Child Beauty Pageants

A tikes world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for nearly of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is wispy and even befuddled before we reach gravidhood. Rachel Carson The category was 1920. The First World War ended and the womens movement began to take pip. 1920 besides marked the counterbalance year of the American bag p arse ab come forward onant. This was a groundbreaking year, as women from any over the United States were fracturen the opportunity to show their talent, outer beauty and national intelligence. flyspeck did our country love, that 40 years later, minorren as baby birdly as 10 months old would be competing in beauty vaunts. 1960 marked the first off child beauty show in America and started a major American trend. Since the tragic death of JonBenet Ramsey in 1996, child beauty pageants lay down been a scorching topic of debate. Ramseys dea th opened a new door to the skepticism of beauty pageants by allo get ong the media into the world of child beauty pageants through to a greater extent curious eyes.These eyes began to see beauty pageants as a threat to children and their safety being exposed to the world at such a young age with a made-up face of inappropriate maturity (Buzzle, par. 1). Destruction of the childs self esteem and constant attentiveness to appearance argon major cons that continue to erect. Cons of unremarkable expenses, loss of educational interest and loss of innocence to a fault remain, strengthening the fact that beauty pageants be harmful to children who vie in them. A childs self-esteem is a fragile element.Advocates for child pageants believe beauty pageants boost childrens self-esteem by the vigilance they receive for being dolled up, dancing and singing and winning awards for placing higher than the other children. But as fast as self-esteem can be create up by a sentence of praise or a trophy, it can be meet as easily shut elaborate by non being levelheaded enough for about unrivalled else and losing. The amount of pressure put on children to excel in a pageant is astounding. When the child has impertinent pressure of excelling and winning a pageant, the effects of a loss atomic number 18 damaging. peasantren become easily frustrated at such a young age and often can non understand why the massive amount of pressure was put upon them for no reason. The main focus of winning that the p bents underscore on their child is gratuitous and unhealthy to the childs mind. A healthier alternative to building a childs self-esteem would be to enroll he or she in a community team sport. Youth sports give children the chance to participate and earn a sense accomplishment without being let down under pressure. Although child beauty pageants contest to specific age ranges, the judging is no contrasting than the Miss America Pageant. Child beauty pageants consist of illustrationing sportswear, evening attire, dance and talent. The children are sampled based on individuality in looks, capability, poise, perfection and confidence. As the judges call it, the complete package (Minorcon, par. 3). Children are constantly exposed to the newest h line of products extensions, longest-lasting make-up and latest clothing lines all in effort to beat out their fellow three-year old. These pageants are preparing young children for their teen and adult years at too early of an age.Child beauty pageants play a uniquely powerful role in defining what is attractive in our society by ranking and awarding the physical attractiveness of children. This constant reminder of putting hair and make-up above all else is disturbing and forces children to be pertain with superficial issues that contrive no long-term value. With cosmetic innovations being created and perfected, radical pageant parents have gone to great lengths to perfect their child. When some of the ch ildren lost baby dentition that had not been replaced by pageant time, their parents fit them with fancied teeth.When a girls hair was too short to curl standardized Barbies, fake additions were fitted (Harvard, par. 8-9). These fixes cost thousands of dollars that could be put toward a more than beneficial and long-term career. Not only are the cosmetic alterations breaking the banks of these parents, but the supernumerary pageant costs are making a dent in their wallets too. There is a minimum cost of $545 to enter the pageant, which covers basic entry fees. other $395 is carryed for the maximum options of this pageant, (Minorcon, par. 3). These maximum options might include staple clothing, such as tights or tank tops.All additional clothing, including sportswear, eveningwear, talent clothing, not to mention the must have accessories, is up to the parents to pick from the property tree in the back yard. This money should not be spent on pre-maturely travel a childs appea rance, but should be saved for activities such as youth sports, or better yet a college fund some(prenominal) studies have been done on child beauty pageant contestants to seek out their experiences and thoughts rather than their parents. Researchers are curious especially c at one timerning contestants thoughts on further education. The square concern should be on future education needs all of the girls aged octet to ten interviewed by A Network were not concerned with further education (Par. 4). Many pageant girls have false aspirations of becoming a model, and composition aspirations are crucial for any child, the dreams of