No doubt, you’ve heard about the really troubling segments of the reality show “Toddlers and Tiaras.” (Arguably, the whole show is troubling.)

One of the best commentaries I’ve seen on child pageants comes in the form of the movie Little Miss Sunshine. An unlikely pageant contestant, Olive really isn’t that cute or beautiful, and her family’s a mess. Her absurd grandfather is the only one with the bandwidth to help her prepare for the pageant. In his own way, he’s much more honest than other pageant promoters as to what the pageants are really all about, as demonstrated by the dance moves he teaches her. And her family actually turns out to be more functional than they (or we) knew they could be.

Now “Toddlers and Tiaras” makes it so very clear that there’s definitely a hypersexualized component to these contests. Read my latest here here.