What is beauty? What are the qualities that are included in the definition of beauty? “Generally, beauty refers to the characteristic or characteristics of an object that entail human pleasure to one or more senses. Beauty cannot be negative or ugly.” (Beirnet)However, there are various concepts of beauty across the globe. “In Nigeria, big and heavy women are considered beautiful and admired. In Burmese traditional view, women with long neck are considered beautiful.” (Plotnick 603). So if there are different concepts of beauty around the globe, how can we hail the most beautiful girl in the world? Thus, beauty pageant comes in. “Origin of beauty pageants was traced back from ancient European custom of choosing symbolic kings and queens for Mayday festivities.” (Sones). Before beauty pageants received less attention in the society but not until in 1991 when it captures almost everyone's attention. “Beauty pageants became more prominent in the society in 1921 when a hotel owner started a contest to attract tourist in town past Labor Day. The winner of that contest was the called Miss America.” (Beirnet). Since then major beauty pageants were born; Miss World (1951), Miss Universe (1952), Miss International (1960), and Miss Earth (2001). What the purpose of beauty pageants in the society? This question was not new. Since before, protests condemning beauty pageants was there. “Protests were done when P.T Barnum staged the first modern pageants in 1854.” (Sons). So issues regarding the purpose of having were not new and it has historical basis. Issues regarding the purpose of beauty pageants alarm women since majority of the beauty pageants are for them. Let us look at the good side of beauty pageants. First, allows the use... ... middle of paper ... ...ending the money wisely and you are helping those people who are facing poverty. Now let us know the other side of the story. Others argued that beauty pageants promote self-esteem. Facing other people is not easy. Only few are capable enough that can face the crowd with great confidence. It is indeed in beauty pageants that women gain confidence. It is in beauty pageants that allow women to be empowered. They are given the chance to meet other people. Meeting those new faces will boosts their confidence. It is in meeting those new faces and seeing people happy and proud on what they are doing on stage that they feel that they are given importance and they are idolize. It is also their time to show to others their hidden talents. It is in beauty pageants also that they want to prove to all that they can overcome their shyness in facing different types of people.
who have their children in beauty pageants say that their children gain confidence through performing. They also say that they are more prepared for life and will be more socially comfortable. They argue that their children mature at a younger age than "normal" children do. Why would any parent want their children to grow up any faster than they already do? Beauty pageants are not the only way that a child at such a young age can gain confidence.
The fight for beauty has now leaked into our young children and is creating countless issues that will be visible in these children and their futures. Like the old saying; beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Someone or something that is considered attractive, good looking, etc. to one person may not exactly appeal the same to another. If we lived in a “perfect” world, maybe everyone would follow these wise words and admit that evaluating beauty is such a biased thing to do. Beauty pageants are becoming more and more popular since they were created back in the 1920's. Especially, children pageants. The media is a big provoker in this case with their ‘Little Miss Perfect” and “Toddlers in Tiaras” shows. In which, it’s clear the level of commitment a pageant takes and how they are not bearable for children, and I mean simply unfair for them to go through the burden of a beauty pageant.
Although the original concept of beauty pageants was less distasteful, I still believe that participants should compete because they want to and not because their parents want them to compete. Although participation in beauty pageants can build
According to the Australian Oxford Dictionary, the term “Beauty Pageants” is defined as a public entertainment that consists the parading of people that will be judged and graded.
The main reason being participating in beauty pageants builds children's confidence and public speaking skills. Building confidence is not always the case often times children are discouraged and it ruins there body image in the long run. Contestants can earn money for college, it's not always the case though because what happens when children aren't winning, they then are earning money they are just losing self confidence. Also, many pageant parents say that participating in pageants is the same as playing a sport, which playing a sport requires time and money and puts intense pressure on them. Young athletes learn discipline, feel great pride in their accomplishments, and form lasting friendships which also happens in the pageant
That’s just biased, putting women in different categories. Versing into a more extreme version of the beauty pageant is the one for little girls. These pageants are for girls aged six to eight, girls as young as four have entered. Just like the adult pageants they have to go through test that showcases their talents. Wearing full faces of make-up and short reveling clothing and swim suites. Their being sexualized at an extremely young ages. Should toddlers be allowed to be showed off as prizes, of who’s the prettiest? It is going to creating emotional and psychological problems in the long run. It is creating a false identity, that perhaps their looks are the most important part of them. As well as anyone with a television screen can look and can watch. There are pariahs out there. However one of the biggest points for competing in a beauty pageant could be the national pride, and being a part of a larger community. It shows cases women’s talents and attributes, not just deeming to how women look. They are also competing to win a scholarship, to become more educated in the long run. Beauty pageants for the
...t matter if you can't breathe. It matters if it looks good", says the mother of a beauty pagent child. This shows that the children are not at the best intention and its all about the prizes and publicity for some parents. Encouraging young girls to dress scandalously can lead to child pedophilia and also small mesasures of child pornography. Who would want to bring their beautiful children into such repulsive difficulties?. Beauty pageants have shown to cause serious effects on children such as, psychological issues,depression and eatting disorders. Children should not be entered in beauty pagents until they are old enough to make their own decisons about wethier it's what they want to do or not. The object of beauty contests is to win the nobel prize; a huge sum of money and the parents of these entering coach their kids to win,no matter how much it takes.