becoming a model are slim to none after coming out of the child pageant life. Although education is not necessarily effected at that present moment, the dynamic children do not plan ahead based on their mind and intelligence they go away pass on by att stopping point school, but rather on their appearances.Lastly, the loss of innocence from these beauty pageants is devastating. Fake plastic smiles, false eyelashes and polished appearance spoil a childs innocence. Children grow up to opine that the only way to earn money is through exploitation of their bodies, which is not true. These children are the future of our world. A childs growing years are important as they form the foundation for the development of body and mind. Childhood is the time for them to play, not learn poise. Its the time for them to be mischievous and not polished.Its the time for them to do wellhead in academics and not exhibit their bodies. Children are more beautiful covered in mud than when covered in make-up. Works Cited The Whys and Woes of Beauty Pageants. 08 June 2000. Harvard. edu. 08 February 2010. Child Beauty Pageants. 12 January 2010. Buzzle. com. 08 February 2010. Beauty Pageants do More Harm Than Good. 16 December 2007. Debate. org. 07 February 2010. Beauty Pageants Good, Bad, or Plain Ugly. 06 adjoin 2004. Buzzle. com. 07 February 2010.Child Beauty PageantsBeauty Pageants From the Title of Mini Supreme to Americas Next Top Model English 106 Cassie Robinson 3 Otober 2012 plagiarize Beauty pageants have changed drastically in the past fifty years. Beauty pageants used to be all adult females who refined in their sunlight dress hat and walked on the catwalk at the county clear. Now, little children are decked out in glitzy outfits, have wigs that make their hair twice as long, and have teeth to make it be the likes of their baby teeth havent fallen out yet.In this literature review, I reviewed different articles, some against child beauty pageants and some that showed a firsthand look into the beauty pageants. Based on the reviews, I have made a decision as to whether child beauty pageants are skinny for those involved or not. Hundreds wait in silence as the announcer walks to the stage. And the first place award goes to The pause is added for dramatic effect, as if these parents and children need any more drama in their lives. Hair is pulled, tears are shed, and crowns are won.This is just another typical weekend for those in the pageant world. The views of beauty pageants have drastically changed within the past decade. Some think pageants are used to exploit little children and are a way for mothers to live vicariously through their daughters who are winning crowns and money. Others believe they are just a more drastic way for their children to play dress up and win money while doing it. The half a dozen articles chosen for this literature review will discuss one side of the argument.Something eye-catching in the article, Toddlers in Tiaras, written by Skip Hollandsworth in 2011 was the line, And you k nowadays what I hate? All these years later, Ive still got this anxiety or so feeling like I have to be perfect (Hollandsworth, 2011). This is how Brooke Breedwell feels about pageants now, after being a pageant queen from age three months to eight years old. After telling her mother she w anted to quit pageants and accentuate it by throwing a curling iron at her, Breedwell finally gave up the lavish pageant life due to stress.Even as an eight year old, the stress was too much to handle. The promise of a tiara has always been a fast, easy sell to young girls who pine to be princesses, (Hollandsworth, 2011) which is something all girls and their mothers want. In order to win that crown, there are many time consuming tasks that must be done before the pageant. There are layers of makeup to be put on, eyebrows to be waxed, natural hair and fake wigs to be curled, fingernails to be manicured, bronzer to be applied to arms and legs, dresses to be sewn, and dances and routines to be learned.It is enough to stress any eight year old out. After all of this work and stress, it would be downright heartbreaking to find that someone else has beaten you for the title of Grand Supreme. This article is different from the others I chose to include in my literature review in the sens e that it discusses not only the stresses that pageant girls go through, but excessively some of the legal situations that have been brought about thanks to the pageant world. JonBenet Ramsey is a come across that is famous all around the world.The six-year-old pageant beauty who would have gone on to be the close Marilyn Monroe who was found murdered in her home on Christmas morning. For a couple months afterwards, pageants seemed taboo, but then, even in the wake of JonBenets murder, pageants became even more famous. Little girls are being trained to dance provocatively and blow kisses at their judges from a young age and these videos end up online and even on TV. These videos are made to be public so others can see the awards and crowns the little girls win and anyone, including pedophiles, can access them. On TV, the shows not only give the names of these children, but they also tell you what towns these little girls live in, (Hollandsworth, 2011) which would give these pedop hiles easy access to track down the little girls. This would not be fractious to do with the way our society is turning to technology. One article, Is the Media to Blame for Child Sex Victims, written