What the hell!? This little girl is so cute and beautiful, and that photoshop picture fucks it all up!!! My god, if parents aren't content with their daughters' bodies, how do they expect their daughters to be content with them either?

I actually thought this would be about the American Girl dolls. That's totally creepy. It doesn't even look like her. She looks plastic.

That girl on the left is adorable. The 'girl' on the right is fake. Not even in a "oh-so-perfect-can't-be-real-plastic-surgery" way, but in a "oh, what a pretty doll you have!" way.
Children should not look like dolls. Children should be allowed to be content with what they look like. This kid can't be older than five or so, she shouldn't have to know about her so-called 'imperfections' yet (which, by the way, I honestly can't see.)
Oy.

Because it’s never too soon to instill how imperfect she is? Ugh! Grown-ups have enough trouble trying to live up to the unattainable perfection set forth by Photoshop. Do we really need to start toying with the Pre-K psyche?

Ugh indeed. My friend posted about this on Tuesday and the nightmares started immediately. Check out the picture she posted. The site with examples of retouched children's photos is shocking. I cannot fathom why parents would want to airbrush the life out of their beautiful children who don't yet have to worry about things like makeup, haircuts, and dieting. Amazing.

I absolutely thought this was going to be about American Girl dolls too! This grossed me out beyond comprehension. There are no words.

Newsflash - babies don't have 'dark circles', nor should they be given a fake tan. Creeptastic.

Although I'm curious what a fake doll-faced version of me would look like, I'm not gonna lie... probably freak my mom right out.

Participating in pageant culture should incite a mandatory investigation by social services.

Maybe these parents should just hire someone to draw "perfect" kids (dead eyes / plastic skin / doll hair) from scratch. That way their real kids could go out and play.

Oh, ick ick ick ick. What is wrong with these people? When I was a kid my parents always thought I was perfect. The cutest, most adorable child ever. Or at least, they had the sense to say and act like they did. What kind of people think it's all right to make it clear to their kids that they're too flawed to be seen and have to be made over in plastic? How can that not screw you up?

There's a perfect sort of irony in the fact that that site calls itself Natural Beauties and specializes in turning beautiful little girls into creepy dolls with plastic skin and glass eyes and nylon hair. The girl on the left is so cute, and the one on the right doesn't even look human. But apparently, that's what it takes to be "Miss Photogenic Supreme." Which is the most important concern for a six-year-old.

I ick, and I ick, and I ick, and somehow there's always more ick to be done.

I ran across this woman's photoshop work before on Something Awful. They pulled a prank on her and it was actually loads of laughter. I'm creeped out that she still seems to be in business after so much negative attention.

Jesus Christ on a pogo stick.
I completely agree, Seamus. Trotting your child around in pageants is creepy and psychotic enough - but this, this is the terrority of only the most vain, superficial, abusive parents.
If you do this, if your priorities are so out of whack that you'd photoshop your poor child's pictures in this way... you should not be a parent. You should be a doll collector.

How about this instead?

Those images are seriously disturbing. I just don't understand what kind of parent would think this is a positive thing to do for their kid. When that child is 13 or so, and aware of her looks, how exactly is she going to feel about this?? I'm sure I would be devastated.

Photo retouching is one thing, refinishing is another. Bad lighting, odd random objects in the background, giant zit in the middle of the forehead, etc, are all fine in my book to edit as long as the end product still looks real.

I was visiting some relatives and we wanted a group picture but my poor husband had a scratch on his eye and it was all red and puffy. I editted the red, puffy eye out and unless you were there and saw him, you'd never know.

Not only though is it sick how much these childrens photos are refinished, it is sick that they are so obviously so and winning awards for it. I feel bad for these kids... their parents are so shallow and they are going to grow up with issues. :(

On the one hand I find the pageant culture and all the objectification of kids and general creepiness totally awful. I hate the way magazine covers lie because Nobody actually looks like that.

On the other hand I'm kind of stunned that anyone would try and pass this off as decent photoshopping. Isn't the idea to trick people into believing that someone else really is that much prettier than you are? It doesn't really work if the picture just looks fake. (snark)

They made her look like a doll! Ubber. Creepy.

There is one Photo which describes it very good:
"Keeping Her All Natural
Perfecting a photo, without changing the child."

Exactly.. without changing the child into a doll.

those pictures just look ridiculous. what kind of fucked up parents would want their daughters retouched to look like porn stars?

http://www.naturalbeautiescontest.homestead.com/retouchc.html

Now that one...wow.

i w as this on broadsheet the other day and couldn't stop looking at the pictures... until i got to this one:
http://www.naturalbeautiescontest.homestead.com/retouch1aaaaa.html

change your child's expression from sad to serious! and the one before that: "For days when she doesn't feel like sitting through h/m and a photo shoot..."

