NationStates Jolt Archive

AN 11-YEAR-old girl who spends £300 ($600) a month on beauty treatments and travels to beauty pageants all over the world says she doesn't need brains.

Sasha Bennington, 11, is the apple of her mother's eye.

The school girl, from Burnley in Lancashire, had her first set of false nails glued on at eight and now enjoys hair extensions, fake tans and pedicures, London's Daily Mail newspaper reports.

Her mother, Jayne, 31, said she loved her daughter's look.

"All the kids are at it now," Mrs Bennington told the paper.

'We spend about £300 a month on beauty treatments for her. Sasha's friends are the same. All girls their age are. Of course they are. Why else would you be able to buy make-up for pre-teens at Boots?"

Asked how she saw herself, Sasha replied: "Blonde, pretty, dumb - I don't need brains."

Mrs Bennington said she couldn't understand the fuss.

"None of it is permanent. Tans wash off. Hair extensions come out. Why all the fuss?'

Just over a year ago, the fuss was huge when Mrs Bennington entered a 10-year-old Sasha in the junior Miss British Isles competition - Britain's first adult-style beauty pageant for children.

"Because this country doesn't have a tradition of this sort of thing, the organisers didn't quite know how to play things. Looking back, it was all very conservative. They kept saying they wanted the girls to look natural. Why? Let them slap it on! What's the harm?," she said.

Earlier this year Sasha became the first British child to dip a scarlet-tipped toe into the American pageant scene, with her mother at her side.

Sasha didn't win but Mrs Bennington loved the process, describing it as "the best fun ever".

"It was just fantastic," she said.

She believed her daughter was a bona fide celebrity and was proud to have been instrumental in making that happen

"The pageant was like a dream. The girls are encouraged to put on masses of make-up. It was just like a big theatrical event, like being transported to another world."

She was happy with the pageant pictures of Sasha - looking shocking with deep red lips and heavily smoked eyes - probably says more about her than her daughter.

"The pictures are amazing, and Sasha is such a lucky girl to have them. I'd love to have those sort of pictures, nice pictures, rather than ones you hide away because you can't bear to look at them."

She also declared that she wanted her daughter to be the next Jordan.

"Of course. Jordan is her idol and I fully support her in that. She's a great role model, this really down-to-earth woman who has made a big success of her life. She's a better role model than Britney Spears any day."

She maintained it was always been Sasha who had driven her own "career".

Even as a baby she was a "total poser", playing up for the cameras and basking in the attention.

"She's always wanted to be a model, 100 per cent. I'm just helping her do what she wants, like any good parent would. It's not pushing her into anything. I hate it when people say I'm a pushy parent. I'm not. I just want the best for her."
Methinks she doth protest too much.

Anyway, this is.... Shocking and disturbing at the least. $600 a month for an eleven-year-olds BEAUTY TREATMENTS? "I don't need brains"? I'm a bit shocked right now.

So fellow NSGers, what do you think about this mess?
Link:Article. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1032029/Mummys-little-Lolita-The-11-year-old-girl-beauty-treatments-cost-300-month-make-look-like-Barbie.html)

I think this mother is an idiot with profound emotional problems, and there will be trouble when that girl gets older.

Well, now I need to go get ice cream or my day is ruined.

Well, now I need to go get ice cream or my day is ruined.

*Hands Megaloria ice cream* My day is ruined anyway.

So fellow NSGers, what do you think about this mess?Time for a full lobotomy; I mean, if she doesn't need a brain, why not remove it? We might fill the void with helium, then she has to worry slightly less about her weight as she grows older as well. (Well, not that she'd worry about anything much anymore anyway)

the mother is a tad loopy (well all mothers think their kids a pretty but yeah) and the kid will rebel like next year so and everything will work out fine :)

as for what the 11 year old says...well shes 11, at that age I wanted to rule the world >.>

Can you say...Joan Benet-Ramsey?

Can you say...Joan Benet-Ramsey?

Joan who?:confused:

Joan who?:confused:

She was an American child-model..."kidnapped" and murdered...Just seems a similar parental attitude...

as for what the 11 year old says...well shes 11, at that age I wanted to rule the world >.>You don't anymore?

You don't anymore?

like I can be arsed :p

"I don't need brains"

Sounds like she takes after her mom.

Then I'll get my zombie horde to eat her brains.

Not much worse than Paris Hilton, really. These people have always been around. Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, that sort of person. She can realistically make a career out of it, if she doesn't turn ugly. The attitude is all wrong, yes, but so are most attitudes.

Methinks she doth protest too much.

