Toddlers And Tiaras Essay

First, we will talk about how child beauty pageants started. The upbringing of child beauty pageants is very interesting. It started off with “Pageants celebrating female beauty and charm being fixture at fairs and festivals the U.S. since the 19th century”(Hilboldt), and then “Their rise in popularity probably dates back to 1954, when the miss America pageants was first broadcasted on TV”(Hilboldt). “In 1960, a miami broadcaster hosted the first locally televised pageant for children, Little Miss universes”(Hilboldt). Around “The 1980’s child pageants had become an inextricable part of life in the South…”(Hilboldt). Pageants have dated back for centuries, but did not rise in popularity until it was first broadcasted on TV. Furthermore, the number of kids that participate in beauty pageants is eminence. A majority of little girls wanted to be in pageants, because “They began dreaming of one day becoming Miss America”(Hilboldt). With so many kids in pageants “It’s estimated that 25,000 children compete in more than 5,000 pageants in the U.S. each year”(Hilboldt). It is crazy how many little girls participate in beauty pageants each year just so they can hopefully become the next Miss America. While beauty pageants are still relevant and legal in the U.S. France is trying to ban them. “France is considering a move to ban beauty pageants for girls under 16 as a way to fight the hyper-sexualization of children”(“France”). While,“Under the proposal, organizers of beauty pageants aimed at young children...could face up to two years in prison and fines of $40,000”(“France”). Also, “The measure is a part of of a wider law on gender equality and was approved by the French Senate after garnering 197 votes in favor of the ban,

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.

Beauty Pageants over sexualizes little girls at a young age. As it seen in “Toddlers and Tiaras” a show by TLC show, little girls are being sexualized at a young age, by introducing them to hair extensions, make up, flippers (fake teeth), sexualized dresses. According to Paul Peterson, president and founder of A Minor Consideration, beauty pageants are “feeding the sex industry (Agadoni).” Girls are not physically ready to wear make up or hair extensions, and all of that just hides the natural beauty of a child making them more self conscious about themselves at such a young age. Little girls are going to think of themselves as not beautiful because they hide their real selves behind a ton of make up.

When I hear the word toddler I think of little girls walking around in mommy’s shoes, and miss matched clothing (because she’s getting to the age where she likes to dress herself.) And of course a cute smile that’s missing a few teeth. The word glitz, glamour and sashes don’t come to mind. Nor does the image of a little girl who’s fake from head to toe. Wearing wigs, flippers (fake teeth), inappropriate /reveling attire and fake tans. I don’t think of little girls dancing around a stage in front of hundreds of people getting judged on their “beauty.” Well, that is exactly what children’s pageants consist of. Pageants exploit a child for their outer beauty, their talents and over all perfection or as pageant judges would call it having” the

Toddlers & Tiaras is extensively promoting the idea of having a perfect “Barbie doll” image and beauty standards that are out of reach. In addition, psychologists and psychiatrists agree that beauty pageants support negative female body image problem which can lead onto major disorders both mentally and physically. For example: eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder or depression. Mental health experts have already been seeing a rise in eating orders growing from younger ages. On an episode of toddlers and tiaras healthy 8-year old, Ever Rose was put on a diet so she could fit into her competition dress. Disturbingly, Ever Rose lost so much weight on the diet that her dress was too big .I think this is horrible; the message that beauty is everything has gone way too far. Another negative message spreading is that abusing your daughter for money is acceptable. On an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras a mother forced her “absolutely terrified” daughter to get her eyebrow waxed and even commented at the end “There! Doesn’t that look pretty?” while her daughter was shaking in fear. Another parent feeds her daughter nicknamed ‘Honey Boo Boo ‘“Go-Go juice” (a mix of Mountain Dew and Red Bull) and says that she could be doing worse by giving her daughter alcohol. Fortunately action has been taken against these abusive mothers and multiple have been sent to court. To add to this, contestants are now losing sight of what truly matters- education and schooling. On the ‘Le Maison De Paris’ episode of Toddlers & Tiaras contestants and their parents were asked how they think you pronounce a number of French words. They all replied with no effort and no sense of wonder. This

Critics of the show say that many parents are living their own fantasies through their children and those child beauty pageants can destroy self-esteem. They insist the pageants send warped messages to little girls that looking pretty and pleasing other people are most important. There is certainly no evidence that these toddler beauty pageants create anything but future women who are so self-absorbed that they will not know how to get a long in the world. This is because once the pageants are over, the little girl is no longer a tot with a tiara, yet expects the world to treat her like a queen.

