Serene Singh
Essay Competition: TEEN
NAM 2016
My NAM Story: A “Namtastic” Blessing
After four years of learning and hard work reaped from National American Miss, my life transformed on May 30th, 2016. Blessed with the title of NAM Miss Colorado Teen 2016, I was ecstatic. Life changed instantaneously.
Yet, in all my exhilaration and elation, I recognized a sense of discomfort among those around me. I soon began to observe the grave delusion about pageants, modeling, and self-image. Although well intentioned, I heard comments like “bratty girls model,” “only fake women do pageants,” “Girls who do pageants are only about beauty. They are not intelligent.”
I was shocked.
But it then dawned on me that I used to think the exact same way. We, as a community, see pageant girl scandals on TV and watch pageant fails or mess-ups and immediately slap labels onto
…show more content…
For some reason, being comfortable in one’s own skin is something that is too often downplayed and glossed over in our culture. If I could say one thing to the world who believes pageants girls are “all physical” and “fake” here is what I would say: What I personally get out of pageantry through NAM is not “how to be beautiful”- we are all beautiful. Pageants teach me to be unapologetically and truly proud and confident of my personal unique beauty. Most importantly, they teach me to inspire all girls to do the same. No, I did not win a “beauty pageant.” Rather, I won a confidence pageant.
National American Miss is an organization that constantly changes my life. The organization teaches me skills that serve me well in life every single day. After being a 3-time State Champion in Speech and Debate, it is safe to say the activity taught me how to use my voice to command any room. However, NAM taught me how to use my presence and do the exact same thing- this time, without even having to say a word. And that skill is hard to come
“A small study published in Eating Disorders the journal of treatment and prevention, that involved 22 women” (Hollandsworth). Girls are choosing unhealthy ways to stay fit and what they call the perfect size just to have a big appeal to the audience when at pageants. The encouragement of this behavior can lead to many body complications and disorders for these girls as they develop, only because they are not truly developing as an average young lady. “A 2007 report issued by the American Psychological Association Task force on the Sexualization of girls claims that parents who put their daughters in beauty pageants can contribute in very direct concrete ways to the precocious sexualization of the daughters” ( Hollandsworth). There has been research to prove that the actions of the young ladies is not all on their own, they have assistance with getting prepared for competitions and what to perform in competitions. Parents add more than what is necessary and can have a negative impact and not even know they are making matters worst than what they have to be. “Kiddie pageants are flourishing. Fueled by a reality TV show, an estimated 250,000 American girls participate in more than 5,000 beauty pageants every year” (Hollandsworth). Exploitation of these young girls is the “NEW BIG THING” to see and enjoy. Adults would rather watch little girls flaunt themselves
...as Miss USA and Miss Universe are competitions intended for mature, self-assured women who are capable of making their own decisions. Child beauty pageants, however, ruin childhoods and force them to grow up believing in their looks, rather than in themselves. It is no surprise, that emotional distress plagues the contestants that participate in beauty long after stepping off of the stage; subjecting young girls of any age to judgment and ridicule is not only humiliating but horrific to think that we are sitting back being entertained by their competitive nature. Rather than raising strong, confident girls who want to achieve the best in life; the parents and the hosts of these competitions provide a platform on which little girls are dressed up as skimpy Barbie dolls and paraded around, trying to achieve some form of perfection that shouldn’t exist in little girls.
Nearly half of them stated they wished to be thinner and a quarter of them were believed to have an eating disorder (Wonderlich, Ackard, and Henderson 292). This same study found that self-esteem scores were lower and depression scores higher for those who had participated in beauty pageants. However, it is not the pageants themselves that are so catastrophic to a young girl’s sense of body image and confidence,
The pageant world is a place where mothers are able to hide their own insecurities by flaunting how “perfect and lovely” their children are. As shown on the TLC television program Toddlers and Tiaras, the children who would love to live out their childhood instead of spending all of their free time preparing to win pageants are incapable to do so because they have mothers who would much rather see them miserable and winning contests, instead of seeing them with a smile on their face, having fun, and enjoying their childhood with friends and family. Kayla McDowell, a freshman at Stephens College, and pageant critic, addresses “In the end, child beauty pageants force children to grow up much too soon, and they release them into a word they are too young to understand” (n. pag.) Children are being sexualized at a very young age, because in the pageant community, dressing like a ho...
It’s easy to slam pageants, but maybe that’s because no one wants to deal with the bigger picture which is the day to day sexualization of our daughters (Hollandsworth). We now live in a world where all of this is perfectly acceptable pageants have been a huge contributor into these issues and a fine line needs to be drawn for all to
American’s unneeded celebration of beauty in the pageantry world is digging a hole for the country and has been the contributing factor to the downward spiral we are presently in. The system of this pageant needs to change tremendously in order for it to become a beneficial contest in the future. Beauty pageants to...
These pageants are affecting girls’ self-esteem all around the world. For example, in “Beauty Pageants Deliver an Ugly Message” by Judy Mann, the author introduces the fact that many girls lack self-esteem because everyone lives in a culture where people value women for how they look more than what they can do (Mann). Judy Mann makes an outstanding point in her article. In many societies, especially current society, young women are looked at and judged according to their looks and appearance. So, if a girl is extremely curvy and a little over weight, people will automatically judge her based on her physical appearance.
Issues regarding the purpose of beauty pageants alarm women since majority of the beauty pageants are for them. Let us look at the good side of beauty pageants. First, allows the use...
The whole “beauty is everything” mindset most often associated with beauty pageants comes with a lot of problems. When children are focused on body image and appearance they can also start to feel bad about themselves i...
Beauty pageants are outdated. Beauty pageants are based on the ancient idea that a women's beauty is more valuable than her brains. Women are judged harshly and their self-esteem often suffers when they do poorly in these events. Haven’t you notice that in beauty pageants women just walk around are only allowed to talk when they are asked to. It is basically a meat shop for men where they are allowed to ogle on the contestant’s
Beauty pageants demand that competitors spend large amounts of money in synthetic enhancement. This is a poor focus for vulnerable girls and destroys the girls at a very young age. Beauty pageants convince girls that outer beauty is more important than inner beauty, which is totally a false claim. In this paper, we are going to talk about the pros and cons, whys and woes of pageants and if they are manipulative or valuable to kids. Even though that beauty pageants are a good way for girls to make friends. Beauty pageants are harmful to young children and they should not be able to compete until adulthood because beauty pageants teach kids that outer beauty is more important than inner beauty and beauty pageants pose a threat to the safety of children.
Beauty pageants also encourage young girls in a negative way by adding the pressures of beauty at the ages of four and five years old. The famous TLC show “Toddler and Tiaras’” influences millions of young girls to start beauty treatments at a young age so they can feel as beautiful as the girls that are their age on tv who are competing for beauty. (Triggs, People Magazine) Young girls who are put through these tv show beauty pageants also have issues such as they do not want to wear all the make up or the costumes. In multiple episode viewers will see how the young girls will state that they no longer want to do the beauty pageants, but their parents make them, or that they do not feel “pretty” without all of the make up.
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.”
Can you imagine how damaging this realization can be a little girl’s perception of self-worth? Heidi Gerkin, a stay-at-home mom and former Miss Sunburst Petite, Ohio Junior Miss and America's Junior Miss knows the lifelong damage pageants can bring first-hand. “More than anything, pageants shaped my relationships with women. You never knew who was really your friend. . . I always wondered why [the other girls] didn't like me — was it just because I was successful, or was I actually not worthy of being liked?
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 contestants.