Anyway, this is.... Shocking and disturbing at the least. $600 a month for an eleven-year-olds BEAUTY TREATMENTS? "I don't need brains"? I'm a bit shocked right now.

So fellow NSGers, what do you think about this mess?
Link:Article. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1032029/Mummys-little-Lolita-The-11-year-old-girl-beauty-treatments-cost-300-month-make-look-like-Barbie.html)

Is it just me, or does that sound a lot like an article from the Onion?

Not much worse than Paris Hilton, really. These people have always been around. Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, that sort of person. She can realistically make a career out of it, if she doesn't turn ugly. The attitude is all wrong, yes, but so are most attitudes.

Cleopatra wasn't that attractive. Her allure came from her power, not her looks.

Cleopatra wasn't that attractive. Her allure came from her power, not her looks.
How on Earth would you know?

Cleopatra wasn't that attractive. Her allure came from her power, not her looks.

Still angry that she wouldn't let you, Octavian? ;)

Responding to tartlets such as Sasha are exactly what the parent wants. Controversy sells papers/broadcasts and what's that do? Get's little tartlet's face splashed all over newsstands and TVs across the Isles, and now here. I don't suppose media outlets will ever think of anything but their bottom line, so it's up to the consumers.

The best possible response to a story like this is "who"? And MOVE ON to something that matters. Starve these idiots of attention, and they will go away.

Not much worse than Paris Hilton, really. These people have always been around. Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, that sort of person. She can realistically make a career out of it, if she doesn't turn ugly. The attitude is all wrong, yes, but so are most attitudes.
Hey! Cleopatra was a intelligent and skilled ruler. However, she made the mistake of pissing off one too many Romans. :p.

How on Earth would you know?

Ancient texts and frescoes allowed the archaeological community to figure that out. I should find the book I read it in, it was a really neat text.

Hey! Cleopatra was a intelligent and skilled ruler. However, she made the mistake of pissing off one too many Romans. :p.

...and not pissing on them. You know those Romans....

Ah, child beauty pageants. Bad And Wrong.

Ah, child beauty pageants. Bad And Wrong.

I think this pageant needs the Little Miss Sunshine treatment.

Is it just me, or does that sound a lot like an article from the Onion?

The only difference between the Onion and the Dailymail is tat at least we know the Onion is fake and is meant to be humour; Dailymail takes itself too seriously despite that it prints trashy news that appeals to the lowest denominator.

vaguely on topic (http://pascalcampion.com/12mnk.swf)

The only difference between the Onion and the Dailymail is tat at least we know the Onion is fake and is meant to be humour; Dailymail takes itself too seriously despite that it prints trashy news that appeals to the lowest denominator.

Yeah, I saw this article on the Dailymail while reading the stupid bit on the kids not praying to Allah. It's like US Weekly.

Well, if she's going to be known for her looks then she probably doesn't need brains. Models aren't exactly known for their intelligence. (Which doesn't mean there aren't any intelligent models.)

vaguely on topic (http://pascalcampion.com/12mnk.swf)

Speaking as a music educator, that was really, really cool. Thanks for posting it. Excellent production and use of a genuine young voice.

RANT: I am sick to death of the overhyped young voice whipped into a shape it's not ready for -- think Hannah Montana and the like. Kids singing like kids is refreshing, and when it's done with solid backing is more effective than glitz.

/rant

So fellow NSGers, what do you think about this mess?
Hmm... she doesn't need her brains? methinks she will change her tune when she finds herself in a contract that shafts her...

How on Earth would you know?
look at her... she's nuthing but skin and bones! :D

Five bucks says that by the age of 19, she'll be a worn out drug addict who has at least 10 STDs.

Cleopatra wasn't that attractive. Her allure came from her power, not her looks.

She was also really easy, apparently.

Five bucks says that by the age of 19, she'll be a worn out anorexic drug addict who has at least 10 STDs.

don't forget that... she wants to be a model after all.

don't forget that... she wants to be a model after all.

True. Thanks for the correction. :)

Five bucks says that by the age of 19, she'll be a worn out drug addict who has at least 10 STDs.

ugh, thats worse than the "I hope he gets prison raped" comments

Talk about living a shallow fantasy vicariously through one's offspring. Nice job, lady. When your daughter grows up stranded in her own little world with no ship to reality, you know whoto blame.

Not much worse than Paris Hilton, really. These people have always been around. Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, that sort of person. She can realistically make a career out of it, if she doesn't turn ugly. The attitude is all wrong, yes, but so are most attitudes.

Be fair now. Her excesses were greatly exaggerated, she became Queen as an early teen (early should be stressed), she was--along with her husband--severely isolated from the people.

