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Feb 14, 2010, 05:44 PM
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Member Since: Jun 2007
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Posts: 5,518
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When I was a little girl in the 1960s, my sister and her friends used to create musical productions and put on a show for all the parents and anyone else who wanted to watch. An elderly lady used to let us use her garage for the stage - people would bring their lawn chairs and line up down the driveway.
My sister and her friends used to like to dress me up and parade me around, so naturally they always had a place for me on stage.  I HATED being dressed up and forced to perform on stage. 
They put together a performance with me and an older boy - based on a children's song. I felt humiliated enough at how they dressed me. When I looked out into the crowd of "tipsy" parents after the performance, I saw them all laughing, whispering and some of them almost drooling.
This is the song I had to sing to the older boy.....
"Oh Johnny playmate,
come out and play with me
and bring your dollies 3
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my rain barrel
into my cellar door
and we'll be jolly"
I had no idea what it meant back then (maybe my sister and her friends didn't either) but the adults and older boys in the neighborhood got a real kick out of my performance.  I never got on stage and performed for my sister and her friends again.
This is what I see when I see young girls in beauty pageants or even playing "dress up" games today. It's no different really - just kicked up several notches in order to please the crowd. 
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