Seriously?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27065016/?GT1=43001

I don't even know where to begin on this one.

I find it completely unsettling that our friends in Nepal have named a 3 year old the latest living deity.

That's not my problem with this though. It's common in their culture to have baby girls as living gods. Okay, cool. I didn't say much when that impoverished village took that baby who was born with a few extra limbs and made her [or was it a him? I don't remember] a god. Same goes for the two-faced baby. Way to capitalize on birth defects. You don't see THAT in Cote St. Luc.

I actually read this entire article. It's short and "sweet". Usually, I read the bottom first, then scan the top for other important facts.

It's not the part about the tests that bother me. It's not even the fact that she's removed from her family until she becomes a biological woman.

It's this:
Critics say the tradition violates both international and Nepalese laws on child rights. The girls often struggle to readjust to normal lives after they return home.
Nepalese folklore holds that men who marry a former kumari will die young, and so many girls remain unmarried and face a life of hardship.

FOR 10 YEARS OF BEING A LIVING DEITY, THIS GIRL WILL NEVER HAVE A NORMAL LIFE WHEN IT'S OVER. Is it really worth it? SHE MAY NEVER GET MARRIED. How can this girl actually adjust to normal, impoverished Nepalese life after spending crucial years being prodded and worshiped by her village?

These girls are the pageant-heads of tomorrow.