamed of what they’re doing just for some shiny baubles. I refuse to watch HOw can a mother say that one daughter is prettier than the other just by her nose?! that little girl is going to grow up and hate her mother. I truly believe that this should be considered as exploiting children. my heart goes out to all of those girls who’s mothers feel that they need to bathe their little girls in make up and wigs and parade them like little stippers. I’m only 17 years old and I WILL NEVER do that to any child that I will have. I am truly angry at TLC.

[moosmom]

What I can't get over is these parents spend THOUSANDS of dollars in an effort to win a measily $5,000. That doesn't include travel and hotel accommodations. I admit that I've watched a few episodes. What breaks my heart the most is the way the parents drag their daughters kicking and screaming on stage in front of the judges.

I know this is kinda stupid to mention, but MooShoo is a retired cat show Regal. He enjoyed it for a while. Once he started hissing and crying while bringing him to the judging table I knew he had had enough. He is now a happy, well adjusted 11 year old couch potato cat show has been. But he's all mine!!!!!

I do hope they take that Toddlers and Tiaras off the air. I'm so tired of of reality shows. There are way too many and they get old fast.

[Medusa]

I do hope they take that Toddlers and Tiaras off the air. I'm so tired of of reality shows. There are way too many and they get old fast.

I'm surprised that there isn't a reality show channel. That would be fine w/me. Then we could view them or not instead of having them peppered in w/regular TV shows. There's a game show channel and a soap opera channel; why not a reality show channel?

[happylabs]

This whole thing is just wrong. Remember the murder of that little beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JonBen%C3%A9t_Ramsey

[Pinot's Mom]

I'm surprised that there isn't a reality show channel. That would be fine w/me. Then we could view them or not instead of having them peppered in w/regular TV shows. There's a game show channel and a soap opera channel; why not a reality show channel?

There IS a "Reality Show Network" - I think Fox runs it. They run all reality shows all the time. I've run across it when surfing occasionally.

[moosmom]

UGH!!!!!:mad::mad::mad:

I watched a big pageant the other day. Guess what the 2 top prizes were??? You will NEVER believe it...

Pug PUPPIES!!!!:eek::eek::eek: They couldn't have been more than 6 MAYBE 8 weeks old. The little kids that didn't win were crying. It was awfull.

That's a travesty!! I hope PETA and any and every animal rescue group saw it and has written the station in an effort to stop this bull!!

What if the family doesn't WANT the puppy??? What if they sell it or adopt it out to a less than honorable home?

I pray for those precious babies and I don't mean the pageant members either!!!

[Medusa]

There IS a "Reality Show Network" - I think Fox runs it. They run all reality shows all the time. I've run across it when surfing occasionally.

Really? Hmm, guess I missed that. I wish they'd put them all on that channel then.

[cassiesmom]

I saw "Toddlers and Tiaras" for the first time last night. All those 6- and 7-year old girls being spray tanned and made up. There's something about it that's just wrong. TLC can take it off the air, but the little-girl pageant circuit will probably not suffer a bit.

[RICHARD]

http://www.parentdish.com/2009/08/18/designer-defends-nipple-tassels-on-tot-t-shirt/?icid=main|main|dl3|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentd ish.com%2F2009%2F08%2F18%2Fdesigner-defends-nipple-tassels-on-tot-t-shirt%2F



THIS is the kind of crap that people think up for the kids.

Bad enough that the little ones don't know WTF is going on, worse when the stupid AH parents buy their kids stuff like this.

P.S.

Loved the Muley Cyrus pole dance on the ice cream cart. I pray Bully Ray gets a pain for pimping his daughter out like that.


BTW, if she's old enough to pole dance, why all the commotion about her stalker?:rolleyes::eek::(

[Medusa]

http://www.parentdish.com/2009/08/18/designer-defends-nipple-tassels-on-tot-t-shirt/?icid=main|main|dl3|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentd ish.com%2F2009%2F08%2F18%2Fdesigner-defends-nipple-tassels-on-tot-t-shirt%2F



THIS is the kind of crap that people think up for the kids.

Bad enough that the little ones don't know WTF is going on, worse when the stupid AH parents buy their kids stuff like this.

P.S.

Loved the Muley Cyrus pole dance on the ice cream cart. I pray Bully Ray gets a pain for pimping his daughter out like that.


BTW, if she's old enough to pole dance, why all the commotion about her stalker?:rolleyes::eek::(

Read the comments that people posted. One person wrote "the perfect gift for the little prostitot!" It certainly is no mystery why females are considered by some men merely as sexual objects to be used. Any parent who would dress their little baby in this get up isn't a parent at all, but a pimp.

[RICHARD]

Read the comments that people posted. One person wrote "the perfect gift for the little prostitot!"

Mary,
Don't encourage me!:eek:

The people who think that a shirt like this "would be cute" are the people that need to be slapped in the head!

LOL, I can't read the comments because I end up having to join and I hate to make up a 'persona' and fill out the 'required fields' on a site I may never visit again.

--------

I get creeped out when I see kids made up and dressed like hookers. I hate to say this, but the people that RUN these contests are the shiat on my shoe.

Now, I may be out of line with this comment? IT's what I have seen on the shoes and pretty apparent.

There are two kinds of people that run these car wrecks?

The first is the washed up "teen queen" that is a few decades removed from participating. She just wants to keep that great feeling of competition going.

THe second?

The people that travel around to this events and charge beau coup dollars to make up a child.

------------------

LOL,
I saw this man on the local FOX channel this morning with his daughter -His the one that dotes on the 4 year old and preps her for the 'shows'.

The guys who do this for their daughters are more than entertainment for me.

He started pimping the kid when she was 3 month old.:eek::rolleyes::mad:

[Medusa]

Mary,


LOL, I can't read the comments because I end up having to join and I hate to make up a 'persona' and fill out the 'required fields' on a site I may never visit again.

I didn't have to join to read the comments. I just clicked on "comments" and was able to read them. There were a few people who think that the idea is "cute" but the majority feel as you and I do. This is why I can't understand why the show is enough of a success to keep it on the air.