Beauty pageants have negative impacts on both those who compete in them and women in general. Some may argue that the women in the beauty pageants can feel good about themselves. However, the overwhelming evidence against this claim proves that beauty pageants also lower self-esteem of those in the beauty pageants and those watching. This can have major consequences in society concerning the status of women. Some positive aspects of beauty pageants do exist. For example, a positive message can get across to the contestants. One person notes that they had obtained independence and self confidence from beauty pageants (Sutton). Another, named Britney Leather, focused on changes in children for the topic that the contestants in that particular pageant had to choose (“Beauty”). Yet another, Melanie Britton, promoted herself through her donations to the arts (Block). There also are pageants specifically for Vietnamese, promoting beauty in all races (Lieu). Additionally, beauty pageants can promote the future of the individual. Some pageants offer career opportunities in modeling to the winner of the pageants (“Beauty”). Also, one person still puts on their résumé that they won a beauty pageant. They reminisce of the days when they participated in pageants and gained life skills (Trujillo). Despite these positive aspects of beauty pageants, there remain many more negative ones. One of these, a negative message, demeans women in general. For example, the winners of these beauty pageants get a lot of exposure to the media. As previously mentioned, the winners of some pageants get opportunities to join the modeling career (“Beauty”). Contradictory to that, many contestants want to become a journalist or politician, like S... ... middle of paper ... .... Print. Lieu, Nhi T. “Beauty Queens Behaving Badly: Gender, Global Competition, and the Making of Post-Refugee Neoliberal Vietnamese Subjects.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies. 34.1 (2013). Academic OneFile. Web. 5 May 2014. “More Time on Facebook Linked to Lower Self Esteem Among Young Women.” News Tonight. 11 Apr. 2014. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 10 May 2014. Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Penguin Group: New York, 1994. Print. Sutton, Jessica. “Glitz, Glam, and Self-Esteem the Prize.” Manawatu Standard. 10 July 2010. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 12 May 2014. Trujillo, Jennifer. “I Was a Teenage Beauty Queen.” Newsweek. 26 Nov. 2007. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 12 May 2014. Woolf, Nicky. “High Hopes, High Heels.” New Statesman. 7 Mar. 2014. Points of Reference Center. Web. 12 May 2014.
Since the Miss America Pageant was established in 1921, conceptions of the beauty of American women have been based, in part, on the winner of this pageant. Sarah Banet-Weiser writes in her book, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, that “the woman selected as Miss America apparently 'represents' the nation” (Banet-Weiser 56). As a result of representing the American nation, the winner of the Miss America pageant is looked up to as a model for style and beauty among women. Since its inception, the Miss America pageant has come under attack from feminist organizations for exploiting women's bodies despite the fact that it is a scholarship program; the pageant rewards contestants a scholarship for continuing education based on their responses in the interview and the talent portions of the pageant as well as their performance in the swimsuit competition. A beauty pageant, such as the Miss USA pageant, is strictly concerned with a woman's outer beauty and does not include the talent or interview portions.
...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.
One professional psychologist and registered dietician has warned that competing in the beauty pageants may lead young girls to feel that the approval and love of their parents is based solely on their looks and whether they win a crown at the pageant or not. Losing in a pageant category may generate lower feelings of self-worth in young children who do not know how to properly cope with loss at such a young age. Additionally, there are countless examples of women who as children participated in beauty pageants and began stressing at a young age while attempting to maintain an impossible ideal of perfection. Many of the young girls who cannot keep up a perfect look will begin to feel body shame, depression and may even develop an eating disorder. In fact, one study was done on approximately 130 females who had participated in beauty pageants.
Beauty pageants have caused an increase in mental and physical issues in young girls who participate. Participation and competition for a beauty prize where infants and girls are objectified and judged against sexualized ideals can have significant mental health and developmental consequences that impact detrimentally on identity, self-esteem, and body perception ("We must protect our kids from the catwalk of shame."). If young girls don't win, they might take it personally and get hurt feelings. The child might end up feeling unattractive or inadequate ("Child Beauty Pageants Pros and Cons.") which can lead to the development of disorders such as bulimia or anorexia. ("How Do Child Beauty Pageants Affect a Child's Development?") These are both eating disorders girls develop to lose weight excessively. Furthermore, the average BMI of a beauty pageant contestant as of 2010 is 18.3 (Beauty Pageant Statistics), which is classified as underweight...
