Girlhood, Beauty Pageants, and Power: Trailer Park Royalty attempts to inquiry an array of hard-hitting, yet crucial questions necessary to uncover the various complexities surrounding the beauty pageant subculture within what Thompson-Hardy claims to be Southern rural America. Furthermore, the author drew a link between agents of power and structural practices and how they both maintain dominance and shape the subculture to formulate young contestants identities, and overall “girlhood”. Debates and critical discourse are nothing new to child beauty pageant participation, where many point to the organization as the location to blame for its detrimental influence, problematic sexualization of young girls for hopeful monetary gain, and pushed …show more content…
They also never clarified whether their analysis would solely focus on pageants of a smaller scale or rural families who were regular participants and would commute outside of rural places for the sake of pageantry. There also appeared to be no thought in the collection of media that was representative of what they frequently stated to be “Southern rural beauty pageants” let alone contemporary beauty pageant culture as a majority of their media references are dated and may not be adequately illustrative of how beauty pageants and culture operate today. Lastly, it would be erroneous to suggest that media outlets such as movies which are fictional and reality television as well as documentaries which are dramatically edited and produced to promote exaggerated depictions of the topic could effectively get at their top research question of power dynamics within the subculture. This is not to entirely disregard their inclusion of media as it was essential to answer parts of their research, but it did not do justice in answering how real-life experiences with beauty pageantry construct girlhood and identity for rural contestants and their
With parents putting their children in public with such inappropriate clothing can lead to the danger of a child’s life. The pageant industry doesn’t give out warning to the parents of putting their children in a risk condition that can target them. In Christine Tamer’s article claims that children’s beauty pageants are a form of child sexualization, “these sexualized images can serve to normalize abusive practices such as child abuse, child pornography, and child prostitution.” Tamer also claimed that because of pageants is media related, it can attract pedophiles and can result of a murder just like what had happened to a six year old pageant girl, JonBenet Ramsey, who won a half dozen of beauty crowns. Ramsey disappeared after Christmas
In American society the promotion of beauty pageants and the like, are in direct relation to the physical and emotional issues arising within women. Like such television shows encouraging and persuading young girls to participate in these activities. Society supports the notion of giving females opportunities to experience and put the act of perfection out. Society puts these females out as role models when they are a complete opposite of how a normal teenage being and young ladies should appear to society on an everyday basis. The display of body figures and facial appearances lead to unhealthy decisions and eating disorders. An appearance, motive, goal, image whether it’s a personality call or look wise; society has taken an overstate view of an actual human being.
Still to this day, the words “You are the winner of this year’s Miss American Pageant,” sounds through this nations ears as they witness another “perfect” woman crowned into the face of American beauty. We witness these winners enter into the stereotypical ideal of what a women should ultimately look and aspire to be. This image, who many still feel exists in modern day, however was amplified in the mid-1900s. Along with beauty pageants winners, women were put up against the image of unrealistic characters like Barbie dolls and exposed to Hollywood icons like Marilyn Monroe. All of which were a part of further creating that time period’s idea of how women should look and act and contributing to potential needed changes for the future.
The lights are all on you, the make-up, the hair, and the extravagant dresses. Your blood pumps with adrenaline; you feel nervous, yet excited. All eyes are on you; the pretty girl strutting across the stage in ostentatious costumes that flicker once caught in the light. Many people have witnessed a beauty pageant whether it is one on television or stage. Not many are in denial of the lovability of the younger aged children executing their talents in front of crowds. Beauty pageants have been around since the 1920’s setting a trend in the American society, but the history of beauty pageants began in Troy and Ancient China, where the contestants consisted of sculptors, actors, poets, philosophers and public speakers etc. (Children and Beauty Pageants) Beauty Pageants consist of many age groups ranging from newborns to about twenty years of age. Girls between the ages of three to thirteen should not participate in beauty pageants.
There has always been controversy as to whether beauty pageants are good for young girls. Beauty pageants are not something young girls should participate in. Of course any parent would be proud of their little girl if they won a beauty contest because beauty pageants would help little girls to be comfortable around adults, give them a chance to win money and teach them the importance of friendly competition; however, there are downsides such as the amount of money that must be spent, the harsh competitive hours and training girls must go through, and most importantly the emotional and physical damage in can cause in the long run. Pageants aren’t as glamorous as we see it on television.
Beauty pageants are a competition judged on physical beauty and the winners are awarded prizes or titles. Pageants are a very expensive hobby to have. Some people think beauty pageants are terrible to put your child into and others think differently. When many people think of beauty pageants they think of the tv show on TLC called “Toddlers and Tiaras”. This show displays a little behind the scenes of the process of a beauty pageant, but not everything. The process of a beauty pageant is very long, and many do not understand the process behind one.
