Summary: Is The Miss America Pageant Good Or Bad For Women

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.

Significance: In regards to the significance of these claims, the examination of how women are objectified spans a wide spectrum from appearance to persona. To hone in on this, the reading “No More Miss America” provides clear evidence as to why beauty pageants are a negative influence

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.

The argument of The Beauty Myth is that as women have received more eminence, the standard of their personal appearance has also grown. Wolf’s position on the issue is that this type of social control is potentially just as restrictive as the traditional roles of women. The Beauty Myth discusses how society’s viewpoint of beauty is detrimental to women because it causes many emotional and psychological problems to women who strive to become “perfect”. This book is important due to the fact it raises awareness to the issues that many young women are currently facing.

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

Picture if you will John Bennet Ramsey and Honey Boo Boo. Both are beauty pageant princesses on different sides of the spectrum. As you look at both of these girls, you see their features are very different. Is one more favorable than the other? Why? We have all been pre-programed from a young age to believe that beauty is perceived in one certain way. When we all think of beauty, we all have very similar ideas. But it’s so subliminal that you don’t even know it’s happening, until one day you realize that you all think the same. The detriments of child beauty pageants can be seen over and over through child psyche all the way through adulthood.

Why is that we are told everyone is beautiful in their own way, yet society pressures our women to be prettier than the next. Women are taught as little girls that outer beauty is more important rather than inner beauty but there is more to life. Every little girl has fantasized about being a princess and can have a chance in doing so if she participates in a beauty pageant. An estimated 250,000 children participate in child beauty pageants every year, and the number is only rising because of shows like TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras”. The industry is now one of the largest growing businesses in America, and on average beauty pageants are grossing over 5 billion dollars.

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.

“Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” notes that girls are being conditioned to accept gender norms at an early age be it by “toys, clothing, and play activities” (Hanes 487). Pageants being one of these so called play activities. Young girls are being influenced by these pageants to accept certain stereotypes that are associated with women in general. They are being taught at these events that pink is a girl color, girls should stick to dresses, and that women should be pretty are all harmful byproducts of this industry that doesn’t seem to realize the dangers it is creating. And while some might assume that this type of thinking is not something of concern and “girls will be girls,” the truth is that it is of a grave concern. For these gender stereotypes confer back to a period of time when women were expected to subservient towards men, women were expected to look pretty and act nice, all in the hopes of attracting attention for the sake of someone, usually men. This exactly what these child beauty pageants teach, that girls should act, look, and feel pretty for the sake of validation. Usually the validation is asked from men, but it can also be from other women. Regardless, the end goal is still the same troubling one, child beauty pageants instill in girls with the belief that a women’s value is

J Balvin, rising Latin pop-reggae star from Medellin, Colombia, has decided to pull out of his upcoming Miss USA performance following racist comments made by the beauty pageant's owner, Donald Trump. Balvin was slated to perform at this year's pageant, which will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 12 and air on national television. But in light of Trump's recent rant against immigrants from Mexico and Latin America, the musician cancelled his appearance.

Pageants teach young contestants to value physical beauty over inner beauty. They brainwash girls

One’s perspective about such a controversial topic like beauty can be easily influenced by everyday situations. The theory of social comparison states, “women are negatively affected by constant exposure to models that fulfill the unrealistic media ideal of beauty”. Society has been corrupted by the negative messages portrayed in the media. As beauty continues to evolve the media and other social networks begin to introduce the concept of universal beauty. People continuously create an image and portray it as an ideal self.

I. It is 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning, and Sharon is about to awaken her two year old daughter, Jessica, to prepare for a 4 hour car ride. Jessica has not gotten much sleep in the past few days due to long hours of practice and is now very cranky. The only time Jessica will get to nap is during the 4 hour drive but then must stay awake the rest of the day. They pack the car with numerous suitcases all containing loads of make-up, hair supplies, and costumes, all for Jessica. The family has a long and busy day ahead of them. Sharon is one of the many over-demanding parents who put young and innocent children into beauty pageants each year.

It 's not a mystery that society 's ideals of beauty have a drastic and frightening effect on women. Popular culture frequently tells society, what is supposed to recognize and accept as beauty, and even though beauty is a concept that differs on all cultures and modifies over time, society continues to set great importance on what beautiful means and the significance of achieving it; consequently, most women aspire to achieve beauty, occasionally without measuring the consequences on their emotional or physical being. Unrealistic beauty standards are causing tremendous damage to society, a growing crisis where popular culture conveys the message that external beauty is the most significant characteristic women can have. The approval of prototypes where women are presented as a beautiful object or the winner of a beauty contest by evaluating mostly their physical attractiveness creates a faulty society, causing numerous negative effects; however, some of the most apparent consequences young and adult women encounter by beauty standards, can manifest as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders that put women’s life in danger, professional disadvantage, and economic difficulty.