Childrens Beauty Pageants Essay

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

Glitz, glamour, lights action, let’s welcome contestant number five! Anyone who has ever tuned in to watch or attended a beauty pageant will be familiar with the extravagance of it all. One knows they’ve entered the pageant world after you’ve noticed the lavish ball gowns, tight curls, cans of hair spray, and sequin swimsuits all in the same place. Since the launching of Miss America in 1921, thousands of girls have tried their luck at becoming the next Miss U.S.A. For any aspiring pageant star, becoming the next Miss Universe or Miss America is very quintessential, but these titles are not the only ones aimed for. There are thousands of pageants held each year across the United States, offering different incentives and titles; and depending

In pageant settings, parents become extremely critical of their children's appearance and in the book, Guidelines for Adolescent Nutrition Services, Jillian Croll states that, "Familial concerns and pressures may also contribute to increased body dissatisfaction and body image concerns" (157). By letting their children enter beauty pageants, or forcing them to, parents are not only paving the way for their children to have lifelong issues with their appearance and self-worth, but they are also causing rifts in their relationships with their children, who may grow to resent their parents and associate them as a constant figure of judgment in their life. In an attempt to live vicariously through their children, parents of beauty pageant participants are stunting their children's inner growth and development by entering them into pageants against their will and before they are old enough to deal with the pressures of a pageant life. Putting aside whether or not a child willing or unwillingly enters into a beauty pageant, these contests can cause a number of negative effects regardless of whether a child does or does not want to partake in them. In  various studies, it is proven that children as young as five have a clear image of what their appearance should be and if it is not up to par with that then their self-worth dramatically decreases and, in contrast, they feel that if they can improve their body through diets and other means

The year was 1920. The First World War ended and the women’s movement began to take off. 1920 also marked the first year of the American beauty pageant. This was a groundbreaking year, as women from all over the United States were given the opportunity to show their talent, outer beauty and inner intelligence. Little did our country know, that 40 years later, children as young as 10 months old would be competing in beauty pageants. 1960 marked the first child beauty

    Beauty pageants have become an American tradition since it started in the 1920’s. It began as a show where women ages thirteen to seventeen, would put on swimming suits and compete for the most beautiful woman in America. Over the course of time, beauty pageants have changed and now they include every gender, sex, nationality, age and background. In the 1960s beauty pageants took on another set of age groups; young girls ages, one to three, four to six, seven to nine and so on. The issue however began to come from the oversexualization of toddler girls and parents acting ridiculously about how their child should look and forcing them to act like an adult in the competition phase. The girls were being forced to grow up too soon and not only did it impact their attitudes, their self esteem and the way they pictured life but the same way affected the girls who were watching these pageants who then felt like they should look exactly like these girls because those girls were pretty enough to be in an American, broadcasted Pageant. Beauty pageants are not good for little children and the oversexualization of toddlers is wrong. Children should be allowed to grow as children and not be forced to roleplay as an adult.

Pageants have a very fascinating history. “Bathing beauty” pageants, or swimsuit pageants, started in 1917 during the summers and were popular in California, Texas, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. The pageants were a straightforward judging on who was the most physically attractive. In 1921, businessmen wanted the pageants not to be limited to the summer,

As a young child you are brought into makeup and how much you are supposed to weigh. Young girls and boys are forced into beauty pageants at a young age. There are pros and cons of being in a beauty pageant with a bunch of other children. Young girls and boys began to realize that there will always be other people “prettier” than them or “skinnier” than them and that forever sticks into the back of their head. According to Jennifer Trujillo, in the article “Teen Beauty Pageants Can Teach Teens Many Valuable Life Lessons,” “These systems were worlds of their own. They were rife with political and economic undercurrents. Other girls had coaches and thousands of dollars for gowns”(Trujillo 1).Children are being judged on how much makeup they are wearing, how expensive there clothing is and, how good they should be able to do certain things. From my own experience there are also beauty pageants

