Baby Beauty Queens
As the American phenomenon of the children's beauty pageant hits the UK, this documentary uncovers a surreal new world where nine-year-olds get fake tans and seven-year-olds wear contact lenses.
With the grand final of the first ever Mini Miss UK beauty contest taking place at a leisure center in Milton Keynes, it soon becomes clear that tantrums and tiaras may prevail over perfect poses and pouts. The mastermind behind the pageant is a middle-aged ex-beauty queen, who plans the entire event from her stairwell in Colchester.
The film follows three girls and their mothers in the lead up to the big event, and as they prepare to dazzle the judges the real reasons why they are all desperate to be crowned Mini Miss UK become apparent.
From the evangelical Christians who are convinced that God will help them win the pageant to the disadvantaged kid for whom the contest holds the key to a better life, the film portrays an eccentric, and at times disturbing, snapshot of modern Britain.
Both these mums stress how important looks are to 'success', yet both could easily have got where they are if they were plain.
Fantasy for parents tis what it is!
Amber reminds me of Veruca Salt. She's a temper tantrum throwing spoiled brat and her mom just laughs it off. Way to go mom.
S*upid people buying into S*upid s*it.
wow these parents are SO superficial, disgusting. They don't deserve the gift of children. The mothers are all like "well i am not forcing her " ... like really.. your morals regarding your child are best on what they "want", not what you believe or what is right for them? And the sexualization of these girls! Disgusting!!! My goodness . It is NOT the same as playing sports for people saying that, it is teaching them that physical appearance is what matters in life, not ability
It is all disgusting. The parents attitudes, the children being taught to act a certain way (mainly a brat) and the people organizing the stupid show. If this is the way the human race is going...I despair! The only positive I could get out of it was for Sasha the wee shy one, who got the confidence boost that she really needed and yet she still remains a sweet girl. Other than that....I felt sick.
Sick mothers
lol! the yummy mommy section gets elevator music!
I think its a bad influence. C'mon Sophie Watson has now 7 piercings,2 tattoos and shes dropped out of school. Even worse she sleeps with boys and drinks! Im only 13 but i know better than that!
Everyone goes on about muslims being obsessed with living by the word of the quran. These born again people are nuts. This is nothing less than child abuse.
Tyler cannot even sing in key. why would her mom tell her to sing when she can't? It's difficult to watch this.
Don't put your daughters in these freak shows, they might grow up to be Lady Gaga.
its become an american pastime lately to judge pre-teen pageants and stage moms. yes they are doing the wrong thing but consider that they are getting the publicity they want out of this. also consider that we, the judging audience, needs more pageants to judge - feeding the whole ugly phenomenon. I say resist the urge to judge others and judge yourself.
this is all very screwed up. just shows how screwed up parents should never have children.
Sorry...they need to teach their children some good sportsmanship. Madison is a spoiled little brat! Perhaps the judges saw that too! I think Sophie looked beautiful and natural and should have won!
If they make these shows and play them on TV....people will watch them.
I'm not, entirely sure, who these "people" are. But networks keep on making shows like this, and based upon today's reality, there has to be a "market share" worthy of exploitation.
Just like: "I didn't vote for the last Government." But they got in.
Lady on part 4...you really are not "suitable" to JUDGE anyone. You are ugly and fat so you don't have the right to tell the judges not to pick someone because they have crossed eyes! Your solution to her problem was to get corrective surgery to fix it. Well...there are things that can help you too! Ever hear of gastric bypass surgery? I don't mean to be cruel, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. No one is perfect and what may be beautiful to one person may not necessarily be beautiful to another. Oh wow...and judges in part five, none of you have the right to be judging these beautiful little girls either!! Man in the striped shirt- You are hideous looking! Gahhh...couldn't they pick better "qualified" people to judge? If I was the Mom to one of these girls and saw who was judging my little girl...we would demand our money back and leave. I would then take her to the store, let her pick out her own beautiful tiara and be done with whole entire insane fiasco!
Plastic surgery at SEVEN! Whatever for? Nothing like sending a clear message to your poor child that they are not beautiful enough just the way they were born! It makes me sick to my stomach.
