UPDATE: Pageant organisers re-brand to avoid criticism 

It had been reported that a child beauty pageant scheduled to take place in Melbourne on August 2nd, was cancelled due to a lack of interest. Universal Royalty refused to confirm whether or not the event took place. 

It now appears that rather than being cancelled, the event was simply re-branded. Australia based beauty pageants Follow your Dreams promotional material seems to indicate a co-branding arrangement between Follow your Dreams and Universal Royalty. The Melbourne event was listed as "FYD/UR" on the events calendar. 

The Ashmore State School Model Search for children as young as two will be held at a Family Fun Fair next month. Prizes  include modelling courses worth hundreds of dollars.

Collective Shout's South Australian coordinator Nicole Jameson was interviewed along with Psychologist Collett Smart on Adelaide radio on the 23rd or April.

Collett Smart, child adolescent psychologist and educator reports on the child beauty pageant recently held in Sydney. Collett was invited by Today Tonight to give an outsider's opinion on the event.

“She’s a gorgeous girl isn’t she?”

“Give them a round of applause, aren’t they stunning?”

“What a lovely dress!"

“Wow, Sydney Australia, where did you get these beautiful girls?”

Collett Smart, member of the Collective Shout team and child/adolescent psychotherapist has been actively campaigning against child beauty pageants.  She has written a number of articles, has spoken at protest rallies and has been outspoken in the media. She recently appeared on Today Tonight to debate Mickie Wood, the mother of a well known child beauty pageant participant. From there she was invited to attend the child beauty pageant recently held in Melbourne. Collett attended the event and has written about her experience on 'planet pageant.' As posted on The Family Factor.

So the pageant has come and gone but not without a trail of debris left in its wake. As an advocate for childhood, I have had an interesting week, watching all the drama unfold.

The national campaign against child beauty pageants has achieved significant traction so far. The campaign has raised awareness of the issue and encouraged concerned individuals to speak out against the exploitative nature of what is essentially a child sexualisation pageant.

Activist groups have sprung up on Facebook and have attracted thousands of supporters. Australians Against Child Beauty Pageants was started by a concerned member of the public and is now administered by us. Pull the Pin (on beauty pageants for children) led a national rally against child beauty pageants on May 24 with the support of Collective Shout, our members, MP's and the broader community. There has been significant media interest and we have been asked to comment on an almost daily basis.

Pull the Pin rallies held around the country a huge success

Collective Shout has been active in supporting the Pull the Pin rallies against child beauty pageants held around Australia on Tuesday. Some of our team were proud to host or speak at the rallies, which attracted national media attention on  this important issue.

What has been remarkable about this campaign is the collaboration between various individuals and groups all working towards a common goal of seeing child beauty pageants become a thing of the past. All of us involved with this campaign have either been speaking out on camera, on radio and in news articles. It is very clear from the feedback that Australia does not want child beauty pageants here. Our little girls deserve better.

Collective Shout’s Collett Smart has written about her involvement with the Sydney Rally, as posted at FamilySmart.

Sexualisation, violence, commercialisation, commodification: Right to Childhood conference hears evidence of harm to children

From Melinda Tankard Reist's blog.

The Right to Childhood conference last Friday at Sydney’s Wesley Centre was a wake-up call to a society hell bent on forcing children to be exposed to imagery and messages which wreak havoc on their physical and mental health. Initiated by Dr Ramesh Manocha of HealthEd and co-sponsored by Collective Shout, close to 400 people heard expert evidence on just how bad things are for children and young people: and how all the indicators on health and wellbeing are set to worsen if not addressed as a matter of urgency.

Calling on Federal Minister Peter Garrett and Victoria counterpart Wendy Lovell to intervene

Collective Shout has initiated a petition in response to the news that a US pageant company plans to import its child beauty competitions to Australia. You can find the petition on the Care2 petition site . Please sign and circulate it through all your networks. The Petition is now closed. Thanks for your support.

The petition reads:

And women die for

Two items this week highlight the urgent need for cultural change, a complete revolution.

Unfortunately the word Revolution gets thrown around a lot and watered down in the process. However it has been defined as:

(n) revolution (a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving)