They are big business in America – now they’ve hit our shores. JONICA BRAY goes behind the scenes to see what really goes on at child beauty pageants.
They are real-life Barbie dolls… primped and preened with their eyes on the prized tiaras.But behind the scenes it’s not such a pretty scene, as I found with my daughter Caja at the Little Miss Bayside Pageant, in Patterson Lakes, Melbourne.
Inspired by hit US reality TV show Toddlers & Tiaras, Little Miss Bayside went to great lengths to Australianise itself, but the point was the same – children compete against each other to be the prettiest and most talented in the eyes of the judges.
Threats from protesters put organisers on the back foot, and public outcry caused the “swimsuit” category to be changed to the less provocative “active wear”.
The pageant was supposed to be a fun event, where little girls got to be princesses for a day. As my two-year-old Caja and I arrived I promised that as long as our objective was “fun”, all would be well. But when face-to-face with a baby in a pink tutu it was hard not to gently encourage Caja to brighten her smile a little.
Three hours later, I’d seen kids parade across the stage smiling sweetly and waving at their parents – most encouraging, some scary. The grandmother who loudly criticised contestants on stage was awful. Little girls weren’t allowed to play with their new friends in case their hair got mussed up.
“You had better do this right for mummy,” snapped one mum to a tot. “Make sure you look at the judges this time and baby steps, baby steps, baby steps when you’re walking out there.”
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