Impacts of Beauty Pageants

This topic could be argued either way. There are people that believe that pageants have positive effects on children and there are people who think they are just terrible. The points in these articles reveal the truth behind beauty pageants and what they are all about.

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].

While people may believe that children do not perceive pageants as superficial, the ideas of what society expects is instilled into their minds. They are taught to go out on a stage and aggressively compete for the spot of Most Beautiful. Most competitors are young girls with a fake tan, wearing fake teeth, eyelashes, and hair in order to gain notoriety and success. It teaches them the wrong values.

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.

For years, beauty pageants for young girls was considered a way to boost self-esteem in young girls. According to the article Child Beauty Pageants: What Are We Teaching Our Girls? in Psychology Today beauty pageants today have changed from the way they were years ago. Young girls now are being seen in outfits that are normally worn by adults and their faces are plastered in makeup. Some of these young girls grow up thinking that natural beauty is a thing of the pass and to be considered pretty you must have on a full face of makeup. According to Martina M. Cartwright the "The Princess Syndrome" as I like to call it, is a fairy tale. Unrealistic expectations to be thin,

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.

Child beauty pageants started in the 1960’s, and have been increasingly more popular in the past decade. Currently, there are over two hundred-fifty thousand children under the age of fourteen competing in beauty pageants (Triggs et al 2012). There are no age limits in place; age groups range from zero months to eight months all the way up until eighteen years of age. Parents who enter their children in pageants can damage their children for the rest of their lives. However, pageants do help the beauty industry, and essentially create jobs.

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,

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.

Beauty comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes. The perception of beauty are endless. Whether it is a tall blonde with blue eyes or the waist size. Around the world beauty is idolized differently; just like one’s mind. Pageants have force a view on beauty that can cause women emotional detriment to women and portrays beauty to be more artificial that natural.

The world is a beautiful thing but society has corrupted it to the point only perfection can be appealing. Pageants display what society finds attractive. Contests held like this are only toxic for young minds because they only influence their views of beauty. Media has evolved this into the competitive game that’s seen today. Parents should stop participating their children in beauty pageants because they cause psychological problems, unrealistic standards, and social prejudice.

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

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.

Whether you are a pageant fan or not, it is impossible for you not to hear about the pageant news especially here in the Philippines. Filipinos are one of the greatest and most dedicated pageant fans worldwide. According to Medel in one of the interviews conducted by Sun Star Philippines, "I think the strongest fans in the world are Filipinos. It's incredible. In 2006, I was in Los Angeles and there are a lot of Mexican people. But the Filipinos are very massive. When you talk with the people, everybody knows about the contest, about the muses, who is the winner. It's very nice" (Jarloc, 2017). Pageants were first introduced during the Spanish colonial period termed as Flores de Mayo. It was first considered as a religious tradition and turned into beauty pageant in the country. Even though we now conduct beauty pageants nowadays, we still continue to perform Flores de Mayo every fifth month of the year and it showcases the beauty of selected women in their provinces (Ocampo, 2017). Miss Philippines started in 1926 during the Manila Carnival which was established by the US Government (Ocampo, 2017). “Beauty pageants are based of looks despite the inclusion of a talent portion. How one appears, what one wears and how one presents their self are the main bases of the pageants” (Harter, 2014). I grew up believing that a woman should be beautiful, talented and intelligent enough to be able to be a beauty queen. It is a title every little girl dreamed of because I grew up

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.