...English 102 Dr. D. Pineda 10 December 2013 Child Beauty Pageants: What’s The Harm? Although there are many adults who suffer various consequences of child pageant participations, they still look back at their childhood and have some good memories of fun. Some even enter their own children into these pageants. Unfortunately, however, the damage is still the same and the cycle continues. Child beauty pageants are detrimental to the psyche of young children because these pageants promote sexualization far beyond their years and lack regulations to govern the actions within these contests. Because these children are being pushed into time-consuming, grueling preparation for these pageants, and because their performances are considered to be far beyond their years leading to self-objectification or sexualization, and the lack of regulations within these pageants there should be some boundaries set to minimize the psychological effects of participation within these contests. As we approach the Christmas holiday this year there are many who remember the horrific murder mystery of JonBenet Ramsey, a former child pageant star, and wonder if her participation in the beauty pageant world is what ended her short life. It’s been 17 years since her body was found in the basement of her parents’ home and her face was plastered all over the news. When the name JonBenet Ramsey is heard doll-like images flash through our heads from her pageant photos. Would she still be alive today had...
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...The ugly face of child beauty pageants Leslie Cannold May 21, 2011 OPINION * A child beauty pageant participant. DO AN internet search on "child beauty pageant" but be prepared. Not just to be depressed by images of overblown, cap-toothed, heavily made-up under-fives but the obvious yet rarely commented upon fact that all these kids are girls. This issue is red hot in Australia right now, as the June date for the first American-style child pageant to be held in this country approaches. But as psychologists predict future insecurity, eating disorders and depression for participants, and religious pseudo-feminists rhapsodise about lost childhood innocence, it's critical we separate the hyperbolic wheat from the chaff. What is the real problem with child beauty pageants and what, if anything, should be done about them? Hard data is thin on the ground and so far doesn't support the future mental illness thesis. But what one US study found when interviewing 41 pageant mums – and it is nearly always mothers who push girls as young as one into competition – is that often social class and female life experiences are behind the choice. Some pageant mums are living out their own dreams of "go[ing] somewhere in life", as one mother put it, rather than being "stuck at home" due to early childbearing. While self-focused female ambition continues to be stigmatised in Western societies – with the ambitious working woman always contrasted unfavourably with the mum who sacrifices...
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...Picture it. A beauty pageant has just ended a young girl walks off with a crown on her heavily hair sprayed hair. A wide smile on her face that has been pounded with makeup. How old is this girl? Fourteen to sixteen years old maybe?, wrong. She is 7 years old, Are children's beauty pageants damaging or beneficial? Child beauty pageants are competitions with different categories in which girls compete to be the prettiest, the most talented, or the overall best. They have been popular and have had several shows based around it. For example “Toddlers and Tiaras” on TLC. They originated in 1950. They have gained popularity in recent years. Currently 5000 child beauty pageants are held annually in the United States. There is a lot of controversy...
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...Makeup, big hairdos, spray tans, gowns, high heels, and a lot of glitter – this is what child beauty pageants consist of. At a very young age, little girls are exposed to the world of child pageants and often forced to participate in the contests. The popular television show, Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC which aired first in 2009 exposes viewers the life of young pageant stars. It entertains viewers by displaying how the young girls and their families deal with child beauty competitions which is not all fun, as it consists of tantrums and attitude. Toddlers and Tiaras displays how the young girls wake up early on the day of their competition, get dressed up with their big gowns, apply heavy weight of makeup, and walk down the stage in front of...
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...At the age of 16 months to 16 years old, it is estimated that 3 million children compete in beauty pageants(“Beauty Pageants Draw Children and Criticism”). Some parents enroll their children into these pageants in order for their children to follow the steps of celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner, who began modeling at a young age and now have a successful career. Parents enroll their children at a young age to get the urge of starting to become famous at a young age to be cast into acting and get movie parts; however, the child may not want to participate and is forced to. Enrolling children into beauty pageants at a young age is not acceptable. Parents should stop the enrollment of their children into beauty pageants due to the...
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...Why Beauty Pageants are Harmful to Young Girls “Since I was three I was pressured by my mum to be perfect. But living up to her expectations was impossible.” This is a quote from national pageant star, Brooke Breedwell. In 1855, a national contest that circus entrepreneur, businessman, huckster, and all-around exploitation artist P.T. Barnum orchestrated, called the "National Baby Show," attracted 143 child contestants and 61,000 viewers nationwide. This was the first child beauty pageant. But what most people don’t know, is that Barnum attempted to orchestrate a teen pageant, but failed because society found that it was immoral. So why is it okay to but babies in pageants but not teens? Child beauty pageants are harmful to young girls for...
