Beauty, Benefits, and Babies? America is a country that is filled with competition. Whether people fight for first place in sports, intellect, or beauty there can only be one winner. Success for any competitor in modern times requires hard work, dedication, and usually starting at a young age. For beauty pageants this is no different. Young girls that desire to participate and do well in pageants in the future should start at a young age. Savannah Morgan, a teen correspondent, claims that young girls should not participate in beauty pageants, however, this is argument is flawed because young girls can gain self-confidence at a young age, they can learn how to deal with stressful situations, and learn how to have a good attitude in failure. …show more content…
Young girls that participate in pageants will not lose self-esteem, but they will gain confidence. Most girls that are still in the adolescent part of life strive to gain the approval of others and the confidence that they need, whether that is from friends or family. A large majority of girls would openly admit that they feel better about themselves when they are wearing nice clothing and have their makeup done. Beauty pageants allow young girls to interact with other girls of the same age range and have an entire day of dressing to the best of their ability and getting on stage to show themselves off. The day is them imitating as closely as they can to the life of a princess. Even though only one girl at the pageant can actually win first place for the day all of the girls still get to display their beauty, talents, and intellect through onstage questions. The dedication it takes for a young girl to go through an entire day of changing and constantly putting on a show for judges proves that most girls participating want to be there and care about the competition. However, Morgan says, “While wanting parent’s approval is natural, coming out of a competition as runner-up – or with no that at all – can damage the child’s self-esteem” (1). A parent’s approval is important for a child, but not winning every competition does not destroy self-esteem. No matter what the competition is there is never more than one winner and this should be a lesson of how to improve for the next competition. One mother interviewed in, Pageant Princesses and Math Whizzes, states that “[n]o matter what profession or role my child chooses she will more than likely, at some point, need to be able to speak and conduct herself confidently in front of others-” (Levey 13). Pageants create a presence on and off the stage that will benefit the confidence of a young girl. One huge part of beauty pageants is how a girl handles
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
Many pageant parents say that doing pageants help their child’s self esteem. How does not winning the beauty pageant boast a child’s self esteem? In fact many children start to cry after not winning a crown. Some even say they feel guilty or like they have let their parents down. The parents also get upset if their child loses. One mother admitted that after hearing her daughter won overall princess instead of overall queen, she stormed out, threw the crown on the ground and ran over it. I bet that did wonders for her child’s self esteem and taught her self-discipline (Lets not forget the crown was her daughters, and not hers to smash.) Not only do these children feel bad after not winning a crown but they are also being sent a very bad message. They are being taught that beauty is everything, and the more crowns you have the more beautiful you are. This is only going to hurt them when they get older and forced to realize nobody’s perfect, and looks
In the world of beauty pageants, many people find themselves entrapped in the expensiveness of the gown, the extravagance of the hairstyle, and how attractive the woman sporting all of this truly is. However, when entered into this arena at a young age, one where you are not fully developed and deep in adolescence, this presents a problem not all are aware of. Many people don’t understand the emotional stress that almost everyone that participates in pageants goes through. Women face various issues after everything has been said and done. A number of pageant contestants start at a relatively young age, some as young as infants, and grow up in this seemingly glamorous world of pageantry, from which they learn to present themselves in a
“Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” notes that girls are being conditioned to accept gender norms at an early age be it by “toys, clothing, and play activities” (Hanes 487). Pageants being one of these so called play activities. Young girls are being influenced by these pageants to accept certain stereotypes that are associated with women in general. They are being taught at these events that pink is a girl color, girls should stick to dresses, and that women should be pretty are all harmful byproducts of this industry that doesn’t seem to realize the dangers it is creating. And while some might assume that this type of thinking is not something of concern and “girls will be girls,” the truth is that it is of a grave concern. For these gender stereotypes confer back to a period of time when women were expected to subservient towards men, women were expected to look pretty and act nice, all in the hopes of attracting attention for the sake of someone, usually men. This exactly what these child beauty pageants teach, that girls should act, look, and feel pretty for the sake of validation. Usually the validation is asked from men, but it can also be from other women. Regardless, the end goal is still the same troubling one, child beauty pageants instill in girls with the belief that a women’s value is
In some ways, child beauty pageants can be great for young girls to compete in. Pageants can build confidence by putting girls in front of lots of people to perform and speak. This leads to confidence through life and public speaking skills. Another positive outcome of competing is winning scholarships and prize money. Scholarships will help a child receive a higher education later on. Next, in order to continue competing well, a girl needs to stay fit and healthy. She must also work hard and be disciplined. While these are great life traits to have, there are many
Julie Costello Pre-College English #7 Mrs. Flynn March 9, 2015 Child Beauty Pageants (Little Miss Perfect) Most people believe that child beauty pageants are ridiculous and should be banned. They feel this way because these girls do not have a choice to be in the pageants. “Beauty pageants started in the 1920s in Atlantic City. The business owners needed a way to keep tourists there past Labor Day so they introduced pageantry.”
