Young enough to have nothing to be depressed about. “ According to a study conducted by Anna Wonderlich, it has been determined that there is a significant association between childhood beauty pageant participation and
Pageants badly affect children’s emotional and psychological development. The first one could never be a reason to deprive children who want to participate in pageants by their own choice of their chance of doing so, because it is not children themselves but their parents and other adults who treat them as
Little girls shouldn’t have to go through these things. Some people might argue that beauty pageants are ‘fun’ for every, but really, do they actually watch those little girls when they are up on the stage? Most of the girls hate being up there on the stage. Being fake is not good. The way you are is perfect.
Many young woman that have participated in pageants as young girls, still do not love their bodies. Yet, the industry is multiplying quickly. Although child beauty pageants teach participants valuable life skills, in the midst of that, pageants set a unrealistic standard for beauty causing young adolescents to develop self-esteem issues and use too many self-altering substances. Beauty pageants cause self-esteem
They were created to give teens a chance to dress up and compete, something they would do anyway around their house, while learning important life skills. Beauty Pageants have a positive impact on female adolescents because they teach resilience, prepares women for real-world situations and teach females to have self-confidence.
Even though a lot of factors are against but there’s always to sides for the same story. There are many positive benefits to the participation of these young girls in the pageants, like taking care of themselves, being confident, positive self-image , knowing what you want and gives you more opportunities. Amy Rigard, author of the article "Beauty Pageants Boost Self-esteem” tells of Andrea Smith’s story. Andrea was convinced to enter her first beauty pageant when she was 16. She was borderline anorexic and partook in self-harm by cutting herself.
Nor do they always understand that the actors may have entirely personalities different when they are off-camera (Hamlett). When someone is exposed to the makeup-filled celebrity then look at themselves in the mirror, their self-esteem drops. These “fake”, materialistic celebrities are showing children that you have to be perfect. For example, if a child with excessive acne see’s a celebrity with a clear face and no acne at all, then looks in the mirror, he/she is going to be put down and lose self-respect. Celebrities are satisfied with themselves but rarely know the harm they are doing on
Beauty Pageants have done more harm to our society than good. Pageants are teaching little kids that being pretty is what matters. They are creating unhealthy habits that include eating disorders and struggles for perfection that often lead to depression. Kids have also lost their sense of innocence quickly because of the inappropriate things and the feeling of looking "older." Almost 2.5 million girls compete in beauty pageants every year.
For instance, “Beauty pageants are beneficial to society because they supply contestants with necessities such as communication, confidence, they foster goals, and teach discipline”(Wickman). But, beauty pageants teach young girls to be competitive. First of all, “The chronic competitiveness of 5- and 6- year olds is often hard for parents to handle” (Levine). If children are already competitive, throwing beauty pageants into the mix isn’t going to make the situation any easier to deal with. Also, “While you’d think pageant parents would know better, ugly rivalries between them often emerge in the competitive field.
Option one: Are beauty pageants exploiters? Over the years it becomes evident how the true meaning of beauty has deteriorated. Every day people live more of appearances and how they look, and leave aside important aspects such as values and personality. Then beauty contests show the concept of beauty in a wrong way, increasingly increasing beauty standards and leading participants to make transformations to their body to meet the aforementioned standards. In addition, children participating in these contests are largely forced by their mothers to participate and to make transformations with the aim of winning.