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Is this child abuse?

Yes. This is child abuse. But then I consider all pageants involving any girl under the age of 18 to be abusive.
 
Well, this is good news. They should send the kid to counseling, too, to deprogram her.
 

Good. Common sense has prevailed. I hope that the little girl is in good hands - I know that the foster care situation is far from good. The mother needs to go to counselling and to parenting classes before the child can be returned to her. Maybe a judge should rule that the child isn't to be put in any of these pageants.

Well, this is good news. They should send the kid to counseling, too, to deprogram her.
Good news. And yes, this child should get counseling.
 
Yes. This is child abuse. But then I consider all pageants involving any girl under the age of 18 to be abusive.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one questioning it all the way up to that age. I just do not think teenagers are at a developmental stage where they could possibly have a healthy sense of self-esteem or body image if they're subjected to that. They are also not old enough to choose if they are ready to be sexual objects, which is what they become by subjecting themselves to that. Nor should parents have any right to consent on their children's behalf on such a thing.

If you want to put yourself on display like that, or be an exotic dancer, or have sex or whatever, that decision should be made as an adult, not a child, when you're old enough to understand the choice you're making and evaluate the pros and cons with more understanding, and a bit more emotional maturity.

Now, personally I'm not sure 18 year olds are that emotionally mature, either--and would prefer 21 to be the standard, but the law says that you're legally an adult at 18, so I would have to say 18.

The media is bad enough--but actually being in the middle of it...I just think that as fragile as teenagers are at that time in their lives, it is far too destructive.
 
I did raise the possibility of it being a hoax in post 13 but I dismissed it because I thought the little girl was being genuine. It looks like now I will have to say the little girl is a better actress than I gave her credit for.

It seems extremely stingy of The Sun to only pay $200 to the mother for her little acting stint though it does seem she later made extra money. Maybe Child Protective Services should try and recover costs from her?
 
Yes, child beauty pageant is child abuse. Injecting botox is also abuse, but makes little difference to me. The psychological effect of making your child believe that their life should centre around their look and that from an early age is far worse than the pain from a few needles – the biggest problem is that this pain reasserts the importance of the look in the eyes of the kid.

If a mother gave birth to an ugly child (e.g. visible disfiguration on some part of the face), and made her/him go through a painful or invasive procedure (or even corrective surgery), but this without making everything to assert the importance of a misguided concept of "beauty", I would be perfectly OK with it, even if there was some danger involved.

This here is done with completely no reason to a child that's already beautiful and doesn't need anything, certainly not at her age, and it can be considered an attempt to convince her that she's not beautiful enough. I can't think of many things more harmful to put in a child's head.

P.S. As a child I had a fear of having needles in my eyes, and I panicked any time someone put a needle next to their mouth, and if someone put one near my head, I would be in terrible horror. It doesn't apply here, but imagining someone doing that (or anything) to me with no justification, makes me feel sick inside.

P.P.S. Didn't read it was a hoax, whatever, I don't see it affecting what I said. Child beauty pageants are still as bad as what I saw in the OP.
 
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