Also, the whole "let them eat cake thing". She never actually said that.

Five bucks says that by the age of 19, she'll be a worn out drug addict who has at least 10 STDs.

Fine, but if she only has 9 then you owe me 5 bucks. :p

ugh, thats worse than the "I hope he gets prison raped" comments

To be fair, hes not wishing it on her, hes just saying what will most likely happen.

Not much worse than Paris Hilton, really. These people have always been around. Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, that sort of person. She can realistically make a career out of it, if she doesn't turn ugly. The attitude is all wrong, yes, but so are most attitudes.

Cleopatra was a shrewd and cunning political figure, not a mindless airhead. She just happened to pick the wrong side after Julius Caesar's death.

Five bucks says that by the age of 19, she'll be a worn out drug addict who has at least 10 STDs.
Nah, we don't have 10 STIs in the UK, she'll have 3 tops.

On the subject of the OP... I almost vomited.

ugh, thats worse than the "I hope he gets prison raped" comments

What's wrong with being realistic?

What's wrong with being realistic?

Some people prefer to look at the world through rose tinted lenses.

Don't hate her 'cause she's beautif... Oh! Dear me.

Don't hate her 'cause she's beautif... Oh! Dear me.

"Beauty is in the eye of the Beer-holder." :D

Sadly this is becoming a more popular opinion - more and more young children seem to be growing up too fast these days!

When I was 13 I was still playing with Barbies lol!

Kirav's ruling:

•The girl is convicted for being a first-degree dumb blonde. 'Tis debatable whether or not she needs brains, but it's quite obvious that she doesn't have them.

•The mother lacks some sense, but I wouldn't classify her as a total idiot. She is acquitted. Still, $600 a month on beauty products? This makes me afraid to have kids.

The sentance:

•Sasha should get a real modelling job (and they are out there for girls her age) so that her mother needn't worry about paying for her beauty shit.

To quote Henry Rollins: 'Celebrities used to look good or not so good in a charismatic way but now....dayum!' 'None of these people look older; they just look insane!'

Think this girl and her mother should be told these pearls of wisdom. Who's with me?

Ancient texts and frescoes allowed the archaeological community to figure that out. I should find the book I read it in, it was a really neat text.

Didn't they find her picture on a coin?

Found it: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/02/14/science-cleopatra.html

This smacks of child abuse. Who wants to bet her fucked-up parents have been telling her "You're blond and dumb, you don't need brains" as long as she can remember? Telling her God knows what else too. Disgusting.

Are we all accepting the daily phail as a reliable source now? Because last time I checked they sensationalize the shit they make up.

"Beauty is in the eye of the Beer-holder." :D

It would take much more than beer to make an 11-y-o attractive to me in any way. It would take a worm-infested cerebrum and perhaps a rabies/syphilis cocktail of diseased insanity.

It would take much more than beer to make an 11-y-o attractive to me in any way. It would take a worm-infested cerebrum and perhaps a rabies/syphilis cocktail of diseased insanity.

there is a difference between being beautiful and being attractive. ;)

Are we all accepting the daily phail as a reliable source now? Because last time I checked they sensationalize the shit they make up.

Touche. Especially as I reamed the latest Muslim conspiracy post for citing the daily mail too, and here I blithely didn't even check the source.

It's eerie how crap rags like that can appeal to the biases of anyone.

Are we all accepting the daily phail as a reliable source now? Because last time I checked they sensationalize the shit they make up.

I take all news sources with a grain of salt. some get more salt than others tho...

The US must stop this sort of thing post hast with a military intervention in the UK.

I hope no one here thought by her saying that she didn't need brains meant that she didn't need the brain as an organ. If you are, you're all the ones who need brains. Think about it, my sister spends a good deal of money on beauty as well. Makeup, pedicures, tanning, clothes, I wouldn't be surprised if she spent a few hundred dollars a month on all her beauty stuff. A good amount of American girls spend hundreds of dollars a month on anything, a good amount of American people do as well.

Honestly, what's the big damn fuss about a girl wanting to be pretty? :\

Sadly this is becoming a more popular opinion - more and more young children seem to be growing up too fast these days!

When I was 13 I was still playing with Barbies lol!

Well, if this story is true it's most likely nothing to do with the girl growing up fast and everything to do with mommy living her dreams through her child.

Meh. If she's hot enough when she grows up she won't need brains. Just a little bit of wits and her looks to bag her a husband.

Well, as morally corrupt as it is, it's probably true.

That was highly selectively edited, leaving out some important stuff, like the part below...

