Babes in Dragland!

Do you want to know what really pisses me off? First, a disclaimer, the subject of this post is only one of the many, many, many things that piss me off so the theme of pissoffedness is likely to be revisited regularly in this blog. This week, among the several things that have pissed me off, (seriously, did you watch the Grammys? Stevie Nicks and Taylor Swift –really? ), is the TLC show Toddlers and Tiaras. If you haven’t run across this show while surfing through the enormous heaving slag pile that passes for entertainment on the “TV machine” as my girl Rachel Maddow calls it –I’ll give you a brief synopsis. The show features a bunch of crazy women, (the Moms), who dress their very young daughters like miniature drag queens then parade them around for the benefit of the other “Moms” and a variety of equally creepy individuals who, for reasons I can only speculate upon, frequent these baby beauty pageants. This program is of course a reality show so it revolves salaciously around a specific group of women all competing against each other to see whose child can become the reining little miss whatever.

The program is painful to watch. Not only is it painful to see very young children being exploited and objectified by everyone involved, but it is painful to watch as these madwomen cajole, bully, and beg their daughters into cooperating with this insanity, and using coercion tactics that the CIA would envy in order to convince these babies that this nonsense is fun. Some of the most oft-repeated phrases you will hear coming from the “Moms” are, “Competing is her idea, she loves this, this is her choice, and we wouldn’t do it if she didn’t want to be here.” As far as I can tell – they don’t want to be there, they are simply brainwashed children trying to please overbearing Mothers.

More at: The Liminal State!