Comments on: Cheap frills: spinster aunt views child beauty pageant on TV

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 09 May 2010 14:48:00 +0000

http://4gifs.com/gallery/v/Pageant_dancers.gif.html

By: SMiaVS

SMiaVS — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:00:55 +0000

I’m reminded of the song ‘My Conviction’ from ‘Hair.’ :)

By: Ruling Classy

Ruling Classy — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:31:44 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-VO3iUYepA&feature=related

IThankTP for eliciting, evoking, necessitating, and otherwise occasioning your prose, Sister Spinster. I am a dude and have read and re-read the FAQs. Wasn’t sure about the policy on ironic links and earnest eye-contact-handshaking. Blame!

By: orlando

orlando — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:22:58 +0000

Small anecdote to illustrate Hedgepig’s description of my theory: seeing our cousin and her three tots (2 boys of 4, girl of 3) recently, I brought along a sparkly pink fairy tree decoration we had been given for Christmas because I remembered that one of the boys was very into sparkles. I asked our cousin if any of her kids would like it, and she said “M (girl) might”. When I showed it to them it was J (boy) who lept on it and declared that he would like to hang it over his bed. Cousin might as well have stuck fingers in her ears and gone “lala la la”.

I think hedgepig’s point is that because man = default we often speak as if girls are conditioned to like frou-frou, when in reality frou-frou seems more likely to be the default human state, with boys needing to be reprogrammed to not like it by equating frou-frou = girl = demeaning.

By: Hedgepig

Hedgepig — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:57:26 +0000

My sister has a lovely theory that attraction to sparkly things and bright, pretty colours is a characteristic of human children of both sexes. Boys tend to be discouraged from this natural predilection, whereas girls are encouraged to maintain it. So it is actually natural for girls to like pink, sequins etc. Boys are conditioned out of this natural preference, and then the conventional wisdom becomes that boys don’t like pretty sparkly stuff.

By: goblinbee

goblinbee — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:12:46 +0000

Barn Owl, no, no Etsy shop. He has a daunting school and work schedule, so the sewing is definitely just a hobby.

By: Jezebella

Jezebella — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:56:07 +0000

My mother reports that I, too, wanted to wear the most sparkly, sequined, purple & pink, crinoline-iest dresses in the Sears store as a child, and being of WASPy lineage, she refused to purchase such confections. Some of us are magpies and like shiny things and bright colors. This is completely unrelated, I think, to the damaging milieu of the child “beauty” pageant consumer spectacle.

By: Liyana T

Liyana T — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:40:59 +0000

A beauty pageant for boys…hmm. My two boys would definitely go for it! I don’t know why but my boys are very style-conscious they don’t even want to wear stained PJS, demanding smart or nice-looking PJS. Even playclothes. I think the future is heading towards a style-conscious group of young men. I don’t think my boys are gay (although there is nothing wrong with that either) but I think it has something to do with their daddy who likes to look good. I mean, they even get excited when I buy them new clothes!!! :D

By: Child Pageants and the Performance of Gender » Sociological Images

Child Pageants and the Performance of Gender » Sociological Images — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:02:05 +0000

[...] take it one step further, as The Spinster Aunt does, if you react to the idea of child beauty pageants with horror, then than horror should be [...]

By: Antoinette Niebieszczanski

Antoinette Niebieszczanski — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:59:34 +0000

In my family are two little girls of approximately the same age. One is a kick-ass soccer player and karate devotee. She has no interest in pink spangly clothes, lip gloss, hairstyling, or cheerleading. The other adores those things. Being a brilliant child-psychologist spinster aunt myself, I say let ‘em go their own way. We stray into the Land of Weird when we try forcing kids to do extracurricular stuff in which they have no interest.