Persuasive Essay On Beauty Pageants

988 Words2 Pages

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. It is exceptionally tough for children to see themselves as beautiful without all the accoutrements they wear like elaborate costumes, over the top make up, fake tan and the hair extensions. The root of low self-esteem issues come from children being t... ... middle of paper ... ...re for flawlessness leads to lifelong side-effects and triggering girls to expect that natural beauty is unsatisfactory. We should be teaching little girls that beauty can be seen in everyone and not by how much make up someone wears. Superficially the pageants can be seen as entertaining for those watching, but the long-term effects on the young girls involved are very damaging. The way these children see their body in a negative way is a major after-effect from the desire to look picture-perfect. Young girls can become ill due to the type of diets required for pageants and affect their eating habits for the rest life. Child beauty pageants may appear, at first glance, to be beautiful and stylish, but when examined on a greater level, the hazards and negativity that these children face become increasingly obvious and ultimately changes their lives for the worst.

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