Beauty pageants Essay

How many of you have heard or seen of the reality TV show Toddler and Tiaras ? It’s a show where toddlers and young children mainly girls, take the stage wearing make up, spray tans, nails done, fake hair and fake teeth. They are to be judged on their beauty, personality and costumes. Parental ambitions can make there children socially unconnected with other children and sometimes mentally and physically drained. Parents have gone to extremes to make their child the best. The young toddlers are competing world wide to be judged based on looks, poise, perfection, and confidents, From as young as 6 months old. Beauty pageants within children are very exploitive because they promote a materialistic belief to young girls, damaging self-esteem, and encouragement to be â€Å"divas.† The object of child beauty pageants is to win money, a big crown, and occasionally other prizes like a bouncy house or a teddy bear. During the events, young girls are criticised by judges as they get on stage wearing skimpy clothes, shaking the butt while making kiddy faces. The parents coach their toddlers to win, no matter what the cost. Mothers hire make-up artist and hair stylist to make sure their child looks better then the others. The girls have â€Å"rivalries† with other girls who do pageants and they aren’t even 8 years old yet! They will literally seek out their competition to tell them that they’re ugly and say that they’re going to lose. Encouraging such competitive nature in little children could carry over to when they’re older. Life isn’t about always winning, and people shouldn’t be telling their kids that! Beauty pageants wrongly teach little toddlers and children that the only way to be happy is to win and be perfect. A young child getting spray tanned, false nails, false eyelashes and they are like 2 and hate it, is definitely wrong! I mean, caking your kid in make up and then telling them they’re beautiful isn’t right. Its sometimes not the children’s wish to do these pageants, it is the parents (the mothers) desire to give their daughter something that maybe the mother could never accomplish herself. â€Å"A San Francisco mum is injecting her 8 year old daughter with botox to get rid of wrinkles and she insists that she’s not the only mum who’s doing it. The pain 8-year-old Britney Campbell describes doesn’t come from falling off her bike, or losing a tooth-but from this: Botox injections-administered by her Mother. Campbell†s mother says she started giving the injections to keep up with the beauty-take-all world of the pageant circuit an idea planted by other pageant mums. Photos taken during one of Britney’s Botox treatments – capture just how uncomfortable an adult cosmetic procedure can be.† Child beauty pageants have children dressed up in inappropriate clothing. A few examples from Toddlers and Tiaras are; a girl dressed up as a prostitute from Pretty Women and a girl’s mother putting in fake breasts and fake butt padding for her Dolly Parton talent routine. The mum said â€Å"she was just playing the part. She had no idea what she was doing.† Exactly! The child has no Idea what’s she’s doing. Most costumes have cuts in the sides or in the back that reveal a lot of skin. This is teaching little children that dressing this way is ok. When they’re older, they might wear clothing that is similar, although it’s not appropriate at that age either. Also, these parents are exposing their girls to possible pedophilia. Competitions showing little girls prancing around in skimpy dresses. Some little, innocent pageant girl could be the main focus of a pedophile. Parents should not be dressing their girls so proactively. There have been reports of children that have been sexually abused. These researches have shown that the sexualisation of child beauty pageants is a contributing factor to the abuse. Child beauty pageants send inappropriate messages to young girls about how they should act in society. Child beauty pageant contestants are taught that if you look pretty, you win prizes. These girls are put in huge frilly dresses, given fake hair pieces, caked in makeup, and are already getting spray tans. Their developing minds will determine that being pretty is the best thing to be in life. A girl named Daisey Mae was on Toddlers and Tiaras. She was 8 years old and she said â€Å"Facial beauty is the most  important thing in life.† That is exactly what I’m talking about. These girls grow up learning one skill: how to be pretty. Women spent over 72 years fighting to be seen and heard as more than just a pretty face. Over the past 10 years, there has been a 270% increase in the number of girls being hospitalized for eating disorders. Some of these girls are as young as 7 years old. Many of the girls with eating disorders have them because of body image. Beauty pagea nt girls are becoming anorexic just so they can be pretty and win trophies. Child beauty pageants is absolutely unacceptable. Children should be on playgrounds and playing games. Not wearing make up and having fake tans. And to not be judged for how they look. I believe that child beauty pageants should not put young girls in such situations. Child beauty pageants should not be allowed.