Maybe I'm Not Such a Bad Mom After All...

Do these photos make you feel sick? They should. These are photos of an 8 year-old girl receiving Botox injections. This girl does not have a medical condition necessitating these injections. She is getting them, courtesy of her mother, to remove wrinkles from her face to make her more competitive for a beauty pageant! I'll repeat that. An 8 year-old is getting injections of Botox to remove wrinkles for a beauty pageant. In my opinion, this is CHILD ABUSE.

Kerry Campbell, the California mother in question, claims that she got the idea to give her daughter, Britney, the Botox injections from other pageant mothers. Apparently, it is not an uncommon practice in the pageant circuit, as it removes lines from around the child's mouth when she smiles. Is this sick or what?!! It used to be that double sided tape to hold up swimsuits and Vaseline on the teeth to keep you smiling were the little secrets behind the scenes of pageantry. Now, moms are whipping out needles and injecting toxins into their little princesses to wipe out any traces of naturalness. Ms. Campbell, a part-time beautician, defends her practice by saying that she also gives these injections to herself and that Britney asks for them. I can just imagine how that interactions goes...

Mom: "Britney, do you want the Botox to make you beautiful so you can win a trophy at the pageant or do you want to be a baby and have ugly wrinkles and lose?"
Britney: "But Mommy, it hurts!"
Mom: "Just for a second. Look! Mommy will do it too! Then we'll have ice cream and vomit it up together! And I'll buy you a pretty new pageant gown! Now do you want the Botox like a big girl or are you an ugly loser?"
Britney: "I want it."

In addition to the Botox injections, Ms. Campbell has also waxed Britney's legs in case any "fluffy hair" starts to appear. Horrors! Even Britney stated that she did not want to do this again. We'll have to see what Mom says about that. As Ms. Campbell states, the pageant world is tough, and the "kids are harsh."

I don't know what it is about pageant parents that makes them want to turn their daughters from normal little girls into sexualized objects to be judged and rated and pranced around like show ponies. From the heavy make-up to the overdone hair to the overly mature sashaying to the tantalizing costumes, these pageants are a pedophile's dream come true. If a grown woman decides to subject herself to the harsh judgments and insane competition of these pageants, that's her business. But what little girl has the option of defying or even disappointing her parents by refusing to participate?

How can a child possibly develop a normal sense of self-esteem and body acceptance when she has been subjected to this bizarre ritual for years? People like Kerry Campbell clearly show that parents can't be counted on to stop themselves from going "too far" to win these pageants, and it seems that pageant judges either encourage or turn a blind eye to the abuses behind the scenes. It's time that someone from outside this cult of pageantry puts a stop to it.



View the video of Britney and her mom