Argumentative Essay On Toddlers And Tiaras

In America Over 250,000 children are entered into a beauty pageant annually and out of that number over 50% of those children wind up having issues in their teenage and adult years. Also 73% of parents who have kids in beauty pageants spend more money on the pageant instead of their kids' education. Is this a serious issue? Yes, Child beauty pageants became part of the American society in the 1960’s. They were originally for teenagers 13-17 years old. However child beauty pageants have become more and more popular and now children as little as toddlers participate in these pageants. Children who are entered in beauty pageants have a negative future ahead of them. Beauty pageants have created unrealistic expectations for young girls because these stereotypes contribute to low self esteem, depression, and eating disorders.

Participating in glitzy beauty pageants has an extreme financial demand on the parents as most of them are middle working class citizens. Parent go above and beyond as they spend money on resources such as high-glitz coaches and photographers. Author Orenstein claims “some families spend $75,000 a year on pageant” and he believes “they could take their daughters around the world, and these little girls would get a lot more out of it than they would dressing up and parading across the stage” (Hollandsworth 497). The opinion of Orenstein shows how little girls could be opened up to broader horizons of the world instead of the closed mind set of beauty and glitz. A study conducted in 2005 published in Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention showed how those who participated in beauty pageants “scored significantly higher on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust and impulse dysregulation [an inability to resist performing actions that would be harmful to themselves or others]”.

“A small 2005 study, published in Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, that involved 22 women, half of whom had participated in child beauty pageants, concluded that there were ‘no significant differences’ between the two groups on measures of bulimia, body perception, depression, and self-esteem. But it did find that the former pageant girls scored significantly higher on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation” (Hollandsworth 7). With this statistic, readers can see the negative effects on a smaller scale which enables them to understand and agree with what Hollandsworth is saying. “The promise of a tiara has always been a fast, easy sell to young girls who pine to be princesses— just ask Disney, which reportedly makes approximately $4 billion annually from its more than 26,000 princess-related retail items. The connection between princesses and pageants exploded in 1954 with the first televised broadcast of the Miss America pageant; 27 million viewers tuned in” (Hollandsworth 3). This shows an example of cause and effect; they can see that the media encourages little girls by giving them an unrealistic dream in order for them to join pageants. The facts that he uses are based on the idea that pageants are allowing companies to sexualize children by offering them things that are unnecessary for their age. "Now,

Child beauty pageants may seem like harmless fun, but the actual effects it has on adolescents is not worth the public adoration. Some people believe that pageants do not have long lasting effects on them, and that, for children, pageants just give them the opportunity to play dress up. Even though children may not be affected immediately, the values that pageants instill are buried in their subconscious. By judging children at such young ages based solely off outward appearance, they grow up with a distorted psyche, which later affects them in their adult life. Since the media provides children with unrealistic standards of appearance, and pageants teach them that attractiveness is the key to success, many downsides follow, including poor

The article “Toddlers in Tiaras” was written by Skip Hollandsworth, and was published by Good Housekeeping on August 2011.The author argues that child pageants can have negative effects on the young girls’ lives. Hollandsworth wrote this article in response to the popularity of the TV show “Toddlers and Tiaras”. This article “Toddler in Tiaras” can be divided into five sections. In the introduction, the author presents an example of a young girl getting ready for a pageant. Hollandsworth then introduces a pageant girl by the name Eden Woods and her mother Mickie. The author Skip Hollandsworth describes every little detail about Eden’s process of getting ready from all the thick layers of foundation they’re putting on the 6-year-old girl face,

“It doesn’t matter if you can breathe. All that matters is if you look good”. Just Googling the search term “beauty pageants coming up,” will result in 2,710,000 results appearing in 1.18 seconds. Children are the fastest-growing segment of the beauty pageant market, with annual children's competitions attracting an estimated 3 million children, mostly girls, ages six months to 16 years, who compete for crowns and cash. Infants, carried onto the stage by their mothers, are commonplace. April Brilliant, reigning Mrs. Maryland and the director of Maryland-based Mystic Pageants, says pageants give little girls a chance to "play Cinderella." However, playing ‘Cinderella’ can cause children to develop insecurities or self-hatred if they don't

“Toddlers and Tiaras” was a hit television show that premiered on the channel TLC on December 12, 2008.  “Toddlers and Tiaras” ranked up a number of two million viewers per episode, which went on for seven seasons.  This show was so successful that a sequel called “Another Toddlers and Tiaras” aired on August 24, 2016.  “Toddlers and Tiaras”, not surprisingly, took a look into the lives of young pageant queens and what goes on behind the stage and all the makeup.  Many, but not all, young girls love to dress up and wear their mother’s high heels, but this trend has been taken up a notch in the last few decades with prizes and money now at stake.  Some people consider, what is being called child beauty pageants, cute, while some believe that it is disgusting and ruining children.  In this article, the different viewpoints on child beauty pageants can show as to why it can affect a child’s development positively and negatively.

