Beauty Pageants are Degrading to Women

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There are over 100,000 beauty pageants held in the United States every year, and over 2.5 million girls, ranging from ages zero to mid-twenties all across America compete in these competitions. A bountiful amount of people all over the world feel that beauty pageants are degrading to women and objectify them. I support these pageants to an extent. I do not feel that toddler/ child beauty pageants are okay considering they teach girls at a young age that they have to compete to look better with other girls. The youngest you should be to compete in a beauty pageant is 12. At this age and beyond I feel that beauty pageants are a valuable thing since they teach you life lessons on how to be healthy, confident, and informed about current events. Believe it or not, but beauty pageants encourage girls to live healthier lives. Yes, some contestants do try to get skinnier through unhealthy means and develop eating disorders, but in any sport a person is at risk for an eating disorder. Often times in dance you hear stories about ballerinas or other dancers starving themselves to fit into their costumes or starving themselves to become light enough to lift. In swimming, people starve themselves to reach a perfect weight so that they can gracefully move through the waters at high speeds, leaving nothing but a trail of bubbles. Don't you recognize what is happening? Beauty pageants are not the only sports the people who participate in might suffer through eating disorders. In fact girls will try their best to get their body healthy and toned by eating well and exercise. The average contestant's BMI rate is 18.9 according to Statistic Brain. The National Heart, Blood, and Lung institute states that this is a superb BMI that is not underwei... ... middle of paper ... ...t there are just as many people supporting you. Take your 5 seconds of fame and make it work to the best of your abilities. Not everything in life has to be so negative and pessimistic. This generation is so blessed. We are often sheltered against everything happening in the world that we find no need to watch the news so instead we go to MTV and watch Teen Mom or Jersey Shore, ignorant to the fact that there are other things in the world far more important than Snooki getting arrested. The Current Issues section in these pageants forces us to wake up and see that. I fully support the practice of beauty pageants all across the world. It teaches women vital skills such as confidence, being healthy, and also being informed about world issues. What more could you ask for? Some may take it as degrading, but to those people I have a simple solution. Just don't watch it.

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