Well, if this story is true it's most likely nothing to do with the girl growing up fast and everything to do with mommy living her dreams through her child.

Well, according to the article, mum's a former "glamour" model.

It comes as no surprise that Jayne used to be a model herself, and one who worked in the 'glamour' side of the business.

She started at 23 - which, she explains, was 'far too late' for real career success - and now believes that earlier is better, in order to maximise profit and notoriety.

One of her own happiest memories is of entering a beauty pageant and winning the coveted sash. 'I was on top of the world. One day I was an ordinary clerical worker, the next everyone was looking at me. It was wonderful.

'I'd never been a particularly pretty child. I was always short and fat - not like Sasha - but I did OK with the modelling. Who knows what would have happened if I'd started earlier?'

Is it a coincidence that Jayne would have been working as a promotional model when Jordan came along and changed all the rules about how restrictive such a career can be.

She boasts she has met the pneumatic queen of the glamour world, and was even photographed with her.

They were both products of their time. As she watched Jordan achieve extraordinary mainstream success, Jayne tried to forge her own path in the new world, where everything crass and ostentatious was celebrated rather than shunned.

She set up a limo hire business, and tried to get a foothold in the reality TV world, appearing on Wife Swap. Then she turned her attentions to Sasha - getting her in front of the cameras became paramount.

When I ask whether this latest pageant business is just about her trying to realise her own thwarted ambitions through her daughter, she is offended - but only because the question assumes her career is over, which she denies.

'I might go back and do some more modelling. Who knows? If something comes up. I'm not past it yet.'

Also,

In the forthcoming documentary, Jayne takes Sasha to a major agency, in the hope that she will be signed up.

'People say she looks like Barbie' - Jayne is so proud of her daughter's success

The model booker says a vehement 'no', horrified by her portfolio, and tells Jayne that clients want their child models to look like children, and that for this sort of career success she would have to stop bleaching Sasha's hair and encouraging her to wear plastic nails. Jayne refuses to comply.

The 11 year old needs capable parent
Someone who will teach her there is better things out there then looking like a stick insect by throwing up every second day
Someone who will refuse to pay for so many beaty products

The parent in this case is a total failure. The mother should stop spoiling the brat and make her read a book for possibly the first time in her life

Just another case of a parent that never quite made it trying to live vicariously through their children. We see it everywhere - from fat dads shouting abuse at their children playing park football if they don't play like the next Ryan Giggs, to things like this with the mother model who never made it forcing her daughter to become a Barbie doll.

The model booker says a vehement 'no', horrified by her portfolio, and tells Jayne that clients want their child models to look like children, and that for this sort of career success she would have to stop bleaching Sasha's hair and encouraging her to wear plastic nails. Jayne refuses to comply.

This part is key: Child models are supposed to look like children. If she truly wanted the best for her daughter, she would let her be a child, and be modelled as such. Instead, she's treating her daughter like a mini-her, going for the 'glamour' look and saying she wants her to be the next Jordan. Obviously this woman has never gotten over her own failure as a model and is using her kid like a second chance rather than thinking what's best for them - that picture in the linked article is almost as frightening as it is downright disturbing.


She started at 23 - which, she explains, was 'far too late' for real career success - and now believes that earlier is better, in order to maximise profit and notoriety.


I'm trying to be sympathetic here, but you have to ask where the f**k your priorities are if the most important thing in your daughter's childhood is 'to maximise profit'?


One of her own happiest memories is of entering a beauty pageant and winning the coveted sash. 'I was on top of the world. One day I was an ordinary clerical worker, the next everyone was looking at me. It was wonderful.

'I'd never been a particularly pretty child. I was always short and fat - not like Sasha - but I did OK with the modelling. Who knows what would have happened if I'd started earlier?'


And there we are - just another unfortunate woman with body and inferiority issues who never got enough attention as a child, using their own kids to live the dreams they never could. It's difficult not to feel sorry for her, in a way, as it's very easy for people to be sucked into the world of looks being everything: If you're short and fat and your idols are the likes of Jordan, who is the epitome of 'looks' (if you like that sort of thing) uber alles, your self-esteem is going to be shot, and you're going to snatch at any chance to undo the negativity you faced.

It's terrible that she's turned her child into a mini-her at such a young age without allowing her to even be a normal 'child' model, instead throwing her straight in at the deep end and making her into an almost frightening facade of a prepubescent 'glamour' model, but the woman should be pitied more than she should be hated; nobody would do this without being at the very least a little bit 'damaged' all by themselves. The saddest thing is she probably genuinely does think she's doing the right thing by her daughter because of the pain she herself went through when she got into modelling 'too late'.

who's Jordan?

could someone please tell me who this jordan person everyone keeps mentioning is?