Some people believe that beauty pageants hinder self-growth and heighten self-hate. In beauty pageants, children are instructed to “cover” themselves with heaps of make-up and wear of façade of sorts. This facade eats at a young girl's self-esteem, for she believes that she must transform into an ideal character fit to appeal to a set of judges based on outfit, personality, and looks ("Child"). If a young girl is constantly shrouded by the false ideologies and superficial aspects of pageantry, she will allow other people's perceptions to define who she is. Therefore, critics argue that beauty pageants teach young girls to focus only on developing their appearances (“Child”). Young girls begin to believe that their self-worth is measured by external attributes. In addition, the vicious cycle of wearing a façade begins to damage the self-worth and the emotional state in the young girls. Children’s pageantry attire consists of glamorous dresses and puffed-up hair and make-up, which builds the assumption in girls that being beautiful, is based on appearance alone. Beauty pageants inherently represent shallow and superficial ideals that persist in society. Once...
To most beauty pageants may seems like a waste of time and it may seem to be another way to make women feel inferior to one another. I, however, have come to find that this is one of the many myths which surround such an advantageous opportunity. Young women learn many valuable lessons which help them throughout their entire life. These lessons could range from such a variety of things, from being able to overcome shyness to raising awareness on a certain issue through a platform to also even possibly winning scholarships.
Kendrick, C. Ed.M. LCSW. (2011). Are beauty pageants bad for children? Life, Retrieved June 20, 2011, from http://life.familyeducation.com/emotional-development/girls-self-esteem/41305.html
However, beauty pageants could possibly be a wonderful thing because of the way it may encourage one girl to meet other girls and build a community. In other words, it is a way to overcome shyness. “If you feel shy, or just not confident in how you look, why not have a makeover?” (Wright) Seems like it is as simple as that to conclude why beauty pageants are beneficial, it claims to fix the biggest social issue in society; insecurity in oneself. Additionally, when young girls are going through different body types and stages of life, I believe I can speak for any girl and declare that girls become more body conscious through these times. “The number one of a million reasons to enter a beauty pageant is to build self-confidence. Take me, for example... You would never catch me talking in front of large crowds, or being social at all... until my Mom entered me in my first pageant amongst 213 girls! Talk about life changing! I walked away by being 4th runner-up and I was in awe of how much self-confidence I had gained in one weekend!” (Guerrero) Beauty pageants seem to be the
Beauty pageants demand that competitors spend large amounts of money in synthetic enhancement. This is a poor focus for vulnerable girls and destroys the girls at a very young age. Beauty pageants convince girls that outer beauty is more important than inner beauty, which is totally a false claim. In this paper, we are going to talk about the pros and cons, whys and woes of pageants and if they are manipulative or valuable to kids. Even though that beauty pageants are a good way for girls to make friends. Beauty pageants are harmful to young children and they should not be able to compete until adulthood because beauty pageants teach kids that outer beauty is more important than inner beauty and beauty pageants pose a threat to the safety of children.
Modern beauty contests started in the United States of America in 1880 with the first Miss United States bathing beauty contest held at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Since then, beauty pageants had been popular in many parts of the world. Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International, participated in every year by more than fifty countries, ceaselessly attracts huge audiences and supporters. The biggest, the Miss World competition, had been running annually since 1951, and although it is less popular in the UK now than it was in 1968, when it attracted 27.5 million TV viewers, it still attracts an enormous worldwide audience of up to 3 billion viewers in 120 countries. [1] Although the main purpose of these pageants are to empower women, the crowned winners are also traveling around the world in order to support causes like HIV/AIDS and children's charity organizations. [2] Due to the success of these internationally produced pageants, various beauty contests for different classes of age, sex and sexuality stemmed up. However, even with the huge diversity, the content of each pageants have almost always been the same: all of them are comprised of the mainstream categories like swimwear portion and evening gown portion. With these content, beauty pageants gives out strong messages regarding what the ideal type of woman is, hence undermining the purpose of a beauty pageant: to empower women. Thus, although beauty pageants contribute to the entertainment of the masses, it promotes an ideal of female beauty that only a minority of women can realistically aspire, objectifies women, further advances cultural insensitivity among its candidates and uses up too much resources which is why it should be banned.
Child beauty pageants can be very damaging to a young girl from a psychological perspective. If the child does not win the contest, they are forced to believe they have faults, which do not make them perfect. Instead of teaching girls to appreciate their fault for making them unique from everyone else. Beauty pageants promote an atmosphere that it is wrong to not be perfect. Most grade school girls are not concerned with self-image, until someone, points out their ears may be too big or they suffer some other imperfection. A four year old should not be told she is not as attractive as another girl. Kids that age should be taught that every individual is unique and exceptional in his or her own style. Not that there is a perfect mode that we must survive to fit.
Many people are against beauty pageants, because people think that pageants are sexist, judgmental, and degrading of women. Do beauty pageants still serve their purpose in society? Yes, many contestants gain a lot by doing pageants. Contestants of any age and gender have their benefits from doing pageants.