"mother" defends decision to give 8-year-old daughter botox!

I'm still struggling for words to describe the kind of knot that formed in my stomach when I came across this story: Kerry, a mother from San Francisco, injects her 8-year-old daughter Britney with Botox, she says, to keep up with the kiddie pageant world in which she is involved. In an interview with Lara Spencer on Good Morning America this morning, Kerry and Britney talk about the process candidly (showing photos of the child during the process all bruised up, with ice packs and everything), saying they are definitely not the only ones who do this.

The (so-called) mother talks about it as if it was a joint decision between two adults. But in a very telling moment, when Britney is asked why she gets Botox done, she answers "I don't know".  At this point you  see Kerry flinch at her daughter's answer, and throw her a look. And then you see the child look at her mother, receive the look, and snap back into her script, continuing "Oh yea, I see like, like wrinkles and, um, it just, like... I just like, don't think like, wrinkles are nice for a little girl."  I don't know if I would have believed it had I not seen the clip for myself:



The disturbing twist to this story is that the Botox almost completely eclipses the leg-waxing the child has also dabbled in, thanks to her (so called) mother.  Britney says in the end that she "looks way better, like beautiful, pretty, like all those kinds of nice words."  The little girl smiles throughout the interview, and the knot in my belly tightens with her every word.

beyonce for the 'chirren-let's move flash workout campaign

Okay, okay, it's not just for the kids ... Let's all get in better shape, shall we?

alisha, a short film about body image

Alisha is a short film I recently came across on Clutch.  Written and directed by 17-year old filmmaker Daniel Citron, the award winning film is the story of an overweight  teenage girl struggling with body image issues while also trying to maintain a relationship with her abusive father.  It doesn't go down easy, but it is a necessary and well done piece of work.  Check it out:


Alisha from Daniel Citron on Vimeo.