Some further info

I am not so sure that is the case, though it could be and that would indeed be sad. It is not really in the mindset of the Danes to do something like that, although there of course is allways the exception.

I will try to explain this by giving a little peek into one mindset of the Danes. As with all societies, we are also very diverse, so this should of course not be taken as a complete description! :)

You see, the Danes might have what others would call an inferiority complex. We are a small country and we often jokingly talk of our unofficial commandments (kind of like Murphys Laws). They go something like this: "You shall not believe you are anyone important", "You shall not believe you are better than others" etc. They don't play that great a role, but they are there and they do influence the subconcience of the society.

So pacing a little girl for such a competition is a little contrary to the general mentality. These beauty paegant contests like in the US are very rare in Denmark, if existant at all. Believe me, many girls in Denmark look like this at that age. She is indeed thin, but she does not look that unnatural skinny to me, but hey, maybe I'm a bit prejudiced. :) Also, on the site it says she does icescating in her free time, which could account for her being in better shape. Furthermore, alot is done to educate the youth (and adults) in healthy nourishment, although some might be in vain since the National Health Board is now ringing the alarms regarding increased youth obesity.

On a side note, here's a little anecdote: This mentality also means we love to play the role of the underdogs, especially in sports. That comes in very handy, when facing the "big" nations... In the European Soccer Championship in 1992, we were not even qualified but got dragged in at the last moment notice, since Yugoslavia was disqualified. We were totally unprepared and many players had to be called back from summer vacation. The Germans were laughing because our team was playing golf and eating at McDonalds in between some games of the tournament, instead of practicing. They stopped laughing when we beat them 2-1 in the finals... :-)

- Concerned