Child beauty pageant affects child development in some ways. Child may be sensitive if they are looking good and they have materialistic concerns. Children may become more concerned with the development of their looks than with developing their internal selves. Beauty pageants stress looks, glamour and, often, insulting outfits not suitable for their age. Alison Bryant says, “Girls can be bitchy and competitive enough as it is, and entering them in beauty pageants only encourages the development of this trait.” Competing child in a beauty pageant could be a great way to develop themselves, and their career for the future. Competing child in a beauty pageant can also increase thier confidence.
Fueling fears and sexualization. According to Claire
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. There are multiple negative effects associated with pageant participation law makers need to take action and find a way to regulate the trends of these controversial displays that sexualize young children.
It is 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning, and Sharon is about to awaken her eighteen month old baby, Jessica, to prepare her for a long weekend of make-up, hairspray, and gowns. Jessica is one of the thousands of babies forced into the many children's beauty pageants each year. Sharon is among the many over-demanding parents who pressure their young and innocent children into beauty pageants each year and this is wrong.
Many children are involved in pageants, and many varieties of people have different opinions. Some people feel that they are good, others not so much. Opinions vary from person to person, and reasoning also varies. But, the real question for this topic is "are these pageants good for them in the long run?"
These competitions normally give out prizes to the biggest winners which can include money. “Pageant winners earn college scholarships, cash – and those cherished sparkly tiaras...” (O’Neill 20). Toddlers can win amounts from $100 to $10,000 depending on how many participants there are and how large the pageant is. Most parents end up saving this money to put away for college for the child in her later years. Although these toddlers can win so much amounts of money, but the amount the parents spend to get into the pageant is much more. “her parents have spent more than $70,000 on her pageant career…Eden has won between $25,000 and $30,000 in prizes” (Lieberman 739). Beauty pageants also bring structure early on in a young girl’s life. Ashley Berry began entering pageants at the age of five and fell in love with it and she claims that it helped her stay structured and it made her become a well-poised lady (Morgan). As structured as these children may seem, many often become perfectionists and never find the best in themselves. An example would be Brooke Breedwell who was a child pageant contestant and she claims that she suffered from anxiety attempting to strive for perfection (Lieberman 740). Toddlers may gain low self-esteem which can carry on to their teenage
Young girls should not be exposed to beauty pageants. Beauty pageants became part of the American society in the 1920's. Child beauty pageants began in the 1960's. Child beauty pageants consist of modeling sportswear, evening attire, dance and talent. The children are judged based on individuality in looks, capability, poise, perfection and confidence. (“Kareen Nussbaum”) Putting your child in a situation as to being
Child beauty pageants were first introduced to people as a sort of entertainment for both the children and adults of the community. These were natural beauty pageants. Today, a beauty pageant is defined as a competition in which the participants, usually women, are judged on their attractiveness, with a prize, and often a title, awarded to the winner. How did a harmless hobby become so fierce? Because of glitz pageants, which stress only beauty, I believe that child beauty pageants should be banned.
It was the day after Christmas in 1996 when 6 year old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was murdered, she was found with a skull fracture and there was evidence of sexual molestation. The investigation is still unsolved and ongoing but it is thought that her prominence in the local pageant circuit made her an obvious target for child predators (Bio., 2011). Child beauty pageants are pageants in which the contestants are under the age of 16, many of the participants start performing when they’re as young as a few months old and continue doing pageants until adulthood. Underage beauty pageants have been around for over 50 years, and have now become a common hobby and are most commonly found in the South. While these competitions have gained popularity
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.
Child Beauty Pageants Win or Lose? Why not let the kids dress up and show out? Let the kids walk across the stage in front of the judge if they want to. Being in beauty pagents gives kids the opportunity to experience sportsmanship. It also gives them the chance to build their self confidence.
The popularity of child beauty contests seems to be increasing dramatically every year causing more and more controversy as time goes on. Many people do not agree with children being forced to fulfill their parents' dream by taking place in a pageant .It is very common for young girls to be obsessed over Barbie dolls, the perfect hair combined with the flawless makeup has provided a fantasy idol for all young girls to look up to, but who would have thought the doll would come to life as a 5 year old girl competing in a beauty pageant?
The first reason that Child Beauty Pageants should be put to an end is that the behavior of parents are abusive as they sexualize their children in order for them to gain success. Although, many parents are against the decision of hitting children, the case has become worse at child Beauty Pageants. Types of action are being made for refusing to wear or do something they do not wish. According to ABC News, a pageant mom, whose daughter is only 9 years old got her daughter to wax her eyebrows after her eyebrows ripped off because an accident previously. The daughter pleaded and cried to her mom that she does not want to tear her eyebrows, but yet never paid heed to her daughter and still got them done.The mother had stated that she would
According to Dr. M. Cartwright, “many of the young women with eating disorders were trained at an early age to value, physical perfection, thinness, athletic powers and attractiveness.”(2011). A study in 2005 showed that former childhood beauty pageant contestants had higher rates of body dissatisfaction (www.psychologytoday.com, 2011). This statistic is growing every year and needs to have an end to it. Child beauty pageants have a negative impact on children because they lead to mental issues later on, make kids shallow and make kids unsafe. Girls being exposed to beauty pageants have a higher risk of insecurity issues as they grow older.
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)
What is a beauty pageant? The earliest pageants have been around since the Nineteenth Century (“Beauty Pageants Pros and Cons List”). More modern contests consist of differing portions like talent, swimwear, casual wear, formal wear, and answering questions. Pageant participants may wear altered gowns, professional makeup, and an assortment of hairstyles. About five thousand child pageants are held annually with almost twenty-five hundred thousand young girls entered.
Can anyone actually justify judging someone by their physical appearance? Although parents enjoy seeing their little girls in the spotlight all dolled up, most children don’t enjoy the pageant experience as much as the parents, and this vicarious living is dangerous, and the pageants have the capability of exploiting the children. Beauty pageants have a background of treating women disrespectfully and as if they are not equal. Women’s bodies are seen as objects of beauty as if we are just here to parade around for others. Today’s pageants are still set up in the same direction even for the youngest contests. They are dressed up to look like adults and sometimes dressed provocative. “Beauty pageants are a reflection of a culture in which women are not equal. Women’s bodies are not their own but are seen as objects of beauty for others.” (Nasso).