Society’s Standards: Causing Girls to Change Themselves

Recently, the conflict of young girls portraying characteristics of women is increasing. Because of media influences, children are beginning to look and act in ways that mimic the lives of adults; the information they are learning is nowhere near age appropriate for these children. Girls are being taught to focus more on their appearance. They are being taught from a very young age that it is most important to be skinny and look pretty. Girls are learning to treat themselves as objects rather than people, and allowing themselves to be seen as objects, they allow others to treat them that way. One program in particular, “Toddlers and Tiaras,” sexualizes young girls, and produces such thoughts due to the broadcast that it has to the world.

Pageants have been around for a long time. In the past, pageants were an interactive way for girls to display poise and to compete against each other in different categories. Nowadays pageants have transformed completely. Young girls are being treated and made up as if they were women or dolls. On the TLC show, Toddlers and Tiaras, we begin to see this trend happening. Girls as young as the age of two to fifteen months are being put into these pageants and are shown off to the world as “role models” to other children. The show starts off with a glimpse of the young girls’ lives. We see how they interact with their families and we get a feel for how they live. Most girls display all their trophies and how well they do in each pageant. All of these young girls display attitudes and throw temper tantrums throughout the show. Parents spend an enormous amount of money for each pageant on things like dresses and make up. Other children who watch “Toddlers and Tiaras” might be impacted due to being the...

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...these portrayed lives, and these girls want to become them. Parents do want the best for their children, but can’t fall into the media belief of what is “beautiful”. In the media, advertisements, and even the toys and clothing young girls wear, they all try to fit into the media’s standards. The effect of the media is precedent in how these younger girls develop faster then they should. With media being around everyday, the impact is emanating.

Work Cited

Abbasi, Jennifer. Live Science. 16 Jul. 2012. “Why 6-Year-Old Girls Want to be Sexy.” 20 Mar. 2014.

Douglas, Susan. "Killing Us Softly 3." Jean Kilbourne, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Mathais, Joan C. "Barbie Commercials across the Decades." Harvard University, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Morgan, Mandy. Deseret News. 17 Nov. 2012.“Toddlers and Tears: The sexualization of young girls.” Web. 19 Mar. 2014.