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...Child Beauty Pageants: Are They Moral? Com/172 March 12, 2011 Ron Tatum Child Beauty Pageants: Are They Moral? They say that beauty comes from within but if this is true why do parents parade their young children around and make their five-year-olds dress, look, and act like they are 18 years old. Child beauty pageants are very upsetting. “It aggravates the average viewer because how can a parent put their child through that emotional roller coaster and get upset when they do not win; make up excuses on why their child did not win because heaven forbid their child has a flaw. Child beauty pageants are upsetting to the child also because if they do not win it is like the end of the world. They through fits act like complete brats, and they think that maybe their parents are lying to them because their parents tell them that they are beautiful but now the judges and other people who did not vote for them to win are saying in not so many words that they are ugly.” (Becky Adams, personal communication, March 12, 2011.) Something is wrong with this society that is absolutely frantic to the point of obsession about pedophilia so much so that it is to the point of parents passing their beliefs on to their children who most likely have no notion of it whatsoever and would rather be outside playing. Over half the population accepts this form of pedophilia as morally correct. They allow these children to prance around in barely anything at all and think that is cute. They...
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...Child Beauty Pageant There are lots of extracurricular activities for girls and boys, like baseball, basketball or soccer and the parents drive to and from their games. Some time they have more than one child to take them to their games. Lots of parents get son involved and start cheering and sometimes get to an arguments if the referee or judge makes a bad call. Then the mother or father starts a fight, because they get so into it. It no difference when parents want their child to complete in a pageant show, because there is competition and sportsmanship their also. Beauty pageants stated in the U.S. in 1921, with the introduction of Miss America pageant. Child beauty pageants did not start until the 1961 in New Jersey. The first was started at amusement park in Bergen County. It was intended for 13-17 year olds, but got more participants and they started to split the contestants by age. The little Miss American pageant was...
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...Child Beauty Pageants Should be Banned Parents are the first form of mentors that children have to guide them into adulthood. As those mentors it is the parents’ job to positively shape their child’s moral character, values and ethics, and their overall mental, physical and spiritual development. Child beauty pageants go against that parental code by teaching that self-worth is in appearance, creating negative behavioral and emotional issues, as well as, sexually exploiting children and therefore, should be banned. Self-worth To begin with, pageants teach that self-worth is in the physical appearance, instead of within. Self-worth is about the value you place on yourself through an internal connection. Beauty pageants take away from that in the essence that it puts a high value on beauty and perfection instead of character. Children are taught at a young age, that they are in competition with others and whoever is the most beautiful and have perfected talents, are winners and everyone else is losers. Along with that K. Meginnis-Payne & C. Travis (2001) , states “ In addition to promoting mixed messages about the role of beauty in women’s lives, beauty myths foster competition, divisiveness, and distrust among women. These myths undermine the collaborative, supportive relationships women create with one another. All beauty myths promote the idea that beauty is the most vital aspect of a women’s being.” Negative Behavioral and Emotional Issues Secondly, since a child...
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...Child beauty pageants should be banned It is a major problem and concerned in our society today the many women and girls who are dealing with low self- esteem. Beauty pageants are not leaving anything positive to our little girls. Little girls all covered under makeup, big hair, color treated hair, teeth whitening treatments just to name few, only learning how to compete with other little girls at such a young age when their main focus should be to enjoy their childhood and spend quality time with their love ones. This type of pageants it is a form of abuse to those little girls, knowingly or not by their parents. Little girls have been trained to believe they are better than other ones and they have to be in order to win a crown and prices. There are only two lessons a child can learn from a beauty pageant: either they are great, beautiful and confident with a big ego issue later on in life or they will deal with frustration, emotional distress and low self-esteem. Submitting children from ages as young as three years of age to have eyebrows done, hair dying, dieting, tanning, and much more it is a type of child abuse, and it has to stop. There is no difference between hitting your kid from having her for long hours having all kinds of adult beauty procedures in order to be better than any other contestant and brain wash the child’s mind with a “you have to win attitude”. The way these young girls are exposed to be sexualized is insensitive and should not be legal. That...
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...Child Beauty Pageants Beauty pageants are one of the most controversial and debatable subjects where many critics have tried to explain and understand what the concept of the word beauty means. The definition of the word beauty to the critics was the pleasing or attractive features of something or by other words it is something that generates pleasant sensations. All of these years the whole world has been captivated and charmed by the beauty pageants shows on the television, but the real and ugly truth is that it is a mixture of a disgusting and not admired show that have kept on grabbing the attention of many viewers just for money and fame. “As child reality TV star Honey Boo Boo continues to capture the attention of audiences with her boisterous personality and her own show about life on the child beauty pageant circuit”. (Cartwright, University of Arizona; Princess by proxy: When child beauty pageants aren't about the kids, 2012). Beauty pageants are appearing more in magazines and on television all the time such as the models that appear on a fashion show where they look skinny and frail. The beauty pageants contests is harmful for the young children’s prosperity because it makes the children reach to a conclusion that the physical beauty is the most important condition and primary judge of their character to win the contest, and they put into their minds that they are not beautiful from the inside and also think that they look ugly without putting a huge amount of cosmetics...