LOL...being "beautiful" is not a talent! And ALL parents think their children are beautiful! And what is up with all the blue eye make up? Must be a UK thing because it's hideous and outdated. Reminds me of the 1980's!
I believe atleast 40% of these little girls will become drug addicts or turn their lives for the worse.
No kid should experience the stress these kids live through
No kid should try and cope with defeat all the time.
can you imagine when they get home. most of these psycho parents are pissed at their little girls for not winning, or take out their frustrations on the little girls or dont know what to do with their feelings and transmit those feelings to their little kids.
these girls will never feel good enough about themselves and will grow up to ruin their lives.
personally I think this should be illegal, it would save so many little lives.
I know that its sounds pathetic, another id**t on the internet commenting out of his a** not know what he is saying.
If you think about it, if at least 10 percent of what I said before is true, than that would be grounds enough cancel these pageants.
this is total SH**...children should do what they love..not joining some stupid beauty pageant contest...and their parents is such an as**hole...the whole baby beauty pageant thing is a so stupid...
I've just been watching a documentary about cruelty to children where the film makers rolled the cameras and at no time intervened to say "stop this now and get the police in ---- this is child abuse we are witnessing". (still got to thank the makers for bringing this to public attention however) . If it were child porn these sickos might be up for some heavy prosection. Does it take a lone genius then to see that, uh.. it's just a matter of degree (and this is pretty way up the scale) ..? I don't know who is more sick, the perpetrators, or me for sitting here and not going out, finding them and drowning them in hair gel. What the f%$k is going on and how did this get to happen while we all sit by? We know serial killer and child abuse pathology is almost exclusively male but these people, the mothers mainly, apart from the organisers and the tranny-from-space training them to walk-like-a-sexual-neurosis, are damaging people with their psychotic stupidity but in a very large, all under the oh so convenient wrap of some miscreant idea of kitsch 'femininity' and for some inconceivable reason no authority appears to have seen fit to criminalise their behaviour. These people are cancer. Cauterise it.
I just saw an episode of mini uk something.... oh my God, how disgusting! How can a mother let her own child go through this??? Do you mothers know how many young adults suffer and struggle for sometimes 15 years with eating disorders, problems of self-esteem, drug addictions... and it's not only because mum and dad were violent, it's because of this rubbish as well.... you poison the brains of your own children... how sad this is. Someone has to get it banned.... you mums should be seeing a team of mental health professionals....
Just like with kids' sports, pageants can either be a fun, healthy experience or a traumatic, demoralizing one depending on how the parents handle it. The girls and moms in the Mini Miss Photogenic contest were all surprisingly sane and well-adjusted about the whole thing. The girls were clearly doing it for their own well-articulated reasons; one even went so far as to raise the money herself by approaching neighbors and local businesses to sponsor her. All the moms in that one were supportive rather than pushy and rightly concerned about the effect it might have on their daughters' self-esteem if they didn't win. It also helped that in this particular pageant none of the girls looked overly made-up or sexualized. In the context of pageants that emphasize natural beauty and age-appropriate fashions, I see nothing wrong with encouraging girls that really want to do it as long as they don't get too disheartened when they lose. Making a blanket statement like "it's child abuse" is just a reflection of the sensationalized portrayal of child beauty pageants in American reality shows, where narcissistic, overbearing moms robbing their daughters of their childhood and wrecking their self-esteem are seen as the norm.
This is a particularly well-balanced documentary series on the subject, showing both the good and the bad. Madison's story was the one I found most heart-wrenching, with her mom Moya very obviously forcing her into it for her own selfish reasons. Most telling was when the pastor at their church asked Madison why she was entering the pageant and she replied, "I don't really know." That and the look of sadness she wore throughout most of the show should have been enough to break her mother's heart, but Moya either doesn't notice or doesn't care. It made me very sad for that poor little girl when, even though she was clearly devastated by losing, Moya was determined to push her on to "conquer the U.S. pageant circuit."
Pageants themselves aren't the problem here - bad parenting is.
these moms are just nuts! horrible and discusting. poor girls. crazy world. :(
i wonder if they realized that god was not on their side.
all these girls are beautiful and not as crazy as american moms r.
