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Jenna Talackova (right)Miss Universe Canada officials have banned 23-year-old transsexual Jenna Talackova from participating in the pageant finals to be held in Toronto in May, 2012. The Vancouver contestant was one of sixty-five women chosen to compete in the national contest (which is owned by Donald Trump). The Daily Mail Reports that Denis Davila, national director of Miss Universe Canada, asserts that every contestant must be a "naturally born female." Critics of the decision claim that the rules do not specifically address sex change or plastic surgery.

Related: Should the United States Ban Child Pageants?

The statuesque blonde Talackova is calling it a human rights issue. She says that she knew she was a girl by age four, started hormone therapy at fourteen, and had sex reassignment surgery at nineteen. She's previously competed in both transsexual and women's beauty pageants. "All I can say is that they disqualified me because I'm not 'natural born,' she told the National Post. "[That] doesn't make sense because since I was conscious, I always felt this way."

After being kicked out of the pageant, Talackova, whose twitter account has since been locked, tweeted, "I'm disqualified, however I'm not giving up. I'm not going to just let them disqualify me over discrimination." Online support for the beauty queen is growing. So far, over twenty-one thousand people have signed a petition demanding she be allowed to compete. It reads, "She is a woman and deserves to be treated as any other woman would be."

Talackova, who says she is not doing interviews until she consults a lawyer, describes herself as, "a woman with a past."

Do you think Jenna Talackova should be allowed to compete in the Miss Universe Canada pageant? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Yahoo.

At 15, Venus Palermo has grown into her doll obsession rather than out of it. Under the screen name Venus Angelic, the London based teenager posts beauty tutorials on YouTube for fans who want to look like her. But that's not why she's the latest viral video star. It's because she looks like a living doll.

According to Palermo, you too could be a ball-jointed doll (or BJD as she calls it) with the right over-sized pupil contacts, plastic-sheen-effect powder and pure white eye shadow. Based on her 5 million viewers and the legions of lookalike fans on her Facebook page, people are taking her advice.

Video: father's extreme parenting goes viral

The modern ball-jointed doll is widely popular in Japan, a country both she and her mother are obsessed with. "Mommy cooks Japanese, thinks Japanese, goes to Japan with me," writes Palermo on her blog. "Because we like it. Liking something, is soooooo GREAT!" Palermo is actually Austrian, Swiss and Hungarian but she's been studying Japanese along with several other languages. Her multilingual background is how she explains her accent, which sounds close to the Midwestern Harajuku-obsessed college kids satirized on Saturday Night Live.

Palermo's obsession, however, isn't taken as lightly. Her videos have been labeled "bizarre" and "disturbing" in the media. Her uncanny appearance is sounding off alarm bells for concerned critics. Modern Asian ball joint dolls have become increasingly more life-like, with a line of human-sized, physically mature dolls recently released for the kind of consumer you don't want anywhere near your teenager.

Related: when parents turn their kids into online superstars

The perverse comments on the 15-year-old's videos is proof she's attracting some unsavory fans. So is the occasional grown man dappling the list of Palermo's Facebook fans. But the teenager's mom doesn't appear to be intervening in her daughter's risky hobby. Mom serves as host of Q&A chats between teenager and fans. In one video posted last year, she sat by while the teenager had an uncomfortable conversation with a 24-year-old male caller who professed his love and then proceeded to belittle her.

In text under that video, posted to VenusAngelic's channel, Palermo refers to her fans as "lovers." The title of the video is "Insane Guy in Love."

"The case of Venus Angelic is uncomfortably exploitative, as there is clearly a sexual undertone to what she is doing," says Hilary Levey Friedman, PhD, a Harvard sociologist who has written extensively about child exploitation in media.

"In general, young girls on YouTube is a disturbing, growing trend," she says noting the recent trend of pre-teen girls asking viewers if they're pretty.

In many cases, parents are unaware of their child's webcam usage, until their uploads go viral. But in other instances, the parents are facilitators.

"Remember, Justin Bieber got his start on YouTube with the help of his mother," says Levey Friedman.

Levey Friedman wonders whether Palermo's mom has similar aspirations for her daughter. The YouTube stage parent is relatively new concept. Most kids have risen to viral fame for just being kids, and if a parent profits off of that they're immediately criticized. The rare performing prodigy, like Bieber, is an exception. But Palermo doesn't fall into either category. She may be bringing a Japanese trend to Western teenagers, but she's also attracting a largely unwanted fan-base.

The question then for a parent is whether it's better to support a child's passion or protect her from what could come of it. "I'd hate to rob a kid of her blissful ignorance but I guess the fact is, at 15 years old, innocence is a luxury teens can't really afford," argues The Stir's Jacqueline Burt after watching Palermo's videos. "I guess it's our job to tell our kids when something they're doing could be misinterpreted and why."

Better a parent than an "insane guy in love."

If any designer has had a busy weekend in Paris, it must be Sir Paul Smith who found time not only to stage a sleek runway show on the Rive Gauche, but also to receive the city's highest honor on the other side of the Seine.

The U.K. knight was one of two Brits awarded the Medal da la Ville de Paris by Mayor Bertrand Delanoe in city hall on the Right Bank of the Seine.

"I am extremely honored and rather touched. Plus it's nice to be popular on both sides of the Channel!" said Sir Paul, who picked up his medal on Friday night. Also receiving the distinction was Joan Burstein, the distinguished owner of Brown's, perhaps London's single most famous fashion boutique.

Two days later, on Sunday, Jan. 22, Smith staged a succinctly edited fall 2012 men's collection which effectively acted as a comment on his own global career. Smith has crossed the English Channel for over two decades to present his men's shows in Paris and his invitation and inspiration was fittingly the sea.

Waves rippled over a seascape invitation, bold backdrop and stormy prints used in sweatshirts and jumpers in this show, staged in the English knight's preferred French show locale - a medieval convent in St Germain.

But the key to this collection was Smith's insightful new tailoring, like when he combined felt waistcoats and biker jacket leather sleeves in one great new garment, and where he revamped a conventional puffer jacket as a cool new courtier's vest.

Smith was also right in synch with the Paris season's key color palette - black and blue, especially midnight and petrol blue with anthracite and black steel. He employed the combo in wrap coats trimmed in metallic gold, padded storm coats and even some jaunty blue wingtips with deliberately blackened toes.

Sir Paul took his customary full stroll down the catwalk. For a high-ego profession, surprisingly many designers merely peak out of the backstage. And in a nice touch, the music as he trotted past the models was a noisy British marching band tune. It seemed just right since Sir Paul, after all, is England's most successful independent designer and the most influential Britain in men's fashion in the past half century. No wonder the French gave him a medal. About time too.

Source: http://www.fashionwiredaily.com/first_word/fashion/article.weml?id=3740