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Today there are many new extracurricular activities that occupy a lot of young Americans minds. One trending activity is beauty pageants. It is more common in children where the ages may vary between eight months and even older. The trending debate is whether or not beauty contest serve any purpose in society. While many Americans feel as though pageants are helpful to a child’s self esteem, many feel that the effects of the contest have a very harsh effect on child development by devaluing a child. Researchers have found that beauty contests are effective for women to help make platforms for their careers and also create new jobs for women to create like mentoring children. The history of pageants has dated back to the 1920s, when the first Miss America, Margaret Gorman, was crowned. According to research, The United States has traced back its roots of pageantry where it even dates back when the Women’s Liberation and Civil Rights Movement started. In the early 1920s, also known as the “Roaring Twenties,” women did not have any rights in the United States. Society during this time saw women having the role of being married and staying at home while taking care of their kids and tending to their homely duties. Women in the 1920s were in the process of fighting for their right to vote as well as having equal rights in America and being able to work in the workforce. On August 18, 1920, the change for women’s rights had just begun, the 19th amendment passed by congress granted women the right to vote in the United States. The labor force for women was beginning to change as well. Women were once seen having the role of “feminine” jobs. Society saw women taking jobs like nursing and teaching. Men did not like the fact that the w... ... middle of paper ... ...e becoming available for women. Women are now using their platforms in their pageants and making them now careers. Some beauty contest winners are looking into careers in politics as well as mentoring positions for younger women. Even though some feel that the pageant industry is devaluing children and their self esteem, hindering their development, and expensive, some feel that the pageant industry is now becoming a center for bonding and creating lifelong relationships. Some may even feel that social media is also a source for the negative effects of the pageant industry. America can now see how the simple things like beauty contest could affect a whole nation and change the way the people of society view one another, and we also see how positive the changes have our nation become stronger and created new extracurricular activities for the average American child.
Recent female contestants they will understand the dangers of pageants and become more aware of what they need to do to protect themselves. Some will not care and believe it will not happen to them, that they are the one who can survive in the game. Economic classes are spoken to; upper class all they see is the glitter and trophies so they go to the extreme to go for the prizes of thousands of dollars and don’t care about what they need to do in order to get it. “Parents, many of whom have only modest incomes, pay for high-glitz coaches ($50 to $100 an hour), high-glitz photographers ($300 per session, with $150 for retouching), high-glitz wig makers ($150 to $175 a pop), and high-glitz spray tanners ($25 per pageant)”(Hollandsworth). Middle class they don’t see it as you have to have money to do it they can do just as good as those who have lots of money and do it better. Fans who support the pageant will consider how they perceive the girl as the model and perform their talents on
...et-Weiser, Sarah, and Laura Portwood-Stacer. “'I just want to be me again!': Beauty pageants, reality television and post-feminism.” Feminist Theory 7 (2006): 255-272. Print.
...as Miss USA and Miss Universe are competitions intended for mature, self-assured women who are capable of making their own decisions. Child beauty pageants, however, ruin childhoods and force them to grow up believing in their looks, rather than in themselves. It is no surprise, that emotional distress plagues the contestants that participate in beauty long after stepping off of the stage; subjecting young girls of any age to judgment and ridicule is not only humiliating but horrific to think that we are sitting back being entertained by their competitive nature. Rather than raising strong, confident girls who want to achieve the best in life; the parents and the hosts of these competitions provide a platform on which little girls are dressed up as skimpy Barbie dolls and paraded around, trying to achieve some form of perfection that shouldn’t exist in little girls.
“She represents the type of womanhood America needs, strong, red-blooded, able to shoulder the responsibilities of homemaking and motherhood. It is in her type that the hope of the country rests” (Martin & Watson, 2004, p.3). This was Samuel Gompers sharing his thoughts about the very first “Miss America”, Margaret Gorman. The Miss America Pageant was established in the most fitting of all decades: the 1920s. During a time when women were just starting to experience newfound independence and rights, the Miss America Pageant strengthened the idea that women had more freedom to express themselves. The competition began as a simple tourist attraction, but the fact that the Miss America Pageant survived throughout the decades exemplifies that the competition was so much more.
Schultz, Kristen, and Ann Pleshette Murphy. " Home> GMA Beauty Pageants Draw Children and Criticism." ABC News. ABC News Network, 26 Feb 2014. Web. 13 Apr 2014. .
