There is something about reality shows that just rubs me the wrong way. I can’t help it, I simply find most of them to be pretty obnoxious—repeatedly grinding our virtual noses in their fame-focused subject’s generally silly choices.
Case in point: TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras.
Remember when people actually thought TLC stood for “The Learning Channel?” That seems like a long time ago. Anyway, its show Toddlers and Tiaras has been garnering a lot of heated feedback lately. The program showcases moms who dress their little ones up as everything from showgirls to pixies and have them strut around for little beauty contests.
Lately though, the mothers have been crossing a few disturbing lines. There was the mom who had her little one’s teeth bleached every week to keep them sparkling. The mom who dressed her 4-year-old up with a fake C-cup chest and padded backside in order to help her channel her best Dolly Parton oomph. And if that wasn’t bad enough, last night’s episode featured a tiny 3-year-old girl named Paisley who was tarted up to look like Julia Robert’s sexy streetwalker in the movie Pretty Woman.
That’s right, thigh-high boots, skimpy tank top, skin-tight miniskirt and all the Sunset Strip wiggle a 3-year-old can muster. Does that make you feel uncomfortable? It has others. Online responses have ranged from Facebook comments such as “Is this child abuse?” and “THEY ARE MONSTERS” to news headlines wondering if the show is a “Pedophile’s Delight.”
Young Paisley’s mom, Wendy Dickey, doesn’t think so. She told tmz.com that the racy outfit her daughter wore was “less revealing than gymnastics wear and swimsuits.” And she went on to defend her actions with, “I’m raising my child just as well as any mother does … I take my kid to church every week … I don’t know why people are focusing so much on pageant moms when there’s much more harmful things people are letting their children do!”
The Parents Television Council, however, seemed to be tracking closer to the former opinions on the topic. “We have a serious problem when The Learning Channel features a toddler, who probably hasn’t even learned to read, dressed as a prostitute showing off her sexy strut,” said Melissa Henson of the PTC. “TV executives are complicit in robbing these small kids of their childhood. For years we’ve seen adults sexuality being inappropriately and aggressively foisted on innocent young children, but children today are being sexualized at younger and younger ages. All available data suggests they will suffer for it later in life.”
Personally, I can’t help but agree. But I might phrase it closer to: Hey mom, you’re dressing your 3-year-old up as a prostitute on national television. Can it be that that’s a little different than gymnastics or an afternoon at the local pool?
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