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...because childhood as we know it has only been about for the last century but now it seems that it is once again diminishing from society. I say this because when looking at childhood from 50 years ago and comparing it to childhood today there is a huge difference. Today toys seem to be targeted at children of ages 1-10 years old but not for children above that age (Manhattan Institute for Policy Research). Children seem to be pushed into the spotlight of adult activities such as the fashion and glamour world in the case of beauty pageants (Daily Mail Online 2011). There also seems to be more of a focus on older children playing on computer consoles with violent games which depict realistic and gruesome actions. These computer games also depict real life situations such as the war in Afghanistan and give these older children the opportunity to play as a soldier in this scenario. Content What is childhood? Childhood is not to be confused with being a child, it is a completely different idea altogether. In modern day society, childhood is a social construct which is not seen as a natural or biological stage of life, but as being created out of the idealism of socio-cultural values. This creation is shown in the way that children are taught to behave, how to dress, and how they should be treated appropriately. This being said there are also other factors that would exhibit...
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...Beauty pageants Thought out America many people argue that beauty pageants for kids should be legal because it helps little girl feel bit more confident, and beautiful, and on the other side people think it should be banned because it rottens little girls minds and over sexualizes little girls. Kids beauty pageants should be banned because, it over sexualizes young girls, teaches young girl a bad message, and lastly unhealthy attitude shown by the child regarding her self-esteem. In the United States, legal adulthood and ability to give consents around age 18, yet in child beauty pageants, the children's consenting guardian allow them to participate. Beauty pageants are not inherently sexual, but when a child wears a ton of make-up, wears high heels and skimpy clothes, and after that makes flirtatious poses it pretty hard not to say people end up sexualizing little girls at such a young age. Beauty pageants took part in the American society in the 1920's, but child pageants started later in the 1960's. Child beauty pageants consist of modeling, dance and talent, but above all else Beauty. Young girls are taught that beauty is the most important thing at such a young age, and how what’s in the outside is more important than the inside. “Contests promote physical beauty as a main value, complimented of course by the “special talent” and “warm hearts”. A child, especially a female that is going to pay so much attention to her looks and that knows she is being assessed for...
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...irresponsibly. Today, child beauty pageants opened kid’s eyes on things they are not supposed to encounter in their early childhood. Kids now act like adults; they have unleashed their innocence and pure minds for the sake of beauty.Child beauty contests resemble young kids, under the age of 18. Contestants are usually divided into groups according to their age. Very young aged kids are usually not interviewed dude to their very little knowledge, so only outer appearance is considered. Kids are shown up on stage in different outfits typically wearing make-up and overage hairstyles.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/child beauty pageant )In 1921, the owner of Atlantic City Hotel struck upon the idea to help boost tourism “Most Beautiful Child”. Business owners adopted these competitions, because it increasingly bought about a billion dollars a year. People loved the idea; they encouraged their kids to attend such contests.(zinzi williams, 12/6/10)The murder of Jon Benet Ramsey, born August 6,1990 turned the public spotlight in the late 1996 into child beauty pageants. JonBenet was murdered in her house, the six years old girl was found in the basement with her hands tied up and strangled after nearly 8 hours from being reported missing. However, this case remains unsolved. Critics began to question the ethics of parents who would present their child in such a way.( kareen nussbaum, http://www.minorcon.org/pageant.html ) Parents may think that beauty pageants are helpful for their...
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...Research Paper (Spring 2013) All Dolled Up: The Effect of Child Beauty Pageants on Contestants Reality TV shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Little Miss Perfect expose the growing popularity of child beauty pageants. These shows have turned pageants into an industry that is valued at $5 billion (Cartwright 1105). This newly created pageant industry has changed the child beauty pageant system—contestants are competing at younger ages, they are wearing more makeup, and the focus is shifting away from natural beauty towards glitz and glam. The emergence of a pageant industry has changed the pageant system, but what affect does this industry have on contestants? More importantly, do pageants’ effects on young contestants warrant regulation? As more young girls compete in pageants, answering these questions and determining the effects of child beauty pageants becomes more important. These questions need to be answered so that the well being of pageant participants is ensured. The issue of regulation is of particular importance since parents, pageant companies, and the media all contribute to the growing pageant industry. Some regulation is needed to protect the young participants. Generally this regulation would be the parent’s responsibility, but in this paper I will argue that the industry merits specific regulation. In order to prove that regulation is warranted, I will analyze the negative impacts of the pageant industry using research from psychologists and sociologists...
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