The people who subject their children to this make me want to tear me hair out.

azliza - thanks for posting that one! It's shocking.

This one is equally as disturbing and hair ripping - http://www.naturalbeautiescontest.homestead.com/retouch5.html

I'm an idiot - that was posted in the original blog. I, clearly, don't read the entire post before I go in to post mode! Sorry :)

Like Lindsay, I thought from the picture this was some new American Girls thing -- make American Girls dolls who look just like your daughter!

What unmitigated creepiness!! What is WRONG with parents that they would think this is a good idea? Creepy to the max. They're like Stepford Children.

I looked through the whole site-- how sick! Those parents don't deserve those girls. The pagents are creepy enough, but why would you want to "age" your child in a photo. Geez.

Speaking of American girl dolls, American girl is going to roll out their latest doll/charcater, named Julie Albright, who lives in 1974 San Francisco with *gasp* divorced parents and a token Asian friend later this month.

http://publishersweekly.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6446419&articleid=CA6451996

I'm *very very* interested in seeing how feminism is portrayed in these books.

I think the fact that all of these children are having their EYEBROWS shaped and shaded is really freaking disturbing, more than anything. I kind of have this thing about eyebrows.

And the "doll eyes" make me think that there is no way these people could be serious, but, alas, I fear that they are.

How can they call that an improvement when it doesn't even look human? Apparently, they don't think of their daughters as people, just trophies to show off.

If you scroll to the bottom of the first page and click on the photo under "Southern California Pageant Photographer!", you'll get to meet crazy doll lady's children.."boo" and "pumpkin." See, she has her own living dolls. *shudder*
Keep scrolling down that page to see other pageant winners.
Notice a pattern?
I will let myself burn before anything by Hawaiian Tropic touches my skin again.

I don't think these parents want children, they want dolls. Maybe they should take a stroll down the toy aisle in Target instead of procreating.

What kind of parent wants this? The baby on the left is so cute. I'm...baffled.

Okay, this is the most porntastic picture of a small child (FFS!) I have ever seen, and my youngest cousin (now almost 20) used to do pageants when she was 5 and 6 years old:

http://supremepageantphotos.homestead.com/index.html

This was linked on the original page. Look at the cleavage-revealing, open-mouth pose on the little girl (FFS! AGAIN!) at the top of the page.

That's really really too close to pornface [article] [pic] for comfort. *shudder*

The rest of the retouched photos are just as shameful. I'm none too thrilled with the originals, but, as I said, I had a cousin who was in those pageants, and she was on 'diets' as early as 13. *scowl*

What an evil thing to do to children who don't get many good messages in the first place.

And notice they're all girls. *growl*

I am so going to wake up screaming tonight.

Very Stepford-y-licious.

Just when you thought only the wives had to look like plastic bots..

Very Stepford-a-licious.

Just when you thought only the wives had to look like plastic bots..

Those photo edits are just creepy! They turned people into dolls. Isn't there some horror movie about that?

Jesus Christ on a cracker. I don't believe it. They don't even look real; the end affect's creepy as shit. Their heads are too big for the body, the eyes are disporportioned, and I think I'm going to be sick. Who would do this to their child?

You know, I'm reminded (as an opposite example, mind you) of a painting that Renoir did of his friend's toddler. The little girl in that painting looks every bit like a real child -- you can tell that if she took your hand, her palm would feel sticky. A lot of people didn't like this painting; they were used to the idealized child paintings popular in the day. The toddler's parents, on the other hand, loved it.

also, what's the deal with sticking a hat or a headband on every kid?

I hate to be all, "Won't someone PLEASE think of the children?" TM Mrs Lovejoy, but seriously. I think a little bit of glamour photgraphy would be fun for teens, maybe, but this is beyond weird. A little retouching- red eye, cropping, even getting rid of zits for children, that's all fine. But anything more than a school picture is odd.

Whats really creepy is that this upsets me more than those damn JonBenet Ramsey pictures.

These are just the freakiest thing I have seen in a while...next to, of course, the new Bratz movie (featuring "sassy teens"):

http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/Bratz/1809823937/photos/89

...and of course, the children of colour needs to be bleached.

...and of course, the children of colour needs to be bleached.

Wow - something more creepy than Anne Geddes.

Has anyone found any pictures like this of boys? I couldn't find any. Or is it just the girls who get "doll eyes?" The amount of "makeup" they are applying is disturbing and one poor little girl on that site appears to have had a photo shop nose job. Help! Let me outta here!!!