Critics of the show say that many parents are living their own fantasies through their children and those child beauty pageants can destroy self-esteem. They insist the pageants send warped messages to little girls that looking pretty and pleasing other people are most important. There is certainly no evidence that these toddler beauty pageants create anything but future women who are so self-absorbed that they will not know how to get a long in the world. This is because once the pageants are over, the little girl is no longer a tot with a tiara, yet expects the world to treat her like a queen.
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.”
In the world of beauty pageants many people find themselves entrapped in the expensiveness of the gown, the extravagance of the hairstyle, and how attractive the woman sporting all of this truly is. However, when entered into this arena at a young age, one where you are not fully developed and deep in adolescence, this presents a problem not all are aware of. Many people don’t understand the emotional stress that almost everyone that participates in pageants goes through. Women face various issues after everything has been said and done. A number of pageant contestants start at a relatively young age, some as young as infants, and grow up in this seemingly glamorous world of pageantry, from which they learn to present themselves in a specific way, giving some a false sense of character. As a whole, beauty pageants tend to have more of a degrading and potentially harmful effect on women and children.
Young girls should not be exposed to beauty pageants. Beauty pageants became part of the American society in the 1920's. Child beauty pageants began in the 1960's. Child beauty pageants consist of modeling sportswear, evening attire, dance and talent. The children are judged based on individuality in looks, capability, poise, perfection and confidence. (“Kareen Nussbaum”) Putting your child in a situation as to being
Fabulous makeup, glamorous hair, and beautiful outfit, this is what embodies pageantry. Today, Beauty pageants are not only based on beauty but the contestants aspirations. Modern pageants,are for the most “scholarship pageants” in which the winning participant receives money to continue or pay off their higher education. Child Beauty pageants have become very popular in the entertainment world with shows being created to display the bizarreness and extremities of pageant culture. Although many believe child beauty pageants are used to build a child's self confidence, they have, in fact, been achieving opposite results by focusing their priorities on the appeal of superficial beauty, implementing young girls into a “sexualized culture”, and
Beauty Pageants over sexualizes little girls at a young age. As it seen in “Toddlers and Tiaras” a show by TLC show, little girls are being sexualized at a young age, by introducing them to hair extensions, make up, flippers (fake teeth), sexualized dresses. According to Paul Peterson, president and founder of A Minor Consideration, beauty pageants are “feeding the sex industry (Agadoni).” Girls are not physically ready to wear make up or hair extensions, and all of that just hides the natural beauty of a child making them more self conscious about themselves at such a young age. Little girls are going to think of themselves as not beautiful because they hide their real selves behind a ton of make up.
“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
For the sake of young girls, we try to save them from their insecurities, which is fairly significant. I perceive that beauty pageants are vigorous for girls, it assists them to get rid of stage fright, or low self-esteem. As a firm believer, I acknowledge the fact that pageant girls will develop as beautiful, sophisticated women. Different contests allow girls to have discipline and self-control to continue and follow the strict path of life. Such as exercising, dieting, and just totally putting effort into a competitive venue, and all of its significance. Despite a few misconceptions, beauty pageants are not all about being
Beauty pageants may seem harmless and fun, the audience only sees what goes on in front of the curtains. What goes on when the curtains close and you enter backstage, is a whole different story. Society today has come up with the idea that there is a certain image women must portray, and when girls see that they do not look like that image, they start to develop cognitive, physical and psychological problems (Cromie, 2000). According to