Beauty pageants are linked with an immense variety of negative effects. These children are trying to be someone that they are not. The effects on these children can escalate quickly and affect them their entire life. When a parent first enters their child in a pageant, they do not think about the negative consequences they could have on their child. No parent wants to experience the tragedy that the Ramsey family did. Although some children do gain things from these pageants, the majority of them are harmed. The effects from these pageants range from eating disorders and body image problems to social and psychological problems. If there are not regulations put on these pageants in the near future, our young children are going suffer from growing up to fast. When will people learn that looks are not everything and we should let the kids be kids?
The. http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1221193-Effects-of-Beauty-Pageants>. Grosaru, Lucia. A. Toddlers and Children Beauty Pageants – Risk Factors for Severe Psychological Turmoils.
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...
The effect that beauty pageants have on American women is overlooked because of the popularity of the event. I do not blame the pageant completely for the insecurities of women, but, it contributes to their insecurities. It is not fair that women who are 100 pounds are favored over women who are 130 pounds because they are slimmer. If beauty pageants are not banned at least stop televising them to the millions of public viewers. Society can be very influential when it comes to the appearance of women. Women should not feel like they have to reach certain standards or they will not be accepted. A women’s beauty should not be based on their weight, and height. Beauty comes in all sizes, shapes, and
" In the end, children’s beauty pageants are essentially harmful to both young girls safety and minds. It may not happen to some, but most of the young girls that compete in beauty pageants seem to have a bit of an attitude towards their parents and other people who will not cooperate with them.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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.
Now let us know the other side of the story. Others argued that beauty pageants promote self-esteem. Facing other people is not easy. Only few are capable enough that can face the crowd with great confidence. It is indeed in beauty pageants that women gain confidence. It is in beauty pageants that allow women to be empowered. They are given the chance to meet other people. Meeting those new faces will boosts their confidence. It is in meeting those new faces and seeing people happy and proud on what they are doing on stage that they feel that they are given importance and they are idolize. It is also their time to show to others their hidden talents. It is in beauty pageants also that they want to prove to all that they can overcome their shyness in facing different types of people.
Modern beauty contests started in the United States of America in 1880 with the first Miss United States bathing beauty contest held at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Since then, beauty pageants had been popular in many parts of the world. Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International, participated in every year by more than fifty countries, ceaselessly attracts huge audiences and supporters. The biggest, the Miss World competition, had been running annually since 1951, and although it is less popular in the UK now than it was in 1968, when it attracted 27.5 million TV viewers, it still attracts an enormous worldwide audience of up to 3 billion viewers in 120 countries. [1] Although the main purpose of these pageants are to empower women, the crowned winners are also traveling around the world in order to support causes like HIV/AIDS and children's charity organizations. [2] Due to the success of these internationally produced pageants, various beauty contests for different classes of age, sex and sexuality stemmed up. However, even with the huge diversity, the content of each pageants have almost always been the same: all of them are comprised of the mainstream categories like swimwear portion and evening gown portion. With these content, beauty pageants gives out strong messages regarding what the ideal type of woman is, hence undermining the purpose of a beauty pageant: to empower women. Thus, although beauty pageants contribute to the entertainment of the masses, it promotes an ideal of female beauty that only a minority of women can realistically aspire, objectifies women, further advances cultural insensitivity among its candidates and uses up too much resources which is why it should be banned.
Beauty pageants have long been a form of entertainment, exhibiting beautiful women with ideal bodies competing with their talent and their 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.” (University of Kansas,
Many people are against beauty pageants, because people think that pageants are sexist, judgmental, and degrading of women. Do beauty pageants still serve their purpose in society? Yes, many contestants gain a lot by doing pageants. Contestants of any age and gender have their benefits from doing pageants.
Today there are many new extracurricular activities that occupy a lot of young Americans minds. One trending activity is beauty pageants. It is more common in children where the ages may vary between eight months and even older. The trending debate is whether or not beauty contest serve any purpose in society. While many Americans feel as though pageants are helpful to a child’s self esteem, many feel that the effects of the contest have a very harsh effect on child development by devaluing a child. Researchers have found that beauty contests are effective for women to help make platforms for their careers and also create new jobs for women to create like mentoring children.