Beauty Pageants Argument Analysis

In many young girls’ worlds beauty pageants are becoming more and more popular but many will argue that beauty pageants are not all that they are cracked up to be. Savannah Morgan’s claim that girls under the age of 12 should not be in beauty pageants is flawed because many young girls want to be in pageants, pageants can endorse life lessons, and young girls need an outlet just similar to boys. Although Morgan clearly states her argument against young girls being in beauty pageants she does not support her claim sufficiently. Morgan bases her argument not on the young girls but on the parents of these girls. Morgan states that, “Some parents force their child to compete, and their child is helpless to disagree.” (1). Parents force their

Morgan states that pageants “endorse a selfish mindset and a superficial lifestyle.” (1). Although it may be true that some girls can have a problematic lifestyle after being awarded many beauty pageant crowns, many women make a career out of pageants. Many pageants offer scholarship awards to go towards a girl’s education. Furthermore many women like Miss. America support charities and have made a commitment to better the lives of young girls in their communities. Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin express that Miss. America pageants is one of the largest scholarship providers for young girls. Morgan also approaches the physical effect that pageants have on young girls. Morgan states, “When a little girl feels the need to always look beautiful, this can manifest into eating disorders and other form of self-mutilation later in life.” (1). It is not very often that the “self-mutilation” of young girls in beauty pageants is reported, the success of beauty pageant winners is more often reported. Whether this is because of the effect a positive article has on people or because of the prominence of an actual negative report we do not know. But I believe that there are many more times that a beauty pageant winner turns out to be a success rather than a failure. Wolfe states, “Epitomizing all of these trends, was the emergence of beauty contests, which ranked andrewarded women on the basis of their looks, and helped to articulate an ideal womanhood in which a commitment to physical attractiveness was becoming an important requirement of women’s gender role.” (8-9). In the beginning of the twentieth century beauty pageants showed women what their true role was, it is understandable how women could be upset if they were unable to meet these standards. Beauty pageants teach young girls the femininity women are supposed to have,