by Mark Davidson in 1997, discusses the medias association with beauty pageants even further. Americans support multi-million dollar activities that exploit children and promote the provocativeness of them, such as beauty pageants.Beauty pageants, commercially flaunt kids bodies, often converting preteen and preschool girls into sex puppets adorned with lipstick, mascara, false eyelashes, bleached hair, high heels, and satin-and-rhinestone gowns and professionally coached in showgirl postures and movements, (Davidson, 1997) which leads to controversial topics like the 1996 sexual molestation and murder of JonBenet Ramsey. There are many movies, such as Lolita and Pretty Baby, that portray young girls as being involved in sexual situations with older men.This leads to young girls growi ng up to believe this is acceptable. What makes this article different is that it does not revolve around beauty pageants, but around the media and its involvement in child pornography and exploitation of girls at a young age. Hollywood and the likes, engage in massive pimping for child temptresses, (Davidson, 1997) which intrigues young minds and makes them believe that since it is accepted in media, it is accepted in everyday society.Only after JonBenet had been murdered did the media look for character guidance to see if what it was displaying was appropriate. A little girl who had not even started kindergarten had to be murdered before the media questioned their morals. The press argues that, the tiny contestants really want to participate, as if they are capable of giving informed consent to their own victimization, (Davidson, 1997), when in all actuality, the children have no concept of what is really happening. My coterminous article, Toddlers and Tiaras TOO much(prenomin al) TOO SOON? written by Charlotte Triggs in 2011, is a continuation of the stresses of being in the pageant world. It is not only stressful on the children, who are the main event of the pageants, but also on the parents. These parents put their children through the pageants and shell out the money for entrance fees, homemade dresses and flippers, which are fake teeth for the girls who are losing their baby teeth. Youre never going to win that money back, even if they win every weekend, (Triggs, West, Aradillas, 2011) said one mother about the pageant life.So, if there are no perks of being in pageants other than sightedness their daughters win crowns, why do the mothers go through the stress and lose money to pageants? The same mother then went on to say, But youve got to do it because your kid loves and excels at it and its something you enjoy as a family, (Triggs, West, Aradillas, 2011). So if families are blissful watching their children in pageants, then they are more than w illing to put up with the stress. In addition to the stresses of ageantry and reasons for participating, things such as the confusing life moments and the decisions pageant girls go through are discussed in the article. While most girls their age are out playing with Barbies with their friends, these girls are dressed as Barbie and have a twisted view of how they should look. Little girls should play with dolls, not be dolls, (Triggs, West, Aradillas, 2011) said a New York-based clinical social worker. The girls are being dressed in outfits that are more suited for a stripper than a preschooler, and it can have a negative effect on them in the long run.The girls grow up being obsessed with their appearance and may look into different ways to keep up the appearances they once had, such as plastic operation or eating disorders. These factors will affect the young girls before they are even in high school. The next article, Pretty Babies, written by rosemary Ellis in 2011, discusses t he way the reservoir viewed beauty pageants when she was younger compared to how she views them now, as an adult. When Ellis was younger, beauty pageants were only seen at the county fair, which came only once a year, in the month of August.The fair itself was a magical time for Ellis, not to mention getting to see girls ranging from elementary to college age walk across a stage in their Sunday best and giving the judges their best smile. Today, the adult pageants are overlooked and, the Miss America pageant has become so irrelevant that it lets ABC air the show for free, (Ellis, 2011) because of the recent explosion of pageants for little girls. There are more than five thousand of these pageants across the country. This article differentiates from the rest in the sense that the author compared the pageants known in her childhood to the pageants that are shown now.In the pageants now, the girls are spray-tanned and covered in makeup, and the studio pictures they take before pagean ts are edited so much that one would not be able to recognize the little girl if she walked up to them on a sidewalk. Ellis goes on to examine the outfits the little girls are wearing now, seeing clothing that, gathers to suggest a bust and has slogans across the chest or rear that are more suited to a stripper than a first grader, (Ellis, 2009). These clothes send out provocative messages not only to girls in the pageant world, but also to all little girls who see the clothing and get used to it at a young age.Most people only see the mother/ daughter side of pageantry, never the father/ daughter side of it, which my next article, Father Knows Glitz, written by Joey Bartolomeo in 2010, discusses. Dads who are involved in pageants