Dating back to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, the standard of “ideal beauty” was looked upon very highly. The idea of following the societal standard of beauty seems to take over the lives of many people; young children and teens are affected the most. Beauty pageants for young children have been rising in fame through some famous reality TV shows such as “Toddlers and Tiaras.” Young children as young as three enter into these contests with the pressure to win and compete with other young children. While some people say that child beauty pageants teach young boys and girls about confidence and to work their very best, I think it is wrong for young children to be participating in these pageants. Today, young girls and boys are constantly being bombarded with the pressure to: look and feel beautiful, fit in with the trend, and are always thrown with the message that being good-looking is everything. The last thing they would want to do is fake a smile and stand pretty for an extended period of time. Child beauty pageants need to stop now.

For years, child beauty pageants have been challenged on if it is harmful or innocent to the contestants. They require each contestant to take part in different events regarding their social and mental skills, as well as, their talent; but, it also requires the interpretation of their appearance based on the judges own definition of beauty. Sponsoring for those against it, Laurie Patsalides concerned in her article claim these child pageants are to be over sexualizing girls in, “response to legitimate public concern [that] younger and younger children [are] being sexualized.” The requirements can become stressful for girls as they assume they are not good enough to enter and compete. Since girls have been able to walk and talk, parents have taught them that the inside is what matters most; yet, they assign them into these competitions for them to focus on their outer beauty and how they carry themselves. People argue that for a child to be surrounded by judges critiquing their appearance, it will make a girl self-conscious from the discrimination of being compared, for her looks, to other girls her age. Therefore, Patsalides stated that the comprehensive society, “perpetuates [this situation by praising beauty] more than a girl's accomplishments and innate abilities.” Beauty pageants are all about the visuals for the judges to have their attention focused on the best makeover, most bedazzled dress, and the capability of the perfectly represented little girl. Consequentially,

3Child and teen beauty pageants are popular in the United States and Europe. Each year, there are events showcasing children. The Little Miss America pageant began in the 1960s at Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey. Originally, it was

Although most people say that beauty pageants are not always a bad thing, knowing that just like about most things in the world, there are the bad and good aspects. Pageants can definitely have a negative affect on a child. Children’s beauty pageants should be banned because they can be exploitative and detrimental to a child’s mental and physical health. They can cause children to have unhealthy egos, and a negative mindset towards themselves and others. Not only can children be negatively affected mentally, but also physically because of the high beauty standards they have to live up to in order to be accepted by society, or in this case a few judges.

Throughout history, the world has formed its own ideas of what women should look like. If a woman does not meet the criteria of beauty then she is seen as less important than others. Beauty pageants encourage people to rate women based on superficial standards. All over the world, people begin to acquire faulty ideas of what women should strive to be like. Pageants in general highlight appearances as an important factor of character, while lowering the self esteem of girls and forcing them to try and put a mask over their flaws.

Beauty pageants create a certain standard for beauty. They teach girls and that they don’t look good unless they have a certain body type, a full layer of makeup on their faces, and spray tan where spay tan should not be. There are a variety of beauty pageants but the most controversial type of beauty pageant is child beauty pageants. At a young age, children are taught that the only way they can make it is by being beautiful. Children have this idea instilled in their minds that they must win every pageant so they can move up and compete in bigger pageants. Children are over-sexualized, dressing in skimpy outfits and doing suggestive dance moves in front of crowds of strangers. Pageants teach the wrong values to children who don 't know better.

Beauty pageants are filled with little girls wearing beautiful dresses, glamorous makeup, and feeling like princesses. Pageants are a fast growing industry attracting almost three million children who compete for a cash and crown prize. Unfortunately, pageants are not the innocent “dress up” play we used to love when we were little girls. Meant for fun and healthy competition, these beauty contests have resulted in harming self-image and promoting unhealthy ideals.

Beauty pageants also exploit children by causing problems to the psychological development of a child such as abnormal childhood or even family rift. As every child wants compliment, praise, and encouragement