Child Beauty Pageants A. Introduction
1. Attention-Getter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auzvSkIk7xg (:35 -1:33 Seconds) (Pathos)
(After introducing myself and topic I will show a few seconds of this video showing how a pageant child is made to get Botox at her young age).
2. Bond: “The video itself was hard to watch, but we can all agree that we feel upset seeing a child being put through tortious experiences by their own parents, just to look ‘pretty’”.
3. Credentials: “As a child, I watched the show Toddlers and Tiaras and I remember thinking how awful the experiences that these young children went through”. “I have read through various scholarly articles’ and I have heard various different experiences from former child beauty stars that
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Reason: William Pinsoff, a clinical psychologist said that “focusing on perfecting one's looks at such a young age "unleashes a whole complex of destructive self-experiences that can lead to eating disorders and all kinds of distortion in terms of body image” ( Lieberman, 2010). (Logos)
Example: A former child beauty contestant explained how, “dressing and acting like a woman at a young age compelled her to prematurely confront her sexuality, which in turn lowered her self-esteem” ( Lieberman, 2010). (Ethos)
Restate Point: The horrible expectations that are put on these young girls, as well as the situations that they are forced to go through by their own parents negatively effects them in a life lasting way. They have to grow up dealing with a superficial view of beauty as well as the low self-esteem that results in the absence of the attention and praise they had as children.
IN
Societal constructs of bodily perfection have a massive influence on both genders and on all ages. If you look at any magazine, you will see women constantly being compared to each other, whether it is in the “who wore it better” section or in the “do’s and don’ts” part of the magazine, comparing body images and overall appearances. All parts of the media that encompasses our daily lives are especially dangerous for young and impressionable teens because they see people being torn down for trying to express themselves, and are thus taught to not only don’t look like “don’ts”, but also look like the “do’s”. This is dangerous in that women in the magazine set very high standards that teens want to emulate, no matter the cost to themselves or their health. Celebrities have the benefit of media to make them appear perfect: Photoshop and makeup artists conceal the imperfections that are often too apparent to the naked eye. Viewing celebrities as exhibiting the ideal look or as idols will, in most cases, only damage the confidence of both young teens, and adults, and warp the reality of what true “beauty” really is. It makes teens never feel truly content with themselves because they will be aiming for an ideal that is physically impossible to attain and one that doesn’t exist in the real
Is it acceptable for toddler girls under the age of six to dress and act the way a twenty-six year old women would dress and act, just to participate in child beauty pageants? Young girls dressed in revealing clothing, being caked in make-up, getting fake tans, wearing fake eyelashes, teeth, hair, and nails, or even performing extremely mature routines are a few reasons pertaining to why it is unacceptable for toddlers to be in the modeling industry. Beauty pageants are very popular in the United States, and are growing rapidly (A Beauty Pageant Ban). Toddlers and Tiaras is a popular television show promoting children in beauty pageants causing contestant entries to rise. It’s estimated in the United States alone each year 250,000 children compete in child pageants of that, over 100,000 are girls under the age of twelve (Rapport). Out of the 250,000 participants in these beauty pageants, studies have shown that approximately half of these children are unhappy with their body and wish to go on a diet to fix their self image (Rapport). Youth pageants are clearly causing children to only focus on physical appearance and not the true beauty of the child's personality. Consequently, the negative effects on a toddler’s life, safety, mental, and physical health over power the benefits of toddlers participating in the beauty pageants.
Children of any age are very impressionable and research has been to conclude that the “social acts of a person in later life are a direct correlation of the social network they grew up in,” (Cairns, 2010) Child beauty pageants damage the child’s health, for it can cause cognitive, physical, and psychological problems to the child (American Psychological Association, 2010). According to American Psychological Association, young girls are becoming sexualized in the media and have found that women who have participated in beauty pageants as a child were 39% more likely to suffer from an mental disorder; 28% are currently living with an eating disorder (APA, 2010). William Pinsof, a clinical psychologist and president of the Family Institute at Northwestern University states, “Being a little Barbie doll says your body has to be a certain way and your hair has to be a certain way. In girls particularly, this can unleash a whole complex of destructive self-experiences that can lead to eating disorders and all kind...
Beauty pageants that involve children are a booming industry and growing fast in popularity. This is partially because of television shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Living Dolls, which glorify pageants that threaten the innocence of childhood. According to Lucy Wolfe, “in 2011, three million children participated in pageants across the country” (454). With so many children, some as young as six months old, partaking in pageants and countless more aspiring to be pageant princesses, a closer look needs to be taken at the practices that are used to prepare them for the show. Often working long hours, not only prepping for the pageant but also performing in it, the children have no laws protecting them from being harmed or exploited.
The misconception of what is beautiful can be detrimental to young girls. In a television industry attempt to sell goods, they are depicted as sexy. Creating a need for parents to intervene and present a more realistic and normal view of physical beauty. Today, TV presents sexually based images crafted to appeal to young girls. Unfortunately, they are led to believe that their value is only skin deep, causing flawed expectations, illusions, and wrong information about the truth of the physical body in the real world. In an attempt to look the part some have fallen victim to eating disorders, while others have exchanged childhood innocence for an Adult view of what is sexy.