are not only single dads or gay dads they are also just everyday, hard-working dads who love to see their daughters happy when they win an award. Not only are there soccer and football dads, but there are now pageant dads. Not all of them are dragged into it, either.Some, like Lon Enos, a tattooed, burly man, like being the pageant dad just because Its fun and its cool, (Bartolomeo, 2010), an opinion that would differ from the quintessential man in America who watches football or baseball on the weekends instead of competing in pageants with his daughters. Compared to the other articles, this one stands out because it gives a firsthand view from a pageant dad, rather than the typical pageant mom. Compared to pageant moms who tend to try to live vicariously through their daughters, the dads are usually more relaxed and laid back although some can be intense.Even things such as making a dress, Im not consumption $6,000 for a dress when it takes me three hours to make one, (Bartolomeo, 2010) or building a new shelf for crowns and sashes become subscriber lines for a pageant dad to do. The braver of the pageant dads will even get up on stage with their daughters and help them with their routines. There will be enough time for them to b e women. For now, lets just allow them to be little girls, is a quote from Staceyann get up in her article, Beauty and the fowlb Tube, written in 2009.Chin came across the show Toddlers in Tiaras while procrastinating on a project she was working on. Much to her dismay, she was drawn in to the show, which reminded her, of dog showstiny, powerless competitors trained to do as they are told, with trainers who exploit their charges to gain fame and fortune and live out some archaic dream they once had for themselves, (Chin, 2009). Seeing the little girls being rewarded for their beauty made Chin feel ill-fitting because of an incident that happened when she was younger.Her grandmothers friend would have the young Chin sit on his lap and he told her if she smiled for him, he would give her a coin. Her grandmother would always take away the coins when he left, saying, Any money you make on your back will hurt your head, (Chin, 2009). Many of the top ranked girls in pageants receive p rizes such as checks and cash prizes, signifying being paid for looking pretty. This was after they got all dressed up, went out on stage, had their eyes, hair, and legs judged by adults, and then move their hips in a suggestive manner.The pageant world is training the girls for a future that is not too great. Meaning, the pageant world is training them to look to others for nous instead of trusting and believing in themselves, or that they need to look really good all the time or people will not like them. I wanted to rush insave these girls from an experience that would make them self-conscious about their little bellies, bottoms, and cute button noses, (Chin, 2009) is the way most people feel while watching the show, and yet, they are hooked and cannot wait for the next episode.It is the way the media portray the drama of the show that keeps viewers like Chin attached to the show. That is what makes this article different from the rest. It discusses the media involvement in the pageant world. Along with videos of these girls being put on the Internet, shows such as Toddlers in Tiaras and Honey Boo Boo which exploit the girls at a young age are also televised, causing the girls to live with their young pageantry for the rest of their lives, even though they may not have made the decision to participate themselves.After walking out on stage and, dramatically ripping off a black, veer robe to reveal a sparkly bathing suit, (Chin, 2009) one little girls mother kept trying to make her say she love pageants and that she was a pageant girl. The toddler would not repeat either phrase, (Chin, 2009). Has the world of pageants changed so much that the toddlers who are the bane of all existence for the pageants do not even want to say they love pageants?Most people believe children who participate in beauty pageants are at a higher danger of having psychological and body image issues when they get older. While most think the pageants are bad for children, there are those who believe the pageants are a job for the children and give them careers for later in life. Based on the articles I have read and reviewed, I conclude that child beauty pageants are not good for those involved. References Bartolomeo, J. (2010). FATHER KNOWS GLITZ. People, 74(16), 64-71. Retrievedfrom EBSCOhost. Chin, S. (2009).Beauty & the Boob Tube. Advocate, (1026), 76. Retrieved fromEBSCOhost. Davidson, M. (1997, September). Is media to blame for child sex victims?. USA TodayMagazine. p. 60. