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Dangers in beauty pageants
Body shaming research title
Beauty pageant negative effects chil
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Child Beauty Pageants Should Be Banned Two hundred thousand children compete in beauty pageants every year. They have to dress in a certain outfit, look a certain way, and behave in a certain way; hoping to captivate the judges attention. Six percent of people that compete in beauty pageants suffer from depression because of many reasons. Children should not have depression or self-image issues at that age. Once they are diagnosed they normally have to take depression pills, and attend therapy just like adults have to if they are diagnosed with depression or have self-image issues. First of all, people need to stop sexualizing anything women do, because second of all not everything women do is for attention. But, child beauty pageants should …show more content…
The desire to be thin has progressed to girls as young as eight years old (Lindsey paragraph 7). No girls should feel like they need to be super thin in order to be beautiful at just eight years old. Putting false images of beauty into a child’s mind is ridiculous. Everyone is perfect in their own way, and we need to start teaching children that instead of us telling them that they need to be thin in order for people to like you. Women that participated in child beauty pageants scored significantly higher on measures of body dissatisfaction interpersonal distrust (Wonderlich, Ackard, and Henderson pg 293). This information is incredibly sad. The girls have been judged all of their life on their appearance and their behavior, and it finally set in when they got older. They believe what the judges tell them, which they should not listen to them. Everyone is beautiful in a different way. Beauty pageants are supposed to celebrate the beauty of women and make them feel powerful, but the reality is they are just degrading (Muhammed paragraph 2). The women feel as if they are not good enough, and begin to have issues with themselves mentally and physically. Women should be celebrated for their different body types, skin tones, and features. Women should not be put down for what they cannot
“A small study published in Eating Disorders the journal of treatment and prevention, that involved 22 women” (Hollandsworth). Girls are choosing unhealthy ways to stay fit and what they call the perfect size just to have a big appeal to the audience when at pageants. The encouragement of this behavior can lead to many body complications and disorders for these girls as they develop, only because they are not truly developing as an average young lady. “A 2007 report issued by the American Psychological Association Task force on the Sexualization of girls claims that parents who put their daughters in beauty pageants can contribute in very direct concrete ways to the precocious sexualization of the daughters” ( Hollandsworth). There has been research to prove that the actions of the young ladies is not all on their own, they have assistance with getting prepared for competitions and what to perform in competitions. Parents add more than what is necessary and can have a negative impact and not even know they are making matters worst than what they have to be. “Kiddie pageants are flourishing. Fueled by a reality TV show, an estimated 250,000 American girls participate in more than 5,000 beauty pageants every year” (Hollandsworth). Exploitation of these young girls is the “NEW BIG THING” to see and enjoy. Adults would rather watch little girls flaunt themselves
One professional psychologist and registered dietician has warned that competing in the beauty pageants may lead young girls to feel that the approval and love of their parents is based solely on their looks and whether they win a crown at the pageant or not. Losing in a pageant category may generate lower feelings of self-worth in young children who do not know how to properly cope with loss at such a young age. Additionally, there are countless examples of women who as children participated in beauty pageants and began stressing at a young age while attempting to maintain an impossible ideal of perfection. Many of the young girls who cannot keep up a perfect look will begin to feel body shame, depression and may even develop an eating disorder. In fact, one study was done on approximately 130 females who had participated in beauty pageants.
Beauty pageants have caused an increase in mental and physical issues in young girls who participate. Participation and competition for a beauty prize where infants and girls are objectified and judged against sexualized ideals can have significant mental health and developmental consequences that impact detrimentally on identity, self-esteem, and body perception ("We must protect our kids from the catwalk of shame."). If young girls don't win, they might take it personally and get hurt feelings. The child might end up feeling unattractive or inadequate ("Child Beauty Pageants Pros and Cons.") which can lead to the development of disorders such as bulimia or anorexia. ("How Do Child Beauty Pageants Affect a Child's Development?") These are both eating disorders girls develop to lose weight excessively. Furthermore, the average BMI of a beauty pageant contestant as of 2010 is 18.3 (Beauty Pageant Statistics), which is classified as underweight...
Everywhere one looks today, one will notice that our culture places a very high value on women being thin. Many will argue that today’s fashion models have “filled out” compared to the times past; however the evidence of this is really hard to see. Our society admires men for what they accomplish and what they achieve. Women are usually evaluated by and accepted for how they look, regardless of what they do. A woman can be incredibly successful and still find that her beauty or lack of it will have more to do with her acceptance than what she is able to accomplish. “From the time they are tiny children, most females are taught that beauty is the supreme objective in life” (Claude-Pierre, p18). The peer pressure for girls in school to be skinny is often far greater than for boys to make a team. When it is spring, young girls begin thinking “How am I going to look in my bathing suit? I better take off a few more pounds.”
When one looks back at their childhood, what pops into their head? For most people their response would be playing with dolls, going outside, or having sleepovers, but for others that isn’t reality. Britney, an eight-year old girl from California, spent her childhood getting Botox and competing in child beauty pageants. According to her mother, Britney had been complaining about wrinkles and agreed to trying Botox. This sounds absolutely crazy, but it is not uncommon. Over 250,000 kids participate in beauty pageants each year (Lindsey). These children, who start competing as early as age 2, are being judged on their looks, capability, perfection, and confidence. The controversies over these pageants have erupted in the past few years because of TLC’s reality show, Toddlers and Tiaras (Nussbaum). Many believe it is not right for young children to parade around on stage wearing make-up and inappropriate clothing, while others believe it builds confidence in children. Despite what people who are pro child beauty pageants say, these pageants can have major effects on the kids participating in them. One may argue that these girls gain much more than they lose, but in the end the negative affects far outweigh the positives.