It is this so called “perfect female” that is engraved in our minds, both male and female, and because of this there are many young girls, specifically between the ages of 14 to mid-20s, are being hurt by this. Women are portrayed in almost every possible thing. But they are pictured as a thin, tall, Caucasian female. Women want to be that female. That is what they are constantly telling themselves. When a woman gets the figure they always dreamt of, they are yet not satisfied. Being beautiful is not enough for them. A few want more, and when they cannot get to that point of harming themselves. Young girls are getting the wrong message thru media. In the film, “MissRepresentation” it gives the facts on how the media has influenced women with this “perfect figure,” even those young girls still in middle school. They are being abused physically, emotionally, and mentally because of what media is showing.
These five year olds are getting spray tans! These tans can cause cancer later on. Also the beauty pageants can cause eating disorders, these children want to be so skinny that they stop eating. Other girls get plastic surgery, so they can look prettier. Too much hairspray could stunt growth. The makeup that they are wearing can ruin their skin, in an overall sense they are turning into teenag...
Child beauty pageants have been a part of American society since the 1960’s. These pageants consist of modeling swimwear, evening attire, dance and talent. The young children entered in the pageants are judged on perfection, confidence, capability and looks. Judges would call this “the complete package.” Children are divided into different age groups to make the pageants fair. They are guided by there parents who spend well over 200 dollars for the pageants. Money is spent on fake nails, hair extensions, makeup, clothing, eyebrow waxing, and anything else their parents are willing to do to make their child the best looking. Keep in mind that these little girls range from ages 1-12. The issues with these pageants are that these extremely young girls are beginning to compare themselves to other “prettier” girls, which leads to negative effects in the future.
She grabs the foundation and smothers her face with it; she creates a mask. She sprays the hairspray till the fumes clog the air. She squeezes into her bejeweled dress and puts on her heels. She transforms into someone who is unrecognizable, and fake. This is a little girl. The process of preparing for a beauty pageant is very demanding and stressful while little girls spend hours training and getting ready for their appearance on stage. Weeks are spent choreographing their dance routines and thousands of dollars are spent on, “glitzy” dresses, fake teeth, and spray tans. As long as beauty pageants for girls under the age of 16 continue, there will be an increase in mental and physical issues, an increase in the objectification of women, and there will be negative impacts for little girls.
Lights, camera, pouty lips welcome to the four dimensional world of children 's beauty pageants. Over the years, child pageants have become a hot topic gaining a great deal of delight from numerous people around the world. From having a strong standing, ongoing fan base that keeps the hit TLC TV show Toddlers and Tiaras; on air to having some of Americans ' favorite beauty queens making guest appearances on shows such as the Ellen Show. Regretfully, the idea of putting an end to child pageants has become somewhat of a hotter topic than the pageants themselves. People often put down what they do not understand why dress a child like that? Why all the make-up? What some do not seem to understand is that there are advantages to being a beauty
Imagine you are at home, watching TV. Flipping through the channels, you see a preview for next week’s episode of Toddlers & Tiara’s. They show the girls dressed in frilly, sparkly attire, fake teeth, fake hair, fake tans, and makeup that could transform their faces into someone in their 20’s. These children are usually misbehaving, disobedient, overdramatic and they are between the ages of four and six. Any person could see that this lifestyle is incredibly harmful to these children not just because of what it does to their appearance, but what happens when these little girls’ minds become tainted with the thoughts of needing to be beautiful and talented in order for people to like them.
Now I’m going to give those teens a way to ignore what others think and think about themselves in the most important years of their lives. Body image has become more important that education and it needs to stop. I am going to point this article more towards teenage girls. Although I know guys are self conscious about themselves too I cannot relate to that. Girls when you look in the mirror do you see what you want to see?
From a young age, girls are exposed to celebrities who dress inappropriately and see dolls and photoshopped images in magazines of what they feel they are “suppose” to look like (Barbaro, & Earp, 2008). When children play with Barbie’s and Bratz dolls that are considered thin, perfect and beautiful, they can develop low self esteem (Kasser, & Linn, 2016). Low self-esteem can make kids buy items they do not need such as brand name clothing or makeup to make them feel beautiful. Ads make dressing inappropriately or more mature seem cool. Marketing persuades young children to look older than they are, as there are many mature clothing options for young consumers.
Many young girls are forced to wear preposterous outfits and enormous amounts of makeup that deny them of their innocence at a young age. Beauty contests are meant more for adult women who are mature enough to understand all that’s going on and can handle losing competitions to the other contestants. Children should not be able to compete in pageants because of the harmful effects on self-confidence and character. Some people think they are good and some do not agree that they are good. (Leo, 2014)
" Money, ratings and attention fuel the pageant/dance media machine, with parents and adults reaping the benefits. Purpose of Child Beauty Pageants For these young pageant girls, brains before beauty is not the case. Real-world priorities such as schooling, family, and friends are trumped by tiaras, makeup, and evening gowns. More value is often placed on being beautiful in the eyes of the judges, than on each girl’s individuality.