But why is that girl dress and dancing like that (4:35-4:44) but shes happy so good.
"Miss Eden Wood" looks like a little piggy... and acts like one too! Sophie Watson is absolutely stunning, i hope people see that she doesn't need any make up whatsoever.
I don't think Amber's mom (Sammy?) takes this to a healthy place. She's the stereotype. Eden's mom actually seemed a lot more rational than a lot of pageant moms.
When I was 7 I was playing in the backyard and wearing the same clothes for days. It kind of makes me sad to see girls so young being sexualized(sp?) and taught that they're only worth what they look.
I've never seen so much tackiness! Eeck! And the organizers of the pageant- these women judge beauty etc.??? They are sooooo cheap looking and TACKY!
how*
child abuse, what world do you live in? who cares, they are 9 years old. parents are supposed to push their kids towards dreams and goals. look home much fun those little girls had. even though they lost, it was a good lesson and a good experience. yall need to shut your mouth about child abuse because you have no idea what your talking about.
Ok I am back to share my disgust once again with this child abuse! A breeding ground for pediphiles> disgusting
child abuse! These mothers should have their children taken away and then be sterilize! These children are a disgusting! If my wife wanted to do this to my daughter I would report her to cps
This is pure Child abuse!
Tyler's mother needs some help... she has an almost obsessive fixation on physical beauty. I'd like to analyze all of these beauty paegant parents.
¨Isn't this really just a sophisticated form of child abuse? ¨
George Carlin
I agree that the exploitation of children and in this case that of little girls in pagents is dispicable. I remmeber watching a show on Sally Jessie Raphael back in the 80's about this. I am wondering what ever happened to these young girls? After all we suspect that girls modeling will live to be doomed as adults. Any one know what has happened to them as adults?
Wow. So many people really just really attack this. I hate child pageants but when I was watching this I got a sense of both sides of the good and the bad.
In the case of Madison's and that other girl's family it shown how deadly it can be. From how they act down to how they talk about their daughters. The language they are using was a very external view of their beauty: eg: how good their skin was, how they need to be looking "perfect" and the constant talk about clothes, hair and make up. Winning was everything. The talk about winning was shocking. "my daughter will win" or "you have to win" turned into a motto. In the end both girls came out worst out. Both expected to win and both lost out. We all saw the result: Mums faking their smiles, clear disappointment projected on their daughters, head not in reality and daughters being super drama queens.
But in Sasha's case it was the total opposite. She was genuinely into it and it is possible that she knows her mum's suffering (I want to help my parents any way possible kind of attitude). Her mum's attitude was very different to the other mums and her language was genuinely caring about her daughter eg: self confidence, experiencing new things and she made it clear that if Sasha can't do it for any reason she can walk away and still be loved by her proud mum (leaving the stage was never mentioned by the other 2 mothers). She seems like she wasn't a well educated person so she may have made a connection with her daughter's fond of dress up and try to channel it to something that she can feel confident and enjoy. The look after the pageant was glowing and pride. Both mother and child came out the best and genuinely proud of her personal achievements. I also made a note that she only mention about winning once. It was very clear that winning was never in their intention.
In a shallow glance it was very "WHAT?! WHO WILL DO THAT TO THEIR DAUGHTER" moment but if you look deeply and listen to their language it shows that there can be good people with a good heart and grounded attitudes in these pageants.
All in all I wish them all well.
Based on what I know of women and mothers in the United States and Canada, I am very sad to say that I find the mothers behavior in this movie and the UK completely normal.
I was divorced from my wife and we had three kids aged 2 1/2, 6 and 8 years old . My former spouse wanted COMPLETE control of her children and was very upset because I spent too much time with the kids doing social activities after school. I enjoyed engaging the kids in athletic activities like swimming and rollerblading, art activities like drawing, and going to the movies. We were the best of friends and did just about everything together.
Ironically the family court of Santa Clara County of California agreed. (Also run by women.) A father is not to be best friends with his kids. I have this written down. A restraining order was put in place and I was forbidden to see my children again without proper counseling. I passed on the counseling. If a father cannot be best friends with his own kids why bother. A sad but true story of family courts in the United States and around the world.