"How Do Child Beauty Pageants Affect a Child's Development?" Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014
When one looks back at their childhood, what pops into their head? For most people their response would be playing with dolls, going outside, or having sleepovers, but for others that isn’t reality. Britney, an eight-year old girl from California, spent her childhood getting Botox and competing in child beauty pageants. According to her mother, Britney had been complaining about wrinkles and agreed to trying Botox. This sounds absolutely crazy, but it is not uncommon. Over 250,000 kids participate in beauty pageants each year (Lindsey). These children, who start competing as early as age 2, are being judged on their looks, capability, perfection, and confidence. The controversies over these pageants have erupted in the past few years because of TLC’s reality show, Toddlers and Tiaras (Nussbaum). Many believe it is not right for young children to parade around on stage wearing make-up and inappropriate clothing, while others believe it builds confidence in children. Despite what people who are pro child beauty pageants say, these pageants can have major effects on the kids participating in them. One may argue that these girls gain much more than they lose, but in the end the negative affects far outweigh the positives.
American’s unneeded celebration of beauty in the pageantry world is digging a hole for the country and has been the contributing factor to the downward spiral we are presently in. The system of this pageant needs to change tremendously in order for it to become a beneficial contest in the future. Beauty pageants to...
" In the end, children’s beauty pageants are essentially harmful to both young girls safety and minds. It may not happen to some, but most of the young girls that compete in beauty pageants seem to have a bit of an attitude towards their parents and other people who will not cooperate with them.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Issues regarding the purpose of beauty pageants alarm women since majority of the beauty pageants are for them. Let us look at the good side of beauty pageants. First, allows the use...
Modern beauty contests started in the United States of America in 1880 with the first Miss United States bathing beauty contest held at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Since then, beauty pageants had been popular in many parts of the world. Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International, participated in every year by more than fifty countries, ceaselessly attracts huge audiences and supporters. The biggest, the Miss World competition, had been running annually since 1951, and although it is less popular in the UK now than it was in 1968, when it attracted 27.5 million TV viewers, it still attracts an enormous worldwide audience of up to 3 billion viewers in 120 countries. [1] Although the main purpose of these pageants are to empower women, the crowned winners are also traveling around the world in order to support causes like HIV/AIDS and children's charity organizations. [2] Due to the success of these internationally produced pageants, various beauty contests for different classes of age, sex and sexuality stemmed up. However, even with the huge diversity, the content of each pageants have almost always been the same: all of them are comprised of the mainstream categories like swimwear portion and evening gown portion. With these content, beauty pageants gives out strong messages regarding what the ideal type of woman is, hence undermining the purpose of a beauty pageant: to empower women. Thus, although beauty pageants contribute to the entertainment of the masses, it promotes an ideal of female beauty that only a minority of women can realistically aspire, objectifies women, further advances cultural insensitivity among its candidates and uses up too much resources which is why it should be banned.
...le do thing that they do is a good way to prepare for such a career.” In the end, pageants have their good ways and their bad ways. Some parents put their kids in pageants to prove that they are better than others, but other parents do it for their kids to make lifelong friends. (Cromie, 2000)
Cromie, William J. “The Whys and Woes of Beauty Pageants.” News.harvard.edu. 2000-2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Beauty pageants have long been a form of entertainment, exhibiting beautiful women with ideal bodies competing for their talent and looks. Many pageant moms involve their daughters in children’s pageants to help them improve their social skills, exercise their talents, and boost their self-esteem. Although the pageants may seem like harmless competition with benefits, research shows that they may be doing the young beauty queens more harm than good. “.the girls are receiving conflicting messages: In order to win, the girls must show a unique personality, but they must also act and dress in a hyper feminine manner and conform to the pageant world's ideal standard of beauty and narrow set of conventions.”
Do beauty pageants really help girls find their inner beauty or do they just change into faulty beauty queens? Looking deeply into what these competitions really create out of a person, anyone can quickly find that the contestants aren’t all rainbows and butterflies. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. Pageantry changes some girls for the better, but can also change them for the worse. Young girls should not participate in beauty pageants because they apply too much pressure by judging females based mostly on their physical appearance and can cost up to thousands of dollars.