with trends in girl culture and reveals insights into the ideologies about the construction and positions of female minors. The program shows that it is utilisable for the construction and positions of pageants obstinate certainty about girlhood identity. The girls on Toddlers & Tiaras are a component of a “docile-bodies” during the pageant makeover process. They are offered with inhibited power and must submit to the will of their parents and the pageant expert to become someone whom they are not supposed to be. The programs additional depicts an excruciating desire for fame and celebrity as demonstrated through their parent in an effort to make their

TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras takes this too far, sexually exposing children in the world of child beauty pageants, which produces and disseminates the idea of hegemonic gendering about girlhood and girl identity” (TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras: Way Too Much or Just Enough?). Young girls are being taught at a young age that beauty is what gets them further in life. The idea that the most beautiful is always the happiest and most successful. Editor Maggie Furlong, touches about how the show really alters the minds of young girls, “’ Facial beauty is the most important thing, in life and in pageants,’ Daisey Mae says, almost too matter-of-factly. And she also has some advice for parents looking to expose their children to the pageant circuit: ‘If you think your kid is ugly or sumpin’, you might not want to do pageants because you’re not going to win or anything.’”

In “Beauty Pageants Draw Children and Criticism” by Kristen Schultz and Pleshette Murphy, it discusses how girls from infants to 16 years old enter beauty pageants and those who support beauty pageants would say this is a great way for girls to play like cinderella but they don’t realize

Have you ever seen a toddler beauty pageant? These events began in the 1960’s and have been corrupting toddlers ever since. If you have ever seen TLC’s show Toddlers & Tiaras you know exactly what I am talking about. To become “beauty pageant material” these children have to go through intense makeovers and training including spray tans, flippers (fake teeth), teased hair, a face full of makeup, etc, all while they are screaming their heads off. When the toddlers are finally made up they look more like a high school student going to prom more than a four year old. It is hard to believe that these parents are too naive to see that these pageants are damaging their children both physically and mentally.

Allowing little kids’ and toddlers’ beauty and self-worth to be put in a judges’ hands to be easily crushed and damaged beyond repair? Judges’ and audiences have the power to make or break a young girls’ whole mentality of herself, and no child should be exposed to such exploitation at such a young age. Or any age, one could say. Something such as getting a low score on their presentation (or their looks) could lead young girls wanting to change themselves. It could also lead to serious mental and eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia, depression, and the need to be and feel perfect as they grow up. Thoughts and beliefs such as those, can lead to serious self-esteem issues and a miserable mindset for a long period of time, etching into their minds for life, and for what? A plastic crown, a sash, and a $500 cash prize, which is nothing at all compared to everything bought and paid for to even compete in the self-shaming

From as young as the age of two, girls who participate in child beauty pageants are being affected by America’s addiction to beauty. These little girls are expected to wear tight and revealing dresses that are meant to flaunt curves that they have not yet developed. Spray tans, hair extensions, fake nails, fake eyelashes, “sexy” outfits and bathing suits, these are only a few of the things these children are expected to wear. Furthermore, girls in child beauty pageants are often made to wear fake teeth called flippers, because what used to be “innocent and adorable” about the gaps in a child’s teeth from losing them is no longer pretty enough in the eyes of the judge. Unfortunately, as a result, many girls grow up to believe that beauty is

For years, we were told from when we were little to when we grow up as an adult, to “never judge a book by its cover.” But apparently dressing children’s up in immoderate dresses and overly excessive makeup, while throwing them on a stage to perform or “show their talents” like monkeys for the world to judge, are still considered as the same value? Even now, there is a show called Toddler’s and Tiara, showing the backstage and the daily lives of children who thrown into the world of pageants, all for inane title that has no benefactors and no use for life. Pageants like this give children’s who are easily impressionable the idea that “looks does matter.” But in society, the matter of “looks” is condemned, as a fact, to not determine one’s character.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the negative effects of children beauty contest on its contestants. Although many people argue that there are some benefits of this contest such as build up the confidence, self-esteem, public speaking skills, tact, and poised it is also true that it can result to negative psychological effects and interferes in child development worldwide. The Toddlers and Tiaras, and Little Miss Perfect are popular reality TV shows that features young girls the real hardship and obstacles from their mother’s pressure or preparation for the pageant. They are ages from 1 to 12 years old, with main goal of winning and get the tiara and money or ribbon or teddy bears. Generally, the parents of these young girls believe and make decision that the beauty pageant is okay. Pageants, particularly those designed for younger children, focus primarily on appearance, attire, and perceived “cuteness.”