THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702010011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 39 lines
As co-director of America's Dream Miss and Mister Beauty Pageants, I can keep silent no longer. Since the tragic death of precious JonBonet Ramsey, many in the media are trying to blame it on her participation in beauty pageants.
The ridiculous accusations concerning the alleged damage being done to children who enter pageants is so far from reality that one would have to wonder just how many ``pageant children'' these people have known personally.
What about children who spend many years of their childhood training, practicing and competing in ice skating, dressed in expensive costumes, makeup and sophisticated hair styles - does that border on child abuse?
What about recreational sports, where children dressed up as professional players are encouraged to play to win? How many times has a small child struck out at bat only to hear the opposing team and parents clapping and yelling?
In the Sunday Break, columnist Alexandria Berger claims that pageants raise children's stress level and cause confusion with identity. She then goes on to link children in beauty pageants with legalized child pornography, an absurd, insulting remark.
The fact is, all of the pageants I am familiar with are based on the premise that every child is a winner. No child leaves without a trophy and a gift.
We have a 6-year-old girl in our family who has a modeling coach and competes both locally and nationally. Like many of her pageant friends, she has had a very successful two years. But if you saw her with her friends at school or in her neighborhood, you would see a happy, outgoing child who enjoys Girl Scouts, dancing and Sunday school.
Perhaps instead of pageant bashing, society would have been better served by the media insisting on the facts of who the cold-blooded, vicious killer of JonBonet Ramsey really is.
DALE FISHER
Chesapeake, Jan. 20, 1997