The Ugly Side of Beauty Pageants

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Author Mary Howitt’s famous children’s rhyme says: “Will you walk into my parlor said the spider to the fly? ‘Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy. The way into my parlor is up a winding stair, and I’ve a many curious things to show when you are there.” Like the fly, young girls are lured into a fanciful web of illusion and false hope. Beauty pageants are a complex snare of mental and physical stress, financial burdens, time consuming hours, and unrealistic beauty features.

Beauty pageants are unnecessary activities that possess a unique history. Atlantic City, New Jersey was always a popular vacation spot during the tourist season. Usually, the excursionists would disperse around Labor Day, making the business run stagnant for the rest of the year. In 1921, the city leaders discovered a way to draw people in instead of losing their business; they would put on a fall pageant. This “fall pageant” would soon be known as the Miss America pageant. In the introductory contest, only eight women competed for the title Miss America. Margaret Gorman, a sixteen-year-old from Washington D.C, won the first Miss America pageant. She was awarded a magnificent crown identical to the one that rests on top of the Statue of Liberty’s head. The city leaders were correct and the vacationing in Atlantic City increased along with the business. Because of the huge success the contest was to be continued for many years to come (Alter 20-23). The Miss America Pageant premiered on television in 1954 and became very popular throughout the nation in the 1950’s (Nussbaum). Encouraged by the Miss America Pageant, many other beauty contests and pageants began to emerge in the United States.

Girls and young women are affected...

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...olmes, R. M., & Holmes, S. T. “JonBenet Ramsey Case”. JonBenet Ramsey. College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University. 2002. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.

Lieberman, Lindsay. “Protecting Pageant Princesses: A Call for Statutory Regulation of Child Beauty Pageants. Practicum. Brooklyn Law School. 28 Jun. 2010. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. .

Merino, Noël. Beauty Pageants. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Print.

Nussbaum, Kareen. “Children and Beauty Pageants”. Beauty Pageants. A minor Consideration. N.D. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. .

Simon, Harvey. “Eating Disorders”. Health Information. University of Maryland Medical Center. 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. .

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