Persuasive Essay On Child Beauty Pageants

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“It doesn’t matter if you can breathe. It matters if it looks good,” says the mother of a beauty pageant child. Child beauty pageants have recently become more popular, especially since the beginning of the TV show Toddlers and Tiaras. While many parents find nothing wrong with entering their children in pageants, it is the wrong thing to do. It’s not that I’m against all beauty pageants. I have a friend who participates in pageants. She was crowned Miss Massachusetts Teen Queen last year. However, children should not be entered in beauty pageants until they are old enough to make their own decisions. Kids 9 and under should not be allowed to participate in beauty pageants. The object of child beauty pageants is to win money, a big crown, …show more content…

Parents dress them up in costumes that are definitely too promiscuous for someone that age. 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. Most costumes have cuts in the sides or in the back that reveal a lot of skin. This is teaching little kids that dressing this way is ok. They don’t feel uncomfortable in clothing like this, so they let their parents put them in it. When they’re older, they might wear clothing that is similar, although it’s not appropriate at that age either. If the kids doing pageants were older, they would feel uncomfortable in that clothing. They could refuse to dress in it. Also, these parents are exposing their girls to possible pedophilia. Competitions showing little girls prancing around in skimpy dresses are like heaven for pedophiles. Some little, innocent pageant girl could be the main focus of a pedophile’s dark fantasy. Parents should not be dressing their kids so …show more content…

Child beauty pageant contestants are taught that if you look pretty, you win prizes and get love from mommy and daddy. 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. Older kids may understand the difference between what happens onstage and what happens offstage. However, little kids may interpret it as meaning beauty is the only thing that matters. A girl named Daisey Mae was on Toddlers and Tiaras. She was 8 years old and she said “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 pageant girls are becoming anorexic just so they can be pretty and win trophies. Now, I know that some pageants these days have “talent” sections. However, upon observing talent sections on Toddlers and Tiaras, I can tell you that most of the girls’ talent is dancing. However, their “” is really just

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