From CNN:
To summarize, at a recent toddler beauty pageant, one of the mothers dressed her three year old daughter in the Julia Roberts hooker outfit from Pretty Woman. She said that since Julia Roberts was her favorite actress of all time, she wanted to pick a Roberts costume that wouldn't sexualize her toddler daughter... so she went with the hooker outfit.
The mother defends herself pretty well in the Joy Behar interview clip, stating that the outfit wasn't too revealing, especially compared to the bathing suits people put their toddlers and young kids in. She also mentioned that the daughter had no idea that the costume was a hooker outfit, just that it was worn by Julia Roberts. Not sure if this helps the mother's case, because it kind of implies the daughter doesn't really know why she's constructed like a doll and put up on stage (hint: the answer involves the Mom and the word vicarious).
So on some level, this controversial moment seems to be a non-starter, but it doesn't change the fact that the concept behind the show is pretty disgusting and merits cancellation on its own.
The little girl in the clip seems like a perfectly normal little girl, holding up her doll at one point and exclaiming "purple!" because that's the color of the doll's clothes. She goes on to do all sorts of adorable three year old things during the interview. So to see this cute little girl doing the pageant catwalk with gobs of make-up in a modestly cut hooker outfit seems off. It's clearly not the little girl driving the desire to do pageants.
I feel I should admit a bias here beyond my typical bleeding liberal heart. I have no patience for rednecks and toddler pageants fall squarely into my "things that rednecks do" preconceived notions. These pageants are creepy at best, and at their worst, they are a peek into some dark, disturbed corners of red neck high society.
So that's it for the latest news article asking the Tough Questions.
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