Child Beauty Pageants are immoral and cause low self-esteem and other psychological problems:
Child Beauty Pageants are becoming increasingly popular in the UK, reality shows like Toddlers and Tiaras that glamorize child beauty pageants are taking over our TVs. In my opinion, Beauty Pageants are cruel and abusive, as well as inappropriate. They have absolutely horrific effects on a child’s confidence and mental health. On the outside pageants seem harmless but behind all the pink ribbons and glitter lies one of the many horrific causes of low self-esteem for a lot of young girls. Pageants have devastating results on a child’s physical and mental well-being, if they win they can become obnoxious and self-obsessed but on the other hand if they lose it affects their confidence and self-esteem. Pageants have a negative effect on a child’s mental health as they cause low self-esteem and other psychological problems. In 2013 France banned child beauty pageants. Shouldn’t we do the same?
Beauty Pageants make children feel insecure about themselves and therefore cause them to have low self-esteem. Sadly, a lot of these contestants end up insecure, broken and confused. Nicole Hunter an ex-pageant contestant states that “When children enter beauty pageants at too young of an age, they can develop poor self-image, low self-esteem and even eating disorders.” Nicole reflects on her own experiences an ex-contestant. She explains that a child is not capable of understanding rejection. If a child is told that they did not win, they immediately feel inferior to others. A child is not just going to overcome this rejection, these horrible feelings of not being good enough will stick with them throughout their life and this leads to further mental health problems such as depression. In this generation, everyone should be able to feel comfortable in their own body, the poisonous effects of beauty pageants crush a child’s self-esteem. These children grow up to be paranoid and self-conscious. Every day of their lives they will feel as if they are back on that stage getting judged about how they look and act. This is a horrible thing for anyone to go through.
Child Beauty pageants also cause problems like anorexia. 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
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].
Child beauty pageants may seem like harmless fun, but the actual effects it has on adolescents is not worth the public adoration. Some people believe that pageants do not have long lasting effects on them, and that, for children, pageants just give them the opportunity to play dress up. Even though children may not be affected immediately, the values that pageants instill are buried in their subconscious. By judging children at such young ages based solely off outward appearance, they grow up with a distorted psyche, which later affects them in their adult life. Since the media provides children with unrealistic standards of appearance, and pageants teach them that attractiveness is the key to success, many downsides follow, including poor
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
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,
Title The popular show, Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC, might be amusing to watch now, but once the viewers find out the ugly truth to pageants, it will make them never want to watch again. The stress, the jealousy, and getting compared to others causes many unhealthy, life-long disorders, that all pageant parents should be aware of. For example, as these girls get judged on who's the prettiest out of their age group, they are losing confidence in themselves and building up body image issues as they don't go home with 1st place. These girls parents are paying over a thousand dollars just to get told they're not pretty enough and as the winner gets praised, they are ashamed that they weren't good enough.
In the world of beauty pageants, many people find themselves entrapped in the expensiveness of the gown, the extravagance of the hairstyle, and how attractive the woman sporting all of this truly is. However, when entered into this arena at a young age, one where you are not fully developed and deep in adolescence, this presents a problem not all are aware of. Many people don’t understand the emotional stress that almost everyone that participates in pageants goes through. Women face various issues after everything has been said and done. A number of pageant contestants start at a relatively young age, some as young as infants, and grow up in this seemingly glamorous world of pageantry, from which they learn to present themselves in a
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
In modern day society, people often tune into TLC’s hit show Toddlers in Tiaras. Most see it as a harmless pastime for the children, but child beauty pageants are far from harmless. In recent years, child beauty pageants have become increasingly popular all over the U.S, making it a 5 billion dollar industry. Almost 5,000 pageants are held with 250,000 children participating with the majority of the contestants under the age of twelve (“Child beauty Pageants”). Unfortunately, what most viewers do not realize is that many contestants will suffer from sexual abuse and eating disorders by the time they are teenagers. With that being said, beauty pageants have a negative impact on female adolescents.
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.
“Mommy I am tired, and I don’t want to perform,” a young girl pleads as her mother urges her to go up on stage. At the tender age of four, children are not independent enough to make their own decisions, and many parents take advantage of this by forcing their young kids to compete in pageants. Money prizes, trophies, and praise overcome the better judgement of many parents who continuously spend thousands of dollars on glitz and glam for their children. Childhood beauty pageants are continuously on the rise due to reality shows that follow pageant children and their families. Many parents seem to find nothing wrong with having their children compete in them, but beauty pageants are not great activities for young kids to partake in. Childhood beauty pageants should be banned because they sexualize young children, force children to use artificial means to gain self-esteem, and can lead to long term psychological effects.
I remember being home one day, surfing through the television channels. I stumbled on TLC, and saw a show named Toddlers in Tiaras. The show is about child beauty pageants and all the work children have to do, and also all the money parents put into it. It portrays how crazy some moms could be, and how spoiled some children are. Beauty pageants can boost confidence and self-esteem, but it is degrading to women all over the world. Only one part deals with intelligence, but that doesn’t prove anything. Someone could easily come up with an answer out of thin air, say it out loud and everyone would think she is brilliant because of how much words they say. Child beauty pageants deprive children of their childhood. Parents become obsessed with winning and they take away the joy that their children could possibly have while in or preparing for a pageant. The controversial question on beauty pageants is: Does competing in beauty pageants adversely affect child development? My answer is yes it does, and in the following I will explain why.
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