More handpicked essays just for you.
Potential impact on children's development from background
Harmful effects of media on children and adolescents
Harmful effects of media on children and adolescents
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The first child beauty pageant started in America in the 1960’s and started a major American trend. Back then, little girls were dressed up in their Sunday dress with no makeup, and no revealing clothing nothing as extravagant as children are today. Child beauty pageants are so popular here in the USA there is a reality show called “Toddlers and Tiaras.” This show shows what goes on from the start of a day to the end of the day. The show shows what contestants go through to get ready for the pageant, how they are transformed to look like little adults. They try to act older than they are and carry themselves in a way that is unbecoming of a little girl. Beauty pageants are teaching little girls that how they look on the outside and flirting is how they win in life. Beauty pageants should be restricted for children under the age of 16. Beauty pageants are too vigorous for children, and sending the wrong message as what beauty should look like. Beauty pageants have little girls as young as 4 years old spending hours preparing for a competition. They put on as much makeup as an adult would wear. They have fake eyelashes, fake teeth, spray tan, hair extensions, and some low cut outfit on, and then told to go on stage and impress the judges. If you are not a certain size and maintain that size, you are considered unattractive so many girls start obsessing about their weight at such a young age. They purposely starve themselves in order to stay at the "appropriate" weight in order to win. When contestants make poor judgments of themselves, it can lead to poor self- esteem and to eating disorders. Restricting the age requirements on beauty pageants will take the pressure off children that do not want to participate. A pe... ... middle of paper ... ...p, dancing and singing and winning awards for placing higher than the other children place. Advocates say this is a way they can earn money and scholarships and for college. Is it right to teach children that beauty is solely based on what is on the outside, or should they know that beauty comes from within? Beauty pageants teach children at a young age that people will judge someone based on looks and not personality. For years, beauty pageants have been based on children wearing hairpieces, makeup, spray tans, and false teeth. Beauty pageants diminish self-esteem and teach children bad morals. Beauty pageants create mental and physical harm to a child throughout a pageant. Beauty pageants should be restricted for children under the age of 16; their fragile minds are not ready for the criticism that comes with the idea of being “perfect” in the judges’ mind.
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.
Two words: reality TV. We’ve all been there before watching endless hours of personal drama and documentary shows that never cease to be jaw dropping hilarious to downright shocking. But did you ever think that a reality TV show would display all the horrors behind all the glitz and glamor? Toddlers and Tiaras a child pageant reality TV show, displayed to the world what families will do to get the title of “Ultimate Grand Supreme”. Vernon R. Wiehe in the article “Nothing Pretty In Child Pageants” argues about the damage that child pageants could do to the kid that is participating in them. I agree with Wiehe that there is really nothing beautiful about child pageant’s in the way that nothing in pageant’s seems age appropriate for a young child,
In 2009, TLC aired a reality television show entitled Toddlers and Tiaras. It was instantly a hit with home viewers and also brought major controversy over child beauty pageants. The show focused mainly on glitz pageants; which requires all contestant, however young, to compete with make-up, spray tans, acrylic nails and revealing costumes. Many, such as I were entertained at first with the pint size Barbie dolls; however after watching a couple episodes, controlling stage moms and toddler melt downs reveal that glitz beauty pageants are nothing less than objectification and exploitation of young girls. Beauty pageants not only exploit children but are detrimental to the child’s physical, emotional and psychological health.
Child beauty pageants are competitions in which contestants-primarily female in gender- under sixteen years of age are judged based on their superficial attractiveness. Beauty pageant concept began in the 1850’s, it was used as a way of entertainment, and only people of knowledge, such as doctors and writers, were allowed to attend. After a period of time, beauty pageants became part of American society in the 1920's, whereas "Child" beauty pageants began in the 1960's (Lieberman, 2010, p.742). Children entering such contests are supposed to present themselves on stage
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 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.
Beauty pageants have caused an increase in mental and physical issues in young girls who participate. Participation and competition for a beauty prize where infants and girls are objectified and judged against sexualized ideals can have significant mental health and developmental consequences that impact detrimentally on identity, self-esteem, and body perception ("We must protect our kids from the catwalk of shame."). If young girls don't win, they might take it personally and get hurt feelings. The child might end up feeling unattractive or inadequate ("Child Beauty Pageants Pros and Cons.") which can lead to the development of disorders such as bulimia or anorexia. ("How Do Child Beauty Pageants Affect a Child's Development?") These are both eating disorders girls develop to lose weight excessively. Furthermore, the average BMI of a beauty pageant contestant as of 2010 is 18.3 (Beauty Pageant Statistics), which is classified as underweight...
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
Beauty pageants are linked with an immense variety of negative effects. These children are trying to be someone that they are not. The effects on these children can escalate quickly and affect them their entire life. When a parent first enters their child in a pageant, they do not think about the negative consequences they could have on their child. No parent wants to experience the tragedy that the Ramsey family did. Although some children do gain things from these pageants, the majority of them are harmed. The effects from these pageants range from eating disorders and body image problems to social and psychological problems. If there are not regulations put on these pageants in the near future, our young children are going suffer from growing up to fast. When will people learn that looks are not everything and we should let the kids be kids?
Beauty pageants are becoming more and more popular, but is this a good thing? Numbers of children taking part in beauty pageants are increasing due to TV programmes like “Toddlers and Tiaras”. The estimated number in America is 250,000. The beauty pageant production is now one of the largest grossing businesses in America as the money getting funded is way over what was expected. The children participating are judged on everything about them and when the results of the pageant are not successful, it can damage their confidence and dignity severely.
While watching the short clip of Toddlers and Tiaras before being assigned this, it made me cringe just watching how a mother forced her daughter to have a cold, temporary spray tan for pre-pageant necessities. The controversy over beauty pageants for little girls and boys from ages 6 months to 16 years old has been increasing over the years. One side is saying yes they should participate because it builds confidence and the other side is saying no because it teaches them unrealistic standards of beauty. Toddlers should NOT participate in pageants because it shows girls unrealistic beauty standards, to imitate adults and unhealthy grooming habits.
Toddlers and tiaras? More like Toddlers and tears. I have several reasons for contemplating that child beauty pageants are horrifying, my first being that a 6 year old girl should not
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)
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.”
Pageants have a way of exploiting children by changing their looks and attitudes to make them more adult like and entertaining; dressing children in bikinis or provocative costumes just to be judged by how well they wear it and how pretty they are is demeaning and cruel. Children should not be taught that looks are everything and you get everything you want in life because when they're older it will be harder for them to accept reality. Imitating the fashion and looks of an adult is not how a child should grow up. A parent should want their child to grow up knowing that they are naturally beautiful and their personality and smarts can get them far in life rather than beauty beats brains, correct?