Lieberman On Child Pageants

One of the greatest problems associated with child pageants is placing children as sexual objects from an early age. Already, adult pageants are dogged with issues of using women as sexual objects. The same is being transferred to children as Banner and Banner explain.

The authors describe the sensual nature of child beauty contests. These sensual behaviors are not instinctive and are instead the result of coaching. To win the competition, the children are couched to flirt with the judges in a bid to gain an edge in the competition. This creates a visual illusion where the boundaries between childishness and mature sexuality and innocence and seductiveness are blurred. The eroticized innocence creates a disturbing image and children are viewed as sexual objects (Banner and Banner 114).

"Protecting pageant princesses: A call for statutory regulation of child beauty pageants." Journal of Law and Policy (2010): 739-744. Print.

With the parents showing little control as the pageants continue to grow bigger each year, the only solution would be having regulations being placed by the government. Unfortunately, this has not happened and the pageants continue to be organized at the discretion of the promoters. It is for this reason that Lieberman proposes the need for government control.

There are no laws that regulate the organization of pageants hence leaving each organizer or promoter to set the rules. The more outlandish a pageant is, the higher the profits the organizers and contestants receive. The greed increases the level of children’s exposure to more sexualized behaviors. The role of the parents as protectors is also viewed as resulting in failure since they allow the children to participate in such events. Other than parents, lack of child welfare and government involvement in the pageants exposes a very young population to indecencies (Lieberman 751).

Giroux, Henry A. The Giroux Reader. New York: Routledge, 2016.