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Toddlers & Tiaras could soon be coming under more fire.
On Wednesday’s episode, a mother forced her 11-year-old daughter into a too-tight corset and told her, “It doesn’t matter if you can breathe or not! It only matters if you look beautiful!”
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The mother, Marlo, then told cameras: “I’m not a crazy pageant mom: I’m an insane one… The doctor says I’ll be just fine with medication and lots of therapy!”
She also asked her husband: “Could you go sell your soul to the devil so we could pay for a new [dress]?”
The daughter, Sydney, won a “Grand Supreme” title at the International Fresh Faces Missouri Pageant.
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Just last week, a woman defended her decision to dress her 3-year-old daughter up as Julia Robert’s character in Pretty Woman, a prostitute. The toddler wore vinyl thigh-high boots, a midriff-baring top and skintight miniskirt.
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“I’m raising my child just as well as any mother does … I take my kid to church every week,” she told TMZ.com.
The Parents Television Council criticized TLC for continuing to air the show.
“We have a serious problem when The Learning Channel features a toddler, who probably hasn’t even learned to read, dressed as a prostitute showing off her sexy strut,” Melissa Henson, director of communications and public education for the PTC, told The Hollywood Reporter.
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“There’s no question, TV executives are complicit in robbing these small kids of their childhood,” she continued. “For years we’ve seen adults sexuality being inappropriately and aggressively foisted on innocent young children, but children today are being sexualized at younger and younger ages. All available data suggests they will suffer for it later in life.”
TLC had to take down its Facebook wall earlier this month after it was loaded with negative comments for an episode that featured a 4-year-old wearing fake breasts and butt pads with her Dolly Parton costume.
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