Detrimental Effects of Beauty Pageants

The physical and psychological effects of beauty pageants on participants are: children’s behavior, negative body image and child abuse. Parents force competitive behavior in their children which is important, but only to limited area because this may lead to negative attitude. In addition, children do not accept failure in life and never able to learn how to overcome that fear. In case, a child loses in the competition, their self-confidence decreases which increases the chances of depression in their adulthood. According to the article, Child Beauty Pageants Statistics, “…some of them have felt unpleasant impacts when they joined…about six percent of beauty pageants participants have suffered from depression” (para. 3). It is very difficult for young females to gain their normal life

Pageants world wide have caused plenty of drama and arguments, for example Toddlers and Tiaras. Have you ever realized how many arguments and disputes happen on that show? And, have you ever realized how bad beauty pageants are to our youth? Beauty pageants teach kids at a young age to think that they are better than someone else. Parents sexualizing kids by putting them in pageants the kids are too young to tell there parents no, and they use too much hairspray, are all good examples of how beauty pageants can be bad!

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].

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.

Beauty pageants are an unnecessary entertainment of society because they set unrealistic beauty standards for an audience of easily influenced young women. In the world of beauty pageants, there is only one kind of beauty. This one kind of beauty is "Barbie": tall, long-legged, tiny waist, straight white teeth, long thick hair. These beauty pageants can be misleading and harmful, not only to women without this body type, but also to society as a whole. The standard that beauty pageants strive for is not an all-encompassing idea of beauty, but one that is shallow and looks only at a woman's physical appearance. In a study released in September 2013, 131 female beauty pageant contestants from 43 states completed an anonymous study. 26% reported that they had been told or perceived they had an eating disorder, 48.5% reported wanting to be thinner and 57% were trying to lose weight. Beauty pageant organizers have striven for years to ensure that contestants have an opportunity to show their skills before they are crowned a "beauty queen", but the reality is that a woman not fitting the unrealistic ‘Barbie’ physical standards of beauty competition would never be considered to win a competition.

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,

Unfortunately, the negative effects only continue, becoming increasingly harmful. In addition to being ripped away from friends and missing out on chances to have a regular lifestyle, a 2013 study done by the American Psychological Association asserts that all pageants do is teach young girls “to see themselves as objects to be looked at and evaluated for their appearance.” Children who enter the pageant world are suddenly drilled with unrealistic beauty expectations, telling young kids with impressionable minds that they can only win if they are pretty. This negative ideology only contributes to negative body image, which can be extremely detrimental and have long term consequences. For instance, the British Journal of Psychology reported

The hit TLC show Toddlers and Tiaras welcome viewers behind the scenes of the competitive world of child beauty pageants, showing viewers the glitz and glam of the pageant world. Typically, competitions demonstrate the importance of hard work and practice, teaching contestants valuable life lessons, however, beauty pageants teach contestants that the worth of a person is solely based on their appearance. Beauty pageants are based on physical appearance, customs, and fitness appearance instead of importance factors such as intelligence, achievements, and self-love. Children beauty pageants are extremely exploitive and detrimental to a child’s overall well being, damaging self-esteem and health.

In 2016, the world was shown the biggest hiccup in beauty pageant history, when Steve Harvey mis-announced the winner of Miss Universe, the largest scale pageant in history. This mistake spread through the workings of social media like wildfire bringing much public attention to the subject matter of beauty pageants and what they stand for. Although some may argue beauty pageants give bad body images, rob children of their childhood, or are simply an “ugly spectacle”. Many will argue that beauty pageants offer children and young adults an opportunity to better themselves in their community, pageants offer their contestants more than just a title, and provide them with many more opportunities, lastly pageants simply promote

Beauty pageants have changed drastically in the past fifty years. Beauty pageants used to be all adult females who dressed in their Sunday best and walked on the catwalk at the county fair. Now, little children are decked out in glitzy outfits, have wigs that make their hair twice as long, and have teeth to make it seem like their baby teeth haven’t fallen out yet. In this literature review, I reviewed different articles, some against child beauty pageants and some that showed a firsthand look into the beauty pageants. Based on the reviews, I have made a decision as to whether child beauty pageants are

Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was murdered the night after Christmas in 1996. JonBenet’s role of an “alluring sex kitten,” (Tamer, 1) brought increased controversy as news played the videotapes night after night. After JonBenet’s case became controversial, critics argued against beauty pageants and their role of sexualizing young children towards judges and their audiences. The pleasure that was once seen in beauty pageants became guilt for allowing young girls to wink, shake, and dance for judges. Although children’s beauty pageants provide children with a higher confidence and competition preparation, the threats caused below the tiara such as low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction are damaging.

Beauty has always been a quality that is valued in the eyes of society, so it is no wonder that pageants showcasing the elegance of women have steadily enlarged over time. The first beauty pageant was held in the 1800s, parading beautiful women in extravagant costumes across a stage and displaying their talents for the public’s viewing pleasure. Over time, the pageant industry has only continued to grow, with approximately 5000 pageants being held in the United States each year (Lieberman 751). In the late 1900’s, the flourishing industry introduced a new type of beauty competition, placing children under the spotlight. Although these pageants may seem harmless from the surface, they appear to have more harmful effects on the little girls that enter them than what meets the eye. Girls who compete are also often exposed to a number of physical and emotional health hazards, both of which can be extremely degrading to the lives they have ahead of them. Child beauty pageants, therefore, should not be encouraged.

Glitter and glam is what generally defines the world of childhood beauty pageants, however, not all aspects of pageants can be so charming. Beauty pageants are competitions that focus mainly on judging contestants on their physical attributes and clothing choices. Young girls across the globe are continuously taking part in beauty pageants as a part of their daily lives where they are judged based on their looks, confidence, talents, and poise. Childhood beauty pageants have drastically grown in popularity over the past few years due to reality shows following children and families that take part in pageants. Alongside the growing popularity of pageants, people have begun speaking up against the events as well. Many argue that childhood beauty pageants should be allowed because they promote dedication and focus within young children. On the other hand, many others feel that pageants sexualize children and the competitive nature of the pageants can have vast psychological tolls on contestants.

Beauty pageants are the glitz and glamour of a girl’s lifetime as she gets to be whoever she wants to be. A new, perfect girl. But, what happens when the girl and the loved ones around her become consumed with the ideal of “perfection” in the eyes of judges and the media? Beauty pageants are the main, if not the exact reason young girls and women have many conflicting problems in their lives, as media and other sources of influential material alters their lives. Beauty pageants influence the female population by taking away a sense of comfort, forcing women to conform to beauty standards, and harming the girls indefinitely.

Beauty can be portrayed in a variety of means, whether it is internal or of superficial appearance. Particularly, beauty pageants revolve around a physical representation, expecting masked facial features and thin bodies that delineate a synthetic facade, as opposed to naturality. With over 3000 beauty competitions a year and approximately 2.5 million participants in the United States alone, pageants are not foreign to the American culture (DeNinno). In a modern, egalitarian society, beauty pageants should be banned, as they provoke mental and dietary issues, promote false conceptions of feminine beauty, and adversely influence self worth, particularly in young contestants.