A major problem in today’s society affecting many people is low self-esteem and confidence issues. Beauty pageants don’t help. Girls with “perfect bodies”, whitened teeth and their hair stiff from all the hair spray, prancing around in swimsuits sets an unnatural role model for young girls and this is what they aspire to become. Before it was just grown women, but today we face a brand new category of beauty displays. Now, instead of 20 year old women, there are toddlers and teens. Children are taught harmful life lessons. For example, young girls think that they have to be beautiful. The pageants teach children that beauty is on the outside and not the inside. When you teach children that beauty is only on the outside it can cause major problems. The pageants make-or-break children. They either end up arrogant and big-headed or with low self-confidence because they lost to a girl that didn’t have the most expensive dress or the best coach money could buy. There are around 3000 beauty pageants held in the world every year and around 3 million children between the ages of 6-16 attend annually. Juvenile jamborees such as these have become increasingly popular recently and especially so in the last couple of years - on television there are programmes such as “Toddlers and Tiaras” and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”. These programmes try to display the glamorous and beautiful side of beauty pageants, but many of the negative sides to the pageants are not shown on these television programmes.
Throughout history, mankind has promoted excellence through primitive rituals, community events, and collectively instilled ideals. Beauty pageants represent one of these efforts in their endeavor to define femininity and grace as well as ever-changing gender roles in society. While some believe beauty pageants to be harmless social events that provide educational and national advancement, spawn awareness for charitable causes, and encourage confidence, others suggest that such competitions confuse societal morals, exploit women, and instill insecurity in young girls worldwide.
Child beauty pageants started in Miami, Florida in the 1960’s, and since then have spread all across the country and even worldwide. During that time they have been influenced by how America has changed over the course and how women are seen. These little girls “strut” across the stage in sportswear, swim wear, formal clothing and showing off their hard working talent. America has contributed greatly to the progression of child beauty pageants and although not all bad, it is clear to see what aspects of beauty pageants are influenced by American culture.
On television there are models and celebrities who are very thin and look like they never age. On the radio there are commercials for weight loss and low prices on surgeries. In magazines there are images of fit people all over the pages. No matter where a person looks they will see celebrities or models that are beautiful and thin. People, mainly teenage girls, look up to these figures which make them look down on themselves for not looking a certain way. So many girls get this idea of the “perfect” body from social media that is unrealistic and it causes negative effects on these girls. The media sets a body image in girls thoughts that make them want to look exactly like the women media focuses on but when they do
Did you know that in this year alone, 2.5 million girls will compete against each other and will be judged based on physical appearance and physical skill? These girls that starting at the age of not even one year old are being taught at such a young age that physical beauty and capability are the only ways to win. I’m not sure about all of you but I’m really struggling to see any positives in that at all.
The Harm in Beauty Pageants Beauty pageants have been around for a very long time, they have always been acknowledged as a way for girls and boys to show their inner and outer beauty or so they say. To this day pageants are praised in a way that maybe they shouldn’t be, for example, the fact that they made a show titled Toddlers and Tiaras, which portrays just how difficult it is for the child and parent to accommodate themselves to what is demanded of these pageants. These little girls are prancing around in little outfits with makeup on their faces and extravagant hairdos that seem too heavy for them to hold up. I find that there’s a certain amount of things you should want to expose your
If beauty is more than skin deep, why are women still being judged by their appearance rather than their abilities? Even after the emergence of feminism, women are still being degraded to nothing more than just mere objects. In fact, beauty pageants, which many deem to be a sport, are the platform for women to be exploited by men and even women alike all over the globe. First and foremost, the concept of beauty of a woman is biased. We are all living in a society that exist a look-based culture in which women are being scrutinized and subjected to mockery if they do not possess the qualities of a biased definition of beautiful.
However, many former beauty queens can vouch that being in the correct programs have taught them many valuable lessons. In an article by Sabrina Nooruddin, a former pageant competitor, she defends the competitions that she has competed in and hopes to bring light to the controversial activity. She argues, “The pageants that I participate in, coach other young women for are scholarship organizations that require women to be poised, elegant, talented, and well-spoken.” This just proves the potential these competitions can give children, yet some organizations are still not steering in the right direction. With the constant sexualization and dramatic changes in the youth that are exposed by beauty pageants, it creates this idea where being cute and flawless is the center of the competition.
During beauty pageants young girls or women assemble themselves where juries then select from the given choices the most beautiful. Beauty queens is a title given for beauty pageant winners and awards for these beauty contests include tiaras or crowns, sashes, and cash prizes (Sparkle, B. 2012, June 10). Beauty pageants are inadequate as well as prejudicial to the child's overall well-being in an exceedingly way that damages the child's health as it exposes small girls to danger of their presence within the spotlight and it ultimately imparts a message to the children that physical excellence is the essential judge of one's character hence lessening one's self-esteem to appearances (Alison, O’Reilly, 2011, Nov.27). A considerable amount of