Research Paper

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“Perfection- a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable; especially the setting of unrealistically demanding goals accompanied by a disposition to regard failure to achieve them as unacceptable and a sign of personal worthlessness.” Medical Definition from Merriam-Webster.
90% of girls from the age of 14 to 15 have suffered from depression with beauty contests as the main cause. People should not participate in beauty contests, especially at a young age; they really are harmful. Beauty contests can psychologically ruin its participants because of depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem/self-identity problems. If you do not think that sounds harmful then I am not sure what is.

Beauty contests lead to depression. As of January 1st in 2014 one hundred fifty thousand out of two million five hundred thousand women suffered from depression as a result of being a former beauty pageant participant. Some sources say that if a woman does not win a beauty contest, feelings of self-hatred will occur thus leading to a life of depression. Women are constantly comparing themselves to others, in order to feel “good enough” they need to win. If not, it could be detrimental to their psychological health. Of course, there’s still the two million three hundred fifty thousand women who aren’t diagnosed with depression but, does that really make those one hundred fifty thousand woman any less important?

Pageants are constantly causing eating disorders for women. 26% of one hundred eighteen women that won a beauty pageant now suffer from diagnosed eating disorder. “A Johns Hopkins study published a few years ago found that more than half of Miss Americas since 1970 have had a BMI below 18.5, placing them in the und...

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... they aren’t performing for anyone; It causes a sense of feeling lost.

This is not always the case, participating in beauty a contest doesn’t always lead to self-destruction. If handled correctly, participation as a child can lead to a very successful career in the future. If a parent makes it very clear that winning a beauty pageant is not everything then it could have a good end result. As long as there is a perfect balance then it most likely wont cause any damage. But, let’s face it: more often then not women will suffer psychologically from beauty contests.

In my conclusion I am going to put my foot down and say beauty pageants are, in fact, harmful. Beauty contests cause psychological damage to women because of depression, eating disorders, and self-esteem/self-identity issues. It is so clear that beauty contests are harmful if not handled correctly.

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