Most pageant girls practice 3 to 4 hours a day plus spend endless hours at the competition itself. All of this time has to come from somewhere, and often it interrupts their education. Their grades will begin to go down. These little kids won't get a good learning experience and may not be able to create those lasting school relationships that we all enjoy. So not only are they now focused on their looks, they are also not focused on their future. Some people say that it won't lower their grades because they can still study when they aren't practicing. But practice takes up a lot of time and there is no replacing a great classroom teacher and teamwork with your peers. They stop focusing on school because they are told beauty is better than brains.

¨Child beauty pageants are a form of child abuse, since they exploit children and place them in harm's way. The children who participate in beauty pageants are often hurt by the experience, suffering damage to their self-esteem and later developing eating disorders, like anorexia, due to skewed values about their bodies. Additionally, dressing children up with adult clothes and makeup appeals to sexual predators, placing them at risk of falling victim to a pedophile. Because of these potential dangers to children, no one under the age of eighteen should be allowed to participate in beauty pageants.¨ (Reed) Puffy dress, high heels, spray tans, hair extensions, inappropriate dancing for judges, energy drinks, abusive parents, a competition based

Child beauty pageants have created a lot of controversy over the years. Contests that determine who is the most beautiful are known to have been around since Ancient Greece. Child beauty pageants occur whether or not they do harm to children. Some people believe beauty pageants have positive effects on Children. While others believe it negatively affects children’s self image.

Young girls dressing as adults and parading in front of judges and patrons is inappropriate. Beauty pageants are detrimental to the self-esteem of adolescent girls and such contests give young girls a false idea of beauty. The whole country watches in awe as young girls strut in skimpy outfits that are unfit for children of that age. Some girls in these competitions are barely two years old and are being judged by adults based on how they look in evening gowns, swimsuits, and talent costumes.

This shows that beauty pageants do have a large impact on the way people view themselves, causing eating disorders. Over all beauty pageants have brought eating disorders, low self esteem and depression to many women in our society.

“What they are learning basically is that they have one characteristic which is of total primary importance, and that is their body and their attractiveness.” Many people believe that these young children are sacrificing their self image and self confidence when they become older, but there are so many biased opinions about beauty pageants for kids. After seeing young kids spray tanned, in revealing attire and a full face of makeup, beauty pageants are nothing less than blatant objectifications of these young girls. As entertaining and hysterical beauty pageants can be, pageants have raised immense controversy throughout the world.

But are the beauty pageants helping the children keep living there childhood dream or is it just holding them back from reality? As the competition gets tougher, the crowns get bigger. With a new generation of spoiled undisciplined kids and parents that will go to the extremes to do anything for their child to look and feel beautiful. Paul Peterson, the president and founder of A Minor Consideration feels that beauty pageants sexualize young girls rather than help them built self-esteem. “This is feeding the sex industry; there is a tremendous trade within juvenile modeling.” Many others agree with Peterson, like

    Beauty pageants have become an American tradition since it started in the 1920’s. It began as a show where women ages thirteen to seventeen, would put on swimming suits and compete for the most beautiful woman in America. Over the course of time, beauty pageants have changed and now they include every gender, sex, nationality, age and background. In the 1960s beauty pageants took on another set of age groups; young girls ages, one to three, four to six, seven to nine and so on. The issue however began to come from the oversexualization of toddler girls and parents acting ridiculously about how their child should look and forcing them to act like an adult in the competition phase. The girls were being forced to grow up too soon and not only did it impact their attitudes, their self esteem and the way they pictured life but the same way affected the girls who were watching these pageants who then felt like they should look exactly like these girls because those girls were pretty enough to be in an American, broadcasted Pageant. Beauty pageants are not good for little children and the oversexualization of toddlers is wrong. Children should be allowed to grow as children and not be forced to roleplay as an adult.

Beauty pageants send the message to contestants that appearance is the most important thing about a person. Children will think that they need to spend thousands of dollars to make themselves look good. They will only desire to try and look beautiful and they won't care about more important things like paying bills and saving money for future things like a new house, cars, and many other things that are more important than just beauty. Pageants also encourage girls to fit narrow invented standards of beauty. Girls try and act like adult celebrities; dressing and walking like them across the stage.