The mothers in this video are EXTREMELY controlling and 100 times worse than my former spouse. I suspect that most of them are divorced or if they do have husbands they stay at work as long as possible to stay out of their wives way. I simply could not imagine living with any of the women in this video do to their obsessive compulsive controlling nature. And this would reflect itself in many other aspects of their lives.
Watching the mothers and their psychological disorders towards the treatment of their daughters was really quite entertaining. I really feel sorry for my three kids now, knowing that it could be like this for them everyday.
What's that saying, “Mother knows best!” Walt Disney's new movie Tangled (Dec 2010).
When it comes to mothers and their children, mother's can be very possessive to the point of obsessive. Such was my case with my former spouse. Nature seems to program mothers like this so that they are over protective and caring.
In the case of these mothers notice these things.
1) My daughter is the most beautiful. Other little girls are not as beautiful as she is.
2) I will give my daughter every advantage to win the beauty contest.
3) My daughter must win, because I will make her the most beautiful.
4) Winning is everything for security and happiness.
5) Being the most beautiful is the most important for security and happiness.
The mothers here are even more obsessive to the point of psychotic behavior.
Guys welcome to the world of women. Joke!
Arnold Vinette
Ottawa, Canada
why are there so many darkies that are reactionaries and that suck up to catholicism/capitalism/distracting the masses?
Pat Poone is a dumb frivilous bitch
Creepy, disturbing, disgusting, I can't think of enough adjectives to describe how incredibly wrong it is to sexualize a child!! These children will grow up thinking their value as a human being is completely dependent upon their looks. Don't we get enough of that as women? I also couldn't help but notice the glaring absence of any father figures in these poor little girls lives. I can't imagine that any decent father would permit this. You'd think that one of them would have a father that would say, "Hell no, you're not parading my little girl around like a piece of meat!"
separatred mom JAnis is SICK as all othermoms here... separated, no work, "dedicated mom" SAVE ME GOD of dedicated moms! Gets money from ex-hubby, and mess up the kid. She wants to once again make UP for her own childhood it seems to me... oh yeeeess..... 6 years girl.... all the sudden, just out of nothing wants to be a "model"....
Once again: LEFT (separated) moms CAN go crazy in their midlife crisis.... terrible. State should take care and basically society should RETHINK the "idealistic, romantic idea" of carring mom and connection mom-child. I wonder if dad is happy to see his little Lolita?? His littel daughter made up as as "lady" ??? He would be vefry proud how she walks in hi-heels I guess??? sick. all just sick.
Slightly cooky.
Overall the idea of pageants is gross for kids. Dressing up like pretty princess with bright pink lipstick ugh. Doing booty dancing, that's shocking under 20 to me but I'm a prude when it comes to kids.
I did think of all the parents the poor mom seemed to have the best intentions. She was trying to use it as confidence building. So was her daughter who was pleased just to actually get the will up to perform. The mother commented on the over application of makeup also so her head is still working, she hasn't droided out yet. That one girl can't sing though, only parents praise so much for mild mediocrity or maybe tone deaf runs in the family :P
I sorta think they try to relive thru their kids in these pageants too. Almost guaranteed these women loved barbie dolls.
@ K
thats a very good idea, I think. Being British myself, I notice that we always tend to follow America - and this is an example of the negativity of some aspects of democracy
I so admire USA's ability to change anything that needs reforem - the 'power of the people' is REALLY impressive in the United States - so why doesnt someone take up the challenge - and do what 'K' suggests? - Id willingly particiape but I cant afford to travel across the pond.
Loved your blogs - evrybody feels the same from what I read!
thats got to be an incentive for a radical change in the exploitation of vulnerable, innocet young minds
This is so wrong. Make it illegal, and charge everybody involved. Child abuse.
I'm kind of puzzled by Madison's mother, in the opening she's talking about how good her skin is and how it's like pale rose buds or whatever....then she goes nuts on her daughter with spray on tan and make up to the point she looks like a drag queen.
Poor little Madison thinks that her choices are being a model or sitting around in the house! It's like feminism never happened. What dreadful ideas to pass on to your child! Madison needs to know that she can be a solicitor or a doctor or do any number of jobs that will be useful. The whole film made me angry.