Child Pageants "attract paedophiles"...

[surreal]

Yes, its from the "No Shit Sherlock" department again but this article is unbelievable:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1276960,00.html

A leading children's charity has claimed child beauty pageants "inadvertently attract paedophiles", Sky News has learned.

Kidscape described the contests, which began in the UK last year, as "extremely disturbing".

In one contest, Mini-Miss Model UK, parents paraded their children up the catwalk.  Some were only a year old and were unable to walk, while others wore make-up or gowns made for adult women.

Former glamour model Jayne Harris, who entered 11-year-old daughter Sasha and seven-year-old son Max, encourages her children's behaviour.  She said: "Looks are everything. No one is going to talk to you if you are ugly. If you've got it, flaunt it."  Both children have extensive beauty regimes - Sasha idolises glamour model Jordan and loves having spray tans, highlights, acrylic nails and hair extensions.

But according to Kidscape, superficial lifestyles like this are "sexualising children" and can be psychologically damaging.

Claude Knights from the charity said: "Parents are so over-ambitious they lose sight of all reality.  "It's no surprise that the children often get bullied ,with many showing signs of depression and low self-esteem in adulthood."

Organiser of Mini-Miss and Junior Model UK, Howard Smith, denied the allegations that children were at risk.  "There are strict rules in place," he said.

He said there would not be a pageant this year but would not explain why.

That woman should have her kids taken away....

EDIT: This is the "former glamour model" herself:

[mulder]

Looks are everything. No one is going to talk to you if you are ugly

No need to say it really, but that just makes me feel sick and depressed.

That pic is proof that beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I certainly don't want to talk to her.

[surreal]

Heh, this seems to be an ongoing series:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1277128,00.html

Child Beauty Queen 'At Serious Risk'

The mother of a child beauty queen says paedophiles will not put her off entering more pageants.
Sky News Online can exclusively report that paedophiles are already discussing 11-year-old Sasha online.

Sasha's mother, Jayne Harris, has entered her daughter into child beauty contests from an early age.  She believes looks are everything - she encourages Sasha to have regular spray tans, acrylic nails and highlights.

"Sasha is now at serious risk," said the Online Sex Offenders Community monitoring team.

Ms Harris is not affected by the news that paedophiles have been uploading pictures of her.  "There are always sickos out there and it's a risk you take when you have a beautiful child that's in the media. It'll blow over in a few weeks," she said.

Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was murdered by a paedophile in 2000, is furious: "This is entirely the fault of Sasha's mother's behaviour," she said.  She fronts the Phoenix Chief Advisors who work closely with the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and the police.  Their mission is to shut down online sex offender communities frequently used by convicted paedophiles.

The paedophiles communicate with each other through instant messaging and message boards of Online Sex Offender Communities (OSCs).

"We feel that child pageants should be banned altogether and we feel that exploiting children in an adult sexualised environment is entirely unacceptable and parents should be made to stop if they can't see the serious risks," a spokeswoman for the Phoenix Advisors told us.

A CEOP spokeman said, "It's a sad fact that where children go, paedophiles will follow.  We therefore advise parents to be vigilant, and to think about what their children are doing.  If in any doubt, please call your local police or contact us direct."

Maybe its like a slow-motion "Breaking News" story and they'll follow her kidnap and murder?  Very odd articles anyway...  I love the way she is saying her child is "in the media" - poor kid hasn't a chance.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

That's just creepy.

[Catalogue Trousers]

Creepy is pretty much spot-on. This Harris woman appears, at best, to be a right cretin.

Oddly enough, Harlan Ellison wrote a pretty vicious critique of just this sort of thing waaaay back in one of his telly review columns of the late 60s. It can be found in The Other Glass Teat, and if you can get past the usual shot or two of Ellisonian bullshit is a damn good, if somewhat unsettling, read.

[SetToStun]

Didn't some young American girl who went in for all those kiddies' beauty pageants get murdered a little while ago? What was that about? Was it the jealous parents of her competitors or something? I can't remember her name and for obvious reasons I'm not going to Google for "kiddies' glamour pageant murder" or anything.

[surreal]

Didn't some young American girl who went in for all those kiddies' beauty pageants get murdered a little while ago? What was that about? Was it the jealous parents of her competitors or something? I can't remember her name and for obvious reasons I'm not going to Google for "kiddies' glamour pageant murder" or anything.

That'll be JonBenet Ramsey you're thinking of:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonbenet

[Notlob]

Ah God - caught the last bit of a documentary about her on ITV. Appalling, frightful woman. She tells her 11 year old daughter to 'suck her stomach in', nad her reasoning is - "It's more in jest, it's not like I'm telling her she's a fat cow or nothing."

It's really a mean thing to say, but she deserves at least one anorexic child; maybe that will bring home to her what she's done. I mean - an 11 year old that idolises Jordan? Jordan??

I sputter with self-righteous rage.

[hencole]

Has anyone watched the video on the first sky report? The girls mother actually says at the end 'She's a babe, and she's going to make me a lot of money when she's older.'

[SetToStun]

That'll be JonBenet Ramsey you're thinking of:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonbenet

Thanks for that - you'd think I'd be able to remember a name like that wouldn't you? Horrifying, really. But it was good to read that she actually enjoyed the pageants and didn't just have pushy parents.

[Captain Crunch]

The Harris Family were on Richard & Judy the other day (yes I am unemployed).  It was very depressing hearing the child say things like "no one wants to talk to fat people, ugly people have no friends" and so on.  Her Mum thought it was all cute kids banter and the father didn't like it but didn't have the balls to speak out. 

Bleak yes but I can't help feeling this is just a slightly more vocal example of the way many children are brought up today. 

[surreal]

That's even worse as it means she's not only growing up with a ruined self-image but she's probably going to become an horrific bully at school too...

[SetToStun]

Also, when she's older and has a partner, how on Earth will she react when he stares at whatever is their equivalent of Kylie Minogue's arse? She'll either stab him on the spot, top herself because she must be ugly, or explode with the force of all the confusion in her head.

[ziggy starbucks]

I go to child pageants for research purposes only

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

I was taken to pageants as a child.

[m...wW(wwMww)Ww...m]

I saw a child once

[ziggy starbucks]

I was taken to pageants as a child.

you were my favourite. I loved your wiggle.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

No I meant I was taken to pageants by my carer dressed as a child. I was 47 at the time.

[Brigadier Pompous]

Why was your carer dressed as a child...?

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Because he was 7.

[Blumf]

Why don't we spray child pageants with glue? Like a kind of peado-paper. Perhaps if they layed down lino, but upside down with the glue side facing up, then after the pageant you could just roll up the lino and send it to the nearest sexual offenders unit.

[John Self]

You're thinking of child pageflies.

Child pageants are best dealt with by pouring boiling water over them.

[ziggy starbucks]

the problem with using boiling water is that afterwards the children aren't quite as pretty as they were before

Al Tha Funkee Homosapien was a very bonny child before the second degree burns

[John Self]

the problem with using boiling water is that afterwards the children aren't quite as pretty as they were before

Sure, but on the upside, they do end up with a much more even consistency.

You've gotta take the rough with the smooth.

[Blumf]

This would never have been a problem if New Labour hadn't banned hunting with dogs! They just don't understand the delicate balance of the child beauty contest world and look what happens! Bloody overrun with kiddy diddlers with TB!