The Most Important For Cognitive Development

Beauty pageants have long been criticized for being shallow, idealistic, and detrimental to self-esteem. Despite such allegations, child pageantry has been gaining in popularity in recent years. In these pageants girls are dressed up in frilly dresses, mountains of makeup, and perform a little dance featuring hip shakes and shimmies, often not by their own choice. This rather extreme example demonstrates the prominence of sexualization of children today. Women have been viewed as objects simply for sexual desire for all of history. They are objectified even starting early in childhood, as young girls were, and in some cultures still are, highly sought after goods. While mature looks and sexy clothing used to be reserved for adult women, more and more young girls are interested in obtaining the same older features. Girls are being unfairly sexualized from an increasingly young age.

Wiehe wrote about young girls in beauty pageant in the article, Nothing Pretty in Child Pageants and she also talked about the television show named Toddlers and Tiaras. This television show gave viewers a behind the scene look at what the young girls go thru before, during, and after the pageants. Some of the kids began their first pageant around the age of 2. On this television show kids are being paraded around in their hair extensions, added eyelashes, false teeth and high heel shoes. Parents are seen on occasion yelling and pulling on these girls in order to get them to cooperate. Also, on this show some of the girls are forced to participate in these pageants only for the self-gratification of their mom. This type of atmosphere only hinders a child’s development process it does not encourage young girls to be individuals or build their character. Girls around the age of 5 are normally playing dress up and not being forced to dress in a fashion that attack the audience attention. These girls are being sexualized at an early age. This often portrays the wrong message not only to the individual but to society. They are forced to dress and act like adults at an early age.

“Toddlers and Tiaras” was a hit television show that premiered on the channel TLC on December 12, 2008.  “Toddlers and Tiaras” ranked up a number of two million viewers per episode, which went on for seven seasons.  This show was so successful that a sequel called “Another Toddlers and Tiaras” aired on August 24, 2016.  “Toddlers and Tiaras”, not surprisingly, took a look into the lives of young pageant queens and what goes on behind the stage and all the makeup.  Many, but not all, young girls love to dress up and wear their mother’s high heels, but this trend has been taken up a notch in the last few decades with prizes and money now at stake.  Some people consider, what is being called child beauty pageants, cute, while some believe that it is disgusting and ruining children.  In this article, the different viewpoints on child beauty pageants can show as to why it can affect a child’s development positively and negatively.

In 1959 the Barbie doll was first introduced by the company Mattel. Barbie was originally meant to be the perfect woman. Standing at what would be 5’9” and weighing in at 110 pounds. As stated before these types of measurements would have made barbie anorexic. As well as that, a book was given out in the ‘Slumber Party Barbie’ set that gave a very vague tip on how to stay skinny. “Don’t eat”. Any young woman that followed Barbie’s tip were sure to result to anorexia. In fact, 8 million people in the United States have this eating disorder, and only 10-15% of them are male. Which leaves the 85- 90% of them to be female. 80% of the female’s are under 20 years old. “Many of the women admitted to worrying about their weight around four to six years old” Said the author, Saren (Barbie Effect).

TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras takes this too far, sexually exposing children in the world of child beauty pageants, which produces and disseminates the idea of hegemonic gendering about girlhood and girl identity” (TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras: Way Too Much or Just Enough?). Young girls are being taught at a young age that beauty is what gets them further in life. The idea that the most beautiful is always the happiest and most successful. Editor Maggie Furlong, touches about how the show really alters the minds of young girls, “’ Facial beauty is the most important thing, in life and in pageants,’ Daisey Mae says, almost too matter-of-factly. And she also has some advice for parents looking to expose their children to the pageant circuit: ‘If you think your kid is ugly or sumpin’, you might not want to do pageants because you’re not going to win or anything.’”

Girls are sexualized in beauty pageants at a very young age. On Toddlers and Tiaras, girls are shown in ‘sexy’ costumes, showing too much skin, especially for their age. With around 1.3 million viewers a week, the show has normalized this sexualization. In one

One online critic stated that Barbie is “a tall, tan, and a busty, blonde bombshell that needs to back off” (Dipity line 8). Barbie is designed to be approximately six foot tall and super skinny with pearly white teeth. She always looks good because of her makeup, and think about it. Do not most young girls want to experiment and dabble in the art of makeup at a young age? The connection is to constantly seeing Barbie’s unfailingly flawless face and wishing they could be more like her. In 1965, Mattel came out with a “Slumber Party Barbie.” The set came with a bathroom scale set at 110 pounds, and a book entitled “How to Lose Weight.” Inside this book, the advice: “Don’t Eat!” was given. Who wouldn’t want their young child seeing something like

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.

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

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.

Children differ greatly from adults in terms of their mental development and physical characteristics, therefore they should not be treated in the same manner as adults. Pageants have changed over time to become far more extravagant as years pass. What started out with young girls dressed in age appropriate attire has shifted to have young girls showcasing expensive dresses that reveal more skin than is ever expected of a child. In the show Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC, pageant families are followed from their early preparations for a pageant to the final pageant competition. During one episode, two-year old Mia is competing in a competition and decides that her staple outfit piece would be a cone shaped bra reminiscent of Madonna’s staple fashion piece. In the episode, “[Mia] places one hand behind the back of her head and the other just behind her cone shaped ‘Madonna’ bra, gyrating and shaking her hips to the music” (Wolfe). Mia’s performance is just one example of how childhood beauty pageants push the limits of what is socially acceptable for young children to perform. Her performance accentuated the cone shaped bra and gave two-year-old Mia the illusion of having breasts as shown in Figure 1. Overall, this outfit and outfits similar to these are sexualizing pageant children and exposing

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

In the 1960s Mattel debuted the “Slumber Party Barbie” (Eating Disorders 3). The worst of it all seemed to be the scale only went up to 110 pounds, giving young girls the idea that weighing more than this was wrong. This doll came with a scale and dieting books that told girls not to eat. Studies have shown that girls who are only six years old and play with Barbies consume less food than girls who play with more realistic dolls.

Therefor not loving their body. In 1965 Barbie slumber party came out. In the package, it included bathroom scales and a book on ‘How to lose weight’. This encouraged kids that play and enjoy playing with Barbie to lose weight and not love themselves. To get an image that they need to lose weight in order to look like

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.”