Looking for some public opinion

[DannyRaphael]

Happiegirl:

I have no problem with your intentions or goals, however I'm pretty much on the same page as dslinger in this conversation. (One slight disagreement: (so-called) beauty can be acquired via Nip, tuck, Botox, suction & augment.)

In this country females are bombarded constantly from the time they're able to browse magazines or start watching TV with the message, "You're not good enough as is and won't be happy until you buy the right clothes, get the right jewelry, wear the purfume of the day, color your hair, wear the Victoria's Secret sexy lingere, make your butt smaller, wear the right makeup, make your boobs bigger, lose weight so you can squeeze into those tight, form-fitting jeans, etc." As an observer of women over the years, it's my opinion that advertising is very effective and has turned many beautiful (to me) women into lifelong, self-doubting worry worts. Reinforcing this message at such an early age through the pageant environment would concern me a great deal. "Mommy: Why didn't I win? Well, honey, Mary's parents paid for better pictures and got her that cuter outfit."

While there's no doubt that physical beauty can open doors and no one questions the value of poise, public speaking skills and self-confidence, acquiring those attributes in the pageant atmosphere you describe is not how I would want my eight year old daughter to acquire them.

[grafx]

Alrighty we have yet another deep rooted philosophical debate going again and I can see it now..."I saw your username on a board that was anti-pageant" ACK!!! Will it NEVER end!

[Chip Hildreth]

Hey grafx, they don't call'em threads for nothin'! Well off the subject yes, but good discourse none the less.

Seems to me, you could alleviate a lot of the pressure on a contestant's appearance and focus more on wholeness by kicking out some of the judges. They are, effectively, the customers in pagent competition and they determine the direction and emphasis of the competitors. Perhaps if judges were themselves more into being whole they would award a participant's expression of being whole instead of just pretty.
It seems rough on a kid to compete based purely on beauty of character and perhaps that is not what pagents are about. With sports and games, much of the outcome is based on experience, training, preparation, attitude and, well, luck. When someone fails in that kind of competition, you can usually point to some behavioral breakdown like " i didn't practice enough" and character is preserved.

Just so I can make my own position clear. We all have choose our own way in terms of right, wrong, good or bad. If you believe your child should play rugby, good; if you want then to do pagents, cool, your call... I doubt rugby and pagents would go well together, but you could always try it.

I have never been to a pagent. What is it like for a little girl to lose, or rather, not win a pagent? Can they see that it is not a reflection of who they are?

chip

[grafx]

Chip you are a hoot!
You know I had to make that post....CYA kinda thing.

Did you see that posting back on the "make-up on little kids" saying we should do our own retouch competition/pageant? Cannabilize parts and make our own contestants (doesn't even need to be human). Could be fun, use some of those specialized brushes/actions in our arsenals. I really don't think beauty should be a main focus though. We need some really creative "judging" categories. "Most interesting in swimwear", "Most complex mane", "Best in Show", "Most natural in ones habitat"? LMAO!

I dunno, my brain is turning to mush. I'm running FontDoctor here at work trying to fix 4 years of inherited fonts...JOY!

[Chip Hildreth]

I'm totally game for a RetouchPro Pagent challenge or contest. Gives me a chance to work on my Weekly World News portfolio.

We won honorable mention in a best dressed dog photo contest a while back by putting a little tuxedo on a frog and adding a sign apologizing "Sorry, we thought you said best dressed FROG!". Great publicity.

[dslinger]

Weekly World News is the BOMB! That's my dream job