The 11 year old needs capable parent
Someone who will teach her there is better things out there then looking like a stick insect by throwing up every second day
Someone who will refuse to pay for so many beaty products

The parent in this case is a total failure. The mother should stop spoiling the brat and make her read a book for possibly the first time in her life

Well, if she makes it big is it wasted? Would serious sports training at that age count as misguided too?

Person dosen't need to have "brains" to make it big, suceed in life...I'd blame the society for it not the people who try to take advantage of the status quo.

Two words: JonBenet Ramsey.

Methinks she doth protest too much.

Anyway, this is.... Shocking and disturbing at the least. $600 a month for an eleven-year-olds BEAUTY TREATMENTS? "I don't need brains"? I'm a bit shocked right now.

So fellow NSGers, what do you think about this mess?
Link:Article. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1032029/Mummys-little-Lolita-The-11-year-old-girl-beauty-treatments-cost-300-month-make-look-like-Barbie.html)

Wow, talk about a pedophile's wet dream.

I went for my icecream, but I came back and this is still stupid. I am defeated.

It's terrible that she's turned her child into a mini-her at such a young age without allowing her to even be a normal 'child' model, instead throwing her straight in at the deep end and making her into an almost frightening facade of a prepubescent 'glamour' model, but the woman should be pitied more than she should be hated; nobody would do this without being at the very least a little bit 'damaged' all by themselves. The saddest thing is she probably genuinely does think she's doing the right thing by her daughter because of the pain she herself went through when she got into modelling 'too late'.

Sounds about right.

who's Jordan?
could someone please tell me who this jordan person everyone keeps mentioning is?

According to the wiki, a Brit "glamour" model who got her satrt as a "page 3 girl" and who's since made it big.

Katie Price (born as Katrina Amy Alexandris Infield, May 22, 1978), also known as Jordan, is an English glamour model, television personality, magazine columnist, writer and businesswoman. Her personal life is regularly featured in British tabloids and celebrity-based magazines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_(Katie_Price)

Two words: JonBenet Ramsey.

Already been said, but at least you spelled the name right. ;)

Wow, talk about a pedophile's wet dream.

Oh lordy, lets not get that going again, lest a certain self-confessed pedo shows up again....

could someone please tell me who this jordan person everyone keeps mentioning is?

http://images.beijing-2008.org/20070502/Img214045219.jpg

:p

yeah soicety is at fault too. If there wasnt a real market for that kind of trashy life people wouldnt have it for a goal

May she enjoy a long, prosperous career of heroin, blow jobs, vomiting, botox, self loathing, boob jobs, assorted other fake body parts and the rapidly fading fame that nearly all child celebrities endure. :)

Methinks she doth protest too much.

Anyway, this is.... Shocking and disturbing at the least. $600 a month for an eleven-year-olds BEAUTY TREATMENTS? "I don't need brains"? I'm a bit shocked right now.

So fellow NSGers, what do you think about this mess?
Link:Article. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1032029/Mummys-little-Lolita-The-11-year-old-girl-beauty-treatments-cost-300-month-make-look-like-Barbie.html)

Blond, pretty, and dumb... Doesn't need brains?

A beauty queen may not need the brains to tie her own shoes, but she's gotta have something between her ears besides her manager's c%$k.

Otherwise this will happen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww).

Blond, pretty, and dumb... Doesn't need brains?


Because her boobs, her boobs, her boobs are O.K. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqGrgaQsIIE) :p

Well, if she makes it big is it wasted? Would serious sports training at that age count as misguided too?

There was a fellow on the radio just the other day who was talking about how serious sports training at 11 and younger often turned out to be a bad idea -- too much specialization (which is usually what "serious" sports training is) before the athlete's body is done maturing increases the risk of serious injury. So, yes, even though it's more socially acceptable than tarting up your kid, both are misguided.

A couple of interesting things from the article -- the UK doesn't have kid pageants like we do over here, and apparently this "Jordan" person is some sort of big deal. Odd.

Other than that, the article's sort of a lame attempt at moral panic. The kid's 11, so she's probably in early puberty. At that age, makeup's a game. She most likely doesn't yet have the desire to distance herself from her mother, but come 13 or 14 that'll hit hard, and she'll start figuring out for herself whom she wants to be. Even odds she goes off to University to major in accounting.

It would help if they didn't photoshop her photo.

Want to be the next Jordan?! And her mother supports her in that?! Jordan is a good idol?! WTF?!