Child Beauty Pageants

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.

Young girls subjected to beauty pageants at their parents’ wishes, due to parents who force their children to compete. Martina Cartwright, Ph.D., discusses the objectification of children by their parents in her article Princess by Proxy: What Child Beauty Pageants teach Girls About Self-Worth and What We Can Do About It in which she claims parents create a proxy by using their children to gain their own feeling of achievement (“Princess by Proxy,” Cartwright). Parents live vicariously through their children at the expense of the child’s innocence. Objectification of children is not limited to children simply participating in pageants, but even the training process when they are preparing for competition. In her article Darling Divas or Damaged Daughters? The Dark Side of Child Beauty Pageants and an Administrative Solution, Lucy Wolfe describes the show Toddlers & Tiaras, shown on TLC, and the things parent make their children do for pageants. Wolfe discusses the story of a little girl named Mia as an example. At the age of three one of Mia’s costumes for a pageant

Each year, around three million children, ages 6 to 16, will compete in a beauty pageant. When a child enters to compete in a beauty pageant, it not only damages the child now, but as well as later in life. Also, the standards that these children are held to while competing in a beauty pageant is affecting their development.

Imagining if one day you saw your five year old daughter with a full face of makeup and high heels. Now she looks like a miniature adult. Not only is she a miniature adult, but now she also is very self conscious of herself and has an eating disorder at five years old. Child beauty pageants have some pros and a of lot cons to them. Also, they can affect a child’s development. One should consider that child beauty pageants can lead to a lot of mental health issues for kids at a very young age.

“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

The phrase ‘glamour does not come cheap’ proven by Roche (2013), parents acknowledged that they have to self-sacrifice by outlaying a large amount of money using their own self-income and the truth behind this, everything spent on children are costly where around $3000 are spent only on children’s costumes and that does not include promotional photographs, talent lessons, and travel expenses which are undeniably expensive. Specifically, the competition fees might be around $50 to $500 for each contest (Sandberg, 2011). At the same time this contributes to the prosperity of beauty pageant industry as they are making money when parents use their self-income to participate in the contest even though the fees made up around hundreds of dollars. Therefore, the winning title is not worth the amount spent on children. However parents enjoy seeing their child shined with giant spotlight, wearing sparkly tiaras and glittering dresses, they should realize that large amount of money that had flow out will eventually turn into debt. Yet, parents still assume someday these achievement is a memorable moment that should be cherished one day (Sandberg, 2011), but actually the progress of being a beauty pageant will only contribute to a huge

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

Beauty pageants became popular in The United States around the 1920’s. They originated to serve as a marketing tool. Women were formally displayed like trophies because of their sexual appeal however; children were taken a step further. In “Child Beauty Pageants”, Hilary Levey Friedman points out, “Instead of a typical runway walk, child pageant modeling is a set routine, choreographed with facial expressions and spins. At many pageants a “grand supreme” title is decided based on the highest score for the entire event or for an age group, such as zero to six.” The popularity only increased over the years as it spread across the nation. Media jumped over the chance to endorse them and the fad only spiked.

The world of child beauty pageants is similar to the twilight zone. It’s hard to believe that children as young as 2, have hair extensions, professional grade makeup, and spray tans. TLC’s hit television show “Toddlers & Tiara’s”, depicts the horrifying and true events of what actually goes on in these pageants. Nationally broadcasting the inherent sexualization of little girls for all to see has become completely desensitized. The lasting effects that preforming in beauty pageants has on girls who have been through years of competing is far greater than the trophies and tiara’s displayed on their shelves. Dressing toddlers in costumes, forcing them to dance and parade around on stage only to be judged on who is the prettiest by adults is sick and disturbed.

The message that is portrayed behind beauty pageants are not necessarily the most honorable. Beauty pageant/contest are defined as: a contest in which people judge a group of women or girls and decide which one is the most beautiful (“Beauty Pageant”). The concept of beauty pageants was introduced by B.T. Barnum back in the 1920’s as casino attractions in Atlantic City. The women would compete to be crowned for their physical attractiveness. In the 1960’s children’s pageants were established and incorporated the traditional features of adult pageants (Lieberman 742). Beauty pageants are intended to judge beauty however, what is being judged? Numerous parents attempt to give their daughters an added boost of beauty by improving their daughters with many different things, such as fake nails, spray tans, hair dye, permanent eyelashes, teeth whitening strips, eyebrow wax, and even fake teeth, they are also

Although there are massive amounts of negatives that go along with child beauty pageants, there are also some positive aspects to them. Some women have gained a great deal of success from entering into beauty

The little girls are raised with the misconception that they can rely on their beauty to help them achieve success in life, and that “the ‘art’ of being a woman is embodied in how she looks” (Paperalla, paragraph 5). With the obsession to look perfect and beautiful, the girls wear make-up, hair extensions, fake nails, and fake teeth, some girls grew up “see[ing] themselves as not good enough without improvements” (Child Beauty Pageants, paragraph 22). A study conducted in 2005 examined a small, controlled group of young women who participated in pageants at a very young age to all have reported “greater dissatisfaction with their self-image, decreased impulse controls, increased instances of eating disorders and overall trust issues” (Dela Cruz, paragraph 10). This is evidence that child beauty pageants do not promote confidence in one’s self when they’re being judged on how perfect their appearance are.

Part of society says that beauty pageants are not necessarily a bad thing, but there are the good and bad parts. All in all, pageants promote self-esteem and build instant self-confidence (Pros and Cons of Child Beauty Pageants). It is beneficial to the child’s self-esteem in a way that it helps the child to step out of their comfort zone and overcome their shyness. This gives the child the confidence they need

Although beauty pageants for adult women have been viewed around the world in many ways photo child contest have become more successful. This success led to the production of the now well-known show on TLC called "Toddlers and Tiaras". Beauty pageants have now evolved and are conducted in all age groups, even babies are included. Contestants are not only rewarded with a tittle and recognition but also with a large amount of money. This without a doubt attracts parents into the world of child beauty pageants. Children who are involved in beauty pageants are perceived as “perfect” on stage and are expected to be perfect off stage. In the long run this standard brings children psychological impacts that outweigh the benefits of pageants.

The TLC Show, “Toddlers and Tiaras,” is not an accurate representation of all that goes into preparing children for pageants. The show dramatizes the mostly the negative side of childhood beauty pageants. It depicts competitors that want to win strictly based on appearance. Despite the bad reputation that beauty pageants have, they equip young men and women with skills and opportunities such as chances to win scholarships, improving self-confidence and promoting social skills.