Child Beauty Pageants: Good Or Detrimental

Beauty pageants have been around for a long time, making people believe that nothing could go wrong in such events. Nevertheless, when I consider women who glide across the stage, I recall skinny women, in specific, who appear to have unrealistic features such as: perfect teeth, skin, and bodies, putting pressure as only women who appear that way are in magazines, television, and movies. Subsequently, this begins when young women participate in beauty pageants. [ Dante Ultius] Society today thinks that entering young children in beauty pageants can help self esteem. Society believes it will make them feel beautiful, perfect, socially involved, discipline, self confidence, and so on. Well it turns out thatś the exact opposite of what they think. Putting children in beauty pageants at a young age can cause health issues like depression, low self of esteem, anxiety, eating disorder, and also the absense of a normal childhood. Research shows that over the past 10 years, there has been a 270% increase in the number of girls being hospitalized for eating disorders, some of these girls are as young as 7 years old [Kelly Kammer]. Competitions can display adult body dissatisfaction in their later years, and that it is also possible for them to suffer from various eating disorders [Psychologist Martina Cartwright].

The opinion that beauty pageants are all fun and games is a very dangerous one to have. The lives of participating children are never the same because of the long term emotional and psychological effects that are brought on by early

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.

Children should not be allowed to participate in beauty pageants at such a young age. Preparing children for beauty pageants is physically harmful. Beauty pageants are also psychologically harmful to children. Children raised in beauty pageants lead them to believe that life is superficial. Competing in pageants can potentially lead to three major mental health problems— eating

“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

Zinzi Williams explains the downsides of pageantry in “Do Pageant Children Behave Differently than Other Kids?” The central claim is that there are many psychological differences between children who compete in the world of pageantry and children who don’t. Williams states the minor claims that children who compete in beauty pageants put beauty ahead of schoolwork and play time. Her other minor claim is that beauty contests affect the way the children who compete view their bodies and there overall appearance. She states that statistic that if there are 20 girls competing in the pageant, that each contestant only has a 5% chance of winning, which is very slim! Williams explains that in her research she found that on WebMD, a medical website,

This makes girls be less confident in them and be more self conscious about their looks. Having a low-self steam then leads into depression. According to Martina M. Cartwright, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Arizona, teens that used to participate in beauty pageants are more likely to develop eating disorders and have body problem images (5 Reasons Child Pageants Are Bad for Kids). In the long run, girls could get into many eating disorders because they try to hard to achieve a rocking body and they can develop anorexia or bulimia.

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

Beauty pageants have been around in America for decades; however, they have not gained notoriety until the show "Toddlers and Tiaras" aired on national television. The airing of "Toddlers and Tiaras" has brought child pageants to the attention of many Americans. Not many people were aware of what took place in beauty pageants, but ever since the show debuted in 2009 there has been an intense controversy about children as young as newborns being entered into pageants. Some people say that pageants raise self-esteem and teach responsibility, whereas others say that pageants are necessary and children should take advantage of their youth. Although pageants teach etiquette and communication skills, ultimately they carry a vastly high

The real question is do parents make beauty pageants bad or are they bad in general for children. The parents can emotionally damage the children, while the pageants can be very costly. Well both of them can be bad for children, but there is one that takes the cake.

Beauty Pageants aren't all about glitz and glamor. It’s what happens inside that really matters. People may think that beauty has to be center around the pageant. But, Beauty is not required. Nobody needs to beautiful to be in a pageant because, what they get out of it more than just beauty. Beauty Pageants are not bad for young girls, because they motivate people, promote self-confidence, and they get to show off what they love to doing.

Beauty pageants send the message to contestants that appearance is the most important thing about a person. Children will think that they need to spend thousands of dollars to make themselves look good. They will only desire to try and look beautiful and they won't care about more important things like paying bills and saving money for future things like a new house, cars, and many other things that are more important than just beauty. Pageants also encourage girls to fit narrow invented standards of beauty. Girls try and act like adult celebrities; dressing and walking like them across the stage.

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.”

Beauty pageants can boost a women’s career, which can lead to many other jobs, sponsorships, endorsements, and even her own television show. Although beauty pageants can positively influence a woman’s self-esteem and career, they do more harm than good because they degrade females, can negatively affect a female’s health, and objectify women, according to "Beauty Pageants: Are beauty pageants beneficial for women and society?" Beauty pageants are unfair pageants because they are merely based on looks more than any of the other components involved. These competitions are also unfair to the women who physically cannot participate in beauty pageants because of their health issues, or obstructing