Negative Effects Of Beauty Pageants

It’s hard for children to understand this at a young age but it will help them down the road. Pageants play a huge role in developing self discipline. This is where parents come into play. By parents showing their children how to prepare and what it takes to win, children learn this crucial lesson. It

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.

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.

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.

“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

commences to elevate in the early 1920’s where it was originated to be a marketing implement by a hotel owner. He wanted the city’s tourists to remain in town longer, therefore the rise of beauty pageant blooms and grows until today. It was in Atlantic City where the first Miss America Pageant was staged in September 1921 as reported by an online article on American Experience by PBS, Public Broadcasting Service. Child beauty pageant on the other hand began in the 1960’s where they are judged predicated on individuality looks, capability, poise, perfection and aptitude.

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,

The majority of children pageants will be found with teased hair, makeup caked on their faces, and in outfits far more mature their ages. A prime example being JonBenet Ramsey, “Here she was dancing, singing, smiling, flirting. Shirley Temple redux. But where Shirley at least was allowed to be a little girl, JonBenet was made up, coiffed, and dressed to look far older than her age, which was six at the time.” (Reed) JonBenet Ramsey, a former child beauty queen, had her childhood stolen from her, literally and figuratively. While not all children participating in pageants will not have their life taken from them at a young age, they do have major elements of their childhood taken from them. For example, as child everyone had one close friend, that is where most children learn the important values of friendship. Rebecca Eder states on her article "Is Winning a Pageant Worth a Lost Childhood?", “Learning how to be a good friend lays the foundation for a child's ability to develop intimacy, trust and empathy. Given the intense competition among beauty pageant contestants, it is unlikely that contestants will befriend each other”. By putting children in competitive competitions, they will not learn these skill as well, or as early on in life. That could lead to various problems later on in life while trying to make friends. As well as a lack of social development, children are also being

There is nothing wrong with little girls wearing cute pink dresses and walking down a stage to perform a few adorable stunts or tricks. However, there is everything wrong when these actions could potentially lead to long term damages in young girls. And therein lies the problem with child beauty pageants, they have the potential to create long term issues for the many of the female children who are asked to participate in them. This is the stance that “Toddlers and Tiaras” takes regarding the issue of child beauty pageants; the author of the article, Skip Hollandsworth, asserts that “many psychologists believe that developmental and emotional problems can stem from pressure and value system that pageants embody” (493). Hollandsworth in her

Most people have seen or heard of the reality television show Toddlers and Tiaras. The show is often what people first think of when people think of pageants,in fact, when it comes to the topic of beauty pageants, most of us will readily agree that they are looked down upon. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether beauty pageants should be banned. Whereas some are convinced that they should be banned, others, including myself, maintain that they should be allowed, considering, they build self confidence, foster girls ambitions and help develop critical thinking.

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 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.”

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.