After being in pageants, many girls begin to view their bodies and physical appearances as a source of reward. These young ladies are learning to treat themselves as objects to be judged for their looks. Young women who see their bodies as a source of reward are more likely to develop low self-esteem, eating disorders, and depression. The fact that girls have less confidence in their abilities and a higher vulnerability to depression has been well documented (www.brighthubeducation.com).
Imagine you are at home, watching tv. Flipping through the channels, you see a preview for next week’s episode of Toddlers & Tiara’s. They show the girls dressed in frilly, sparkly attire, fake teeth, fake hair, fake tans, and makeup that could transform their faces into someone in their 20’s. These children are usually misbehaving, disobedient, overdramatic and they are between the ages of four and six. Any person could see that this lifestyle is incredibly harmful to these children not just because of what it does to their appearance, but what happens when these little girls’ minds become tainted with the thoughts of needing to be beautiful and talented in order for people to like them. They also learn that being beautiful means doing whatever it takes to make yourself look perfect, even if it means that everything about you is fake. At the same time, when these little girls are dressing up for these shows, they are being put in outfits that could be worn by strippers. This draws attention to sex offenders and pedophiles, which could potentially end up in something tragic. Claude Knights, the director of child protection charity Kidscape, says, "We do know that predators or paedophiles continually tend to justify their interest in children by saying children are sexual beings. That children are now given a channel to become little Lolitas, to be portrayed as older, to almost become mini adults – these are all trends that give legitimacy to that kind of thinking." In the end, children’s beauty pageants are essentially harmful to both young girls safety and minds.
Child beauty pageants have become an increasingly controversial topic throughout the years. It is believed by most to be a form of child exploitation or even child abuse. Young children, starting at just a few years old, are paraded around stage dressed in provocative clothing and faces full of makeup. Children should grow up in an environment where tolerance and acceptance of everyone's differences is the overall attitude, not where competition, especially in the material things, is the driving force in their lives. Although it is true that child beauty pageants can help children gain confidence and social skills, they should be banned because of their impact on health and self-esteem, attraction of sexual predators, and outrageous costs.
It may seem like dazzling gowns, gorgeous hair and make-up and sparkling tiaras are fairytales came true. However, without even young girls understanding the situation, this fairytale turns into a disaster in child beauty pageants. Pageants are ubiquitous, in the USA, 2.5 million girls participate in pageants every year. By working hard to make their families happy and to maintain this new sense of entertainment, ironically,little girls pay high prices in various aspects. Child beauty pageants should be banned not only because they sexualize girls and lead to mental problems but also they endanger toddler’s physical health.
The overwhelming idea of thinness is probably the most predominant and pressuring standard. Tiggeman, Marika writes, “This is not surprising when current societal standards for beauty inordinately emphasize the desirability of thinness, an ideal accepted by most women but impossible for many to achieve.” (1) In another study it is noted that unhealthy attitudes are the norm in term of female body image, “Widespread body dissatisfaction among women and girls, particularly with body shape and weight has been well documented in many studies, so much so that weight has been aptly described as ‘a normative discontent’”. (79) Particularly in adolescent and prepubescent girls are the effects of poor self-image jarring, as the increased level of dis...
Child beauty pageants have been a part of the American society for many years. However, since the pageant world has become more worldwide, parents are starting to question their child’s safety. Child beauty pageants attempt to show that the girls are having fun, but these girls are not being dressed and treated like a young girl. In fact, they are being treated like an adult. They are having to be graceful and beautiful, just as a grown woman would. Furthermore, child beauty pageants are becoming more and more like adult pageants. The death of a pageant queen has taken a toll on the pageant worldChild beauty pageants should be banned, or even changed because the children never get a chance at childhood, their minds and bodies are different from adults, and it could cause low self-esteem and even eating disorders.
Studies have shown the connections between childhood beauty pageants and adult disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, depression, and self-esteem. Eleven women who participated in childhood beauty pageants were matched on age and body mass index with 11 non-participating women. Childhood pageant participants scored higher on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation than non-participants, and showed a trend toward greater ineffectiveness. ( Giroux). This presents that girls who participate in child beauty pageants are more prone to dermatal psychological disorders more than girls who chose to be in a beauty pageants.
Children beauty pageants have been going on for years and they can be very controversial. These horrible competitions are making kids lose confidence and can even result in kids losing their lives! For this reason Beauty pageants need to be banned for children under 16 years of age. ( Kaitou KID) took a pole about beauty pageants being banned and the results she got was impressive. 81% said YES and 19% said NO.
Many young girls are forced to wear preposterous outfits and enormous amounts of makeup that deny them of their innocence at a young age. Beauty contests are meant more for adult women who are mature enough to understand all that’s going on and can handle losing competitions to the other contestants. Children should not be able to compete in pageants because of the harmful effects on self-confidence and character. Some people think they are good and some do not agree that they are good. (Leo, 2014)
Today there are many new extracurricular activities that occupy a lot of young Americans minds. One trending activity is beauty pageants. It is more common in children where the ages may vary between eight months and even older. The trending debate is whether or not beauty contest serve any purpose in society. While many Americans feel as though pageants are helpful to a child’s self esteem, many feel that the effects of the contest have a very harsh effect on child development by devaluing a child. Researchers have found that beauty contests are effective for women to help make platforms for their careers and also create new jobs for women to create like mentoring children.