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Ellis, R. (2011). Pretty Babies. Good Housekeeping, 252(8), 21. RetrievedfromEBSCOhost. HOLLANDSWORTH, S. (2011). Toddlers in Tiaras. Good Housekeeping, 252(8), 150-194. Retrievedfrom EBSCOhost. Triggs, C. , West, K. , & Aradillas, E. (2011). Toddlers & Tiaras TOO MUCH TOOSOON? (Cover story). People, 76(12), 160-168. Retrievedfrom EBSCOhost.Child Beauty PageantsChild Beauty Pageants While beauty pageants started in the 1920s, childrens beauty pageants began i n the 1960s. This is when the predicament all began. Equally important is the definition of child abuse. It is defined as the exploitation of a child. Children in beauty pageants are exploited at a very over powering rate. Since there is so much exploitation, it should be considered child abuse. Due to parental involvement, children participate in pageants that damage them physically, mentally, and emotionally, prohibiting them from appropriately socializing in society.Before and during beauty pageants, there are many preparations that happen. Before the beauty pageants, the childrens parents get them tans and flippers which are a type of falsified teeth. After that, the parents either wax or even clear up any imperfections they may have like wrinkles, bushy eyebrows, and/or messed up hair. At the pageants, the girls get covered with make-up in the hopes of hiding any imperfections the child may have. The child is then dressed in whatever attire they are required to wear.For example dresses, swimsuits, formal attire, and/or casual. After that, the girls will model their attire to the judges. Pageants will continue on into the talent portion in which the children will show their talents to judges. The talents vary from dance routines to karaoke, or even simply doing a catwalk. Child beauty pageants only judge based on looks and pure perfection. There are many damages that those requirements put on children. These requirements at times go as far to making five to six year olds look like sixteen to twenty year olds (Grosaru).The children are made to look more mature than what they are. Writer frump Rich says Today the merchandising of children as sexual commodities is ubiquitous and big business. Referring to this statement, this shows that it also makes it easier for them to be made susceptible to pedophiles, eventually at times ending with the child being harmed physically by one of those men or women. Other than being subjected to that type of danger, the ch ildren are also subjected to cosmetic damages as well. Botox is one of the common cosmetic tools used.This is used to make the children appear perfect with no marks or any types of imperfections. One mother Kerry Campbell gave her eight year old daughter Botox and her excuses for giving her daughter this drug was one to give her a head start in pageants and second because all the other moms were doing it (Thompson). Many mothers like Kerry Campbell may be doing this type of abuse to their children because simply they want their child to be ahead in the pageants. Injecting a child with a dangerous chemical just to get a ahead in a child beauty pageant is a clear example of child abuse.The mental afflictions that the pageants cause to the children are numerous. Pageant mothers swallow to create anxiety by the continuous moving from hotel to hotel. This keeps the child from having a normal home. In addition to this, there is no time for the children to socialize with friends in their own hometowns. They are not able to socialize with society at large. Now some of pageant parents argue that their children are able to make friends when theyre participating in the pageants.This is false and quickly disproven when the children are given the infamous speech of no other girl is your friend here. This speech begins to create paranoia about ever making friends or socializing with peers of their age (Grosaru). Other than creating anxiety and paranoia, there is also self destruction of self-image because they are made to think their body must be a certain way and their hair. This is called being A little Barbie (Nusseara). Mothers also can cause confusion within the child because of the beauty pageants.Mothers who had only boys try to make their boys into girls by making them participate in pageants. This causes the child to have confusion about their sexuality and this should not be done to a child. Such gender confusion and lack of self esteem in the name of a pageant are s clear signs of child abuse on the part of the parent. The parent should help the child to build their self esteem and not tear it down. There is a type of Darwinism that is incorporated in these pageants which is the fear the parents have of their children being losers (Giroux).Psychologist David Elkind says, Parents use to be worried about if their children were good at school, but now they are only worried if their child are so called losers at school. Parents create this emotional destruction within the children. The children begin to fear of becoming losers or disappointments to their parents so they are continuously rehearsing how to be perfect every day. In these pageants, the moms try to relive their own fantasy of what they once used to do or what they never got to experience themselves (Grosaru).This is abuse as the parents are only entering the child in the pageant for their selfish need to relive a glory day. The mothers go as far as lying about their childs age to give them an advantage in the competition. This begins to make the child feel guilty about lying afflicting the emotional impairment to the child. In the 1960s, childrens beauty pageants were created on the intention of showing off the innocence of children when in reality it was use to exploit the children and make a profit off of them by making them dress inappropriately and not advocating their well being.This exploitation of the children is pure child abuse and nothing else. The children of these parents should be taken away for their safety. Laws or regulations should be made to insure the well-being of the children. Children who participate in beauty pageants all suffer physical, mental, and emotional damage which keeps them from appropriately socializing in society and developing normally.