The Importance Of Beauty Pageants

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.

“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

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,

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

In “Beauty Pageants Draw Children and Criticism” by Kristen Schultz and Pleshette Murphy, it discusses how girls from infants to 16 years old enter beauty pageants and those who support beauty pageants would say this is a great way for girls to play like cinderella but they don’t realize

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.

Beauty pageants became popular in The United States around the 1920’s. They originated to serve as a marketing tool. Women were formally displayed like trophies because of their sexual appeal however; children were taken a step further. In “Child Beauty Pageants”, Hilary Levey Friedman points out, “Instead of a typical runway walk, child pageant modeling is a set routine, choreographed with facial expressions and spins. At many pageants a “grand supreme” title is decided based on the highest score for the entire event or for an age group, such as zero to six.” The popularity only increased over the years as it spread across the nation. Media jumped over the chance to endorse them and the fad only spiked.

The world of child beauty pageants is similar to the twilight zone. It’s hard to believe that children as young as 2, have hair extensions, professional grade makeup, and spray tans. TLC’s hit television show “Toddlers & Tiara’s”, depicts the horrifying and true events of what actually goes on in these pageants. Nationally broadcasting the inherent sexualization of little girls for all to see has become completely desensitized. The lasting effects that preforming in beauty pageants has on girls who have been through years of competing is far greater than the trophies and tiara’s displayed on their shelves. Dressing toddlers in costumes, forcing them to dance and parade around on stage only to be judged on who is the prettiest by adults is sick and disturbed.

If these little girls succeed in their pursuit of the pot of gold at the end of their bedazzled rainbow, if not handled correctly, these girls can turn into selfish narcissists. Most americans are familiar with the show, “Toddlers and Tiaras” that portrays some insight into the world of child pageantry. Young girls and their parents are filmed throughout their journey of preparing, participating, and either partying, or pouting once the results are revealed. In “Glitter and Glamour: Inside children beauty pageants,” Jackie Salzano addresses this particular show, and how it portrays child pageants. She says that the children are seen “being rude to their parents, be extremely physically altered,” and the parents doing whatever it takes for their child to win. In this cutthroat world of stages and lights, both the child, and their parents can turn into ‘pageant-zillas’. Also, these competitions are teaching girls that the extremely fake make-overs that they undergo, is what they are expected to look like in order to be beautiful. Nobody naturally looks like that in the real world, so why are people teaching these kids that they should look like this not only to win the competition, but to be seen as beautiful in everyday

Pageants supporters believe the competitions to have a positive impact on their participants because they teach important skills, provide opportunities, and supply an outlet for young girls. Sabrina Nooruddin, who has dedicated most of her adult life to empowering girls with her program, Beauty Without Barriers, knows first hand the skills that pageantry can instill in young girls. After competing for four years, she confidently tells USA Today that, “[She is] a true believer in the confidence and character that pageantry builds.” [Nooruddin P2]. Sabrina credits her interview skills to her years of pageants, saying that her quick thinking and ability to express herself was learned from the competitions. Along with this, Sabrina explains that

In 1854 instead of judging woman or young girls on their looks, Phineas Taylor Barnum began judging animals on their looks, this was the first beauty pageant. The first swimsuit competition was held in 1880 at a festival to bring business however, it soon became a summer “tradition”. Women from all around the world became interested in them, wanting to be seen as the “perfect” woman. Currently, there are 3 different types of beauty pageants, a “glitz pageant” consists of the contestants wearing heavy makeup, crystal decorated clothes and wearing slip-on veneers. Another type of pageant is named a “semi-glitz pageant” which is very similar to the “glitz pageant”, except contestants are not allowed to wear any hair pieces or slip-on veneers. The third type of pageant is referred to as the “natural pageant”, contestants are permitted to wear natural makeup and will be disqualified if any hair piece or slip-on veneers are worn. Each of these different pageants are taken very seriously by its contestants with the goal in mind of winning the crown. Many contestants will often make drastic or permanent changes, forced by their guardian or parent(s) if they think they have a better chance of winning. Beauty pageants exist only to judge girls based on their looks, which can be extremely damaging, both physically and emotionally, therefore beauty pageants should be prohibited around the world to help end the constant discrimination and unreal expectations of women and young girls.

“Self-esteem, dieting, and body image of 131 female beauty pageant contestants from 43 states were examined by an anonymous survey.” “89.6 reported being a pageant finalist or winner and 55.2% had competed at the national/international level, Over one-fourth which is 26% of the women had been told or perceived they had an eating disorder which reportedly began at 16.25 years old.” Many women in beauty pageants are so focused and obsessed with how they look that they end up being willing to do anything and everything to get whatever they desire. Wonderlich and her research team found that many females who participate in beauty pageants had a specific idea of their body types, these women were considered slender according to their BMI but they viewed themselves as large. The research also found that women who did not compete had realistic images of their body types and even though some reported that they had hopes and desires to be thinner, they were not convincing themselves that they are something they 're not. These women and children have very low self-esteem and this is due to the media portrayal that they are exposed to. The people who run beauty pageants don 't care about the emotional, physical, and psychological effects it has on the contestants whether it 's a grow woman or a young child, they 're only worried about how much money they can collect into their pockets.

The purpose of finding this article was to discover the base amount a contestant has to pay to participate in beauty pageants. Along with a breakdown of the cost of other expenditures such as gowns, coaches, salon visits, and tanning, contestants also pay entrance fees and the audience pays for seating. This article describes how much veteran contenders pay for and consider necessary items. Understanding expenses explains the pressure felt by both pageant participants and their support to succeed.

Pageant contestants’ beauty is evaluated by their talents, and ambitions along with their ability to articulate goals to “make the world a better place.” After parading around on-stage half naked or wearing lavish gowns they receive scores. Then they display a talent and answer one or two questions about important social issues to convince judges that they are the “…fairest of them all” (Disney 4). The contestants, judges, and the pageantry system