The star of the pageant, six-year-old US contestant Eden Wood, withdrew from last night's portion of the event because her mother
said she feared for her safety.
Ms Wood had said her daughter had received threats on Facebook including "go shoot yourself" after the Melbourne pageant, run by
Texas-based Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant, was announced.
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The US-style pageant, which began last night and runs until tonight at the Northcote Town Hall, has sparked protest since it was announced early this year.
An anti-pageant protest by Pull the Pin will be held at Fitzroy Gardens today.
Fears of potential protests prompted police in Melbourne's north to keep an eye on Friday night's pageant, and while they were not
expecting any trouble they were prepared for it, they said.
But there were no protesters or trouble as the girls and their mums made their way into the hall.
Rebecca Fraser, 14, travelled from Cootamundra in NSW for the pageant with her mother Jodie, who said she couldn't understand
what all the fuss was about.
"I don't know why people are so against it," she told reporters before entering the venue.
"There's so many things that people put their kids in.
"My daughter has been dancing since she was four, wearing makeup and costumes and no one complained about that.
"(Pageants are) about stage presence, it's about your overall confidence and feel, it doesn't have to be anything about how you
look."
Ten-year-old Jade and her mother Karen flew from Perth to compete.
"I like to watch (US reality show) Toddlers and Tiaras and I just wanted to try it," said Jade.
"For the red carpet, I'm going to be Miley Cyrus."
Child psychologist Rita Princi, from the Australian Council on Children and the Media, said the pageants were harmful to young girls and should be banned in Australia.
"Research has shown that this is a very dangerous and detrimental thing to be exposing young girls to," she said.
"Girls that are being encouraged to dress older and having eyebrow waxing and leg waxing ... dressing in a sexually provocative way, it skews the way they see themselves.
"They haven't got the cognitive or emotional tools yet to understand what they are portraying.
"It's not allowing them to be children and it's distracting them from pursuing more developmentally appropriate activities."
Ms Princi said pageant participation could cause low self-esteem and lead to depression, eating disorders or obesity.
irls who are sexualised and dress up as women could have earlier sexual experiences and be more promiscuous, she said.
"I would definitely like to see them banned because it is giving the wrong idea to parents that this is OK," Ms Princi said.
