Was their a time in your life when you were little that you wanted to dress up and play all day? Child beauty pageants have been around for more than 100 years. In these pageants young girls compete with intelligence, talent, beauty and answer to judges’ questions. As a society in the 21 century, we have taken the idea of something fun and turned it into an idealism. In this case, idealism involves a person such as Kim Kardashian who influences young girls to have a perfect body and perfect face, creating an unhealthy trend that is followed. Due to emotional, social, financial, sexual and developmental issues child beauty pageants should be banned in the United States.
A child’s psychological development is extremely crucial in the first few years of life. If a child experiences psychological trauma this will affect their mental health down the line. Karen Kataline, a former participant of beauty pageants in the 1960s went on to write the memoir FATLASH!, Food Police & the Fear of Thin – A Cautionary Tale. “Today, we’ve pushed the envelope to ridiculous degrees,”she stated. Appearance has played a big role for the shows Toddlers and Tiaras and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The girls participating are required to dress up like barbie dolls with a perfect updo, full beat face, costumes, fake teeth, and plucked eyebrows to impress the judges(Healy). In an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras, a mother made her daughter dress up as Dolly Parton with a blonde wig, fake boobs, butt and a sticky pink dress (Toddlers&Tiaras). Girls in the competition compare themselves to one another or a celebrity and eventually want to change their appearance. The dissatisfaction with how one looks is a medical condition known as body dysmorphia. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons have found that the number of American teenagers aged 13 to 19 who get botox injections is on the rise. Child pageants need to banned because worrying about appearance at a young age will result in zero self esteem and body modifications.
Also, beauty pageants cost a lot of money to participate in and many parents break the bank to afford it. The costumes, lessons for dancing or singing, and plane tickets to competitions are not cheap. Girls who participate in the pageant and have body dysmorphia will want procedures done in the near future to continue being apart of the pageants. Procedures like botox, breast augmentation, or a nose job can cost thousands of dollars because of the location, who the surgeon is, what they use, etc. Beauty pageants should be banned so parents can prioritize their money for future expenses and not run out of assets.
Other examples of psychological and physical effects pageants have on children is bullying. Bullying is common amongst children because they don’t know whats appropriate to say and not say. Children who are vulnerable to bullying are viewed as weak with no self esteem, unpopular, annoying/provoking, over/under weight and having a different clothing style. For example, Alana Thompson, a child beauty pageant winner known as Honey Boo Boo, was constantly bullied by other girls for being overweight. In an episode of Mama June: From Not to Hot, Alana is now 13 and signs up to participate in a beauty pageant with other girls who are around her age. They all tease and laugh at her while she is taking head shots for the competition; Alana is discouraged and feels like she doesn’t fit in with the other girls (SayNOToBullying). Child beauty pageants should be banned because bullying affects self esteem and how one views themselves.
Bullying is a threat to young pageant girls but sexual predators are another threat to worry about. Sexual predators that prey on young beauty pageant contestants are pedophiles, someone who is attracted to a child sexually. Pedophiles can pretend to be agents during a beauty pageant in order to get information about the child. The pedophile uses this information to establish a relation with the child and later sexually abuse them. The media has been hiding the murder of six-year-old child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. She was found sexually abused and strangled in the basement of her family’s home back in December of 1996. Today the case is unsolved and many people have been suspected of the murder including her own father and brother. Parents need to understand that their child’s safety is first. Beauty pageants should be banned to prevent the endangerment of a child.
On the other hand, beauty pageants can be a good thing for young girls in terms of overcoming a fear of people. Lynette Eames, a mother to Kiani who suffers from autism claims that beauty pageants have helped her break out of her shell. Kiani was filled with rage, and Lynette was having a hard time controlling her. Autism advocacy groups never took this type of recreation into consideration for their own program. Many spokespeople believe that since Kiani is interacting with others and trying to make friends through a new experience, it serves as a therapy The beauty pageants are a way for her to cope with autism since there is no cure, but the brain can be trained to manage the symptoms. It was a great way for Kiani to adapt in order to be able to communicate with others in the future (Clarke).
However, beauty pageants are not a good thing because it can cause the onset of early puberty. Puberty starts around the ages of 9 to 14 for most girls in the United States. Stress such as peer pressure in school and from parents regarding beauty pageants at a young age can be a factor to trigger early puberty. Dr. Ellis from the University of Arizona, conducted studies on children ages 3 to 12. Dr. Ellis and his team of researchers surveyed parents to figure out what causes stress in a child’s life at home. Dr. Ellis asked questions regarding a parent’s mental health, financial concerns, and the bond they share with their child or children. Their research concluded that girls living with an unstable family have a higher chance of experiencing hormonal changes younger than expected. When girls mature early seem to have several disadvantages such as hanging out with an older crowd in order to fit in (Boyles). Young girls can easily feel peer pressured by an older crowd to engage in risky behaviors. Risky behaviors include driving recklessly, drinking, trying harmful drugs, and having unprotected sex. “Such peer influence seems to be a major risk factor for mental health problems among early-maturing kids,” says Dr. Rona Carter, a psychologist at the University of Michigan (Weir). Beauty pageants should be banned because it is a stressor that can lead to the start of early puberty. Then, puberty can result in mental health problems like depression from bad behavior, obesity due to hormones, and even a criminal record.
In general, beauty pageants should not be allowed because of the psychological and physical effects it has on young girls. They have a high chance of losing self esteem over their appearance and later wanting plastic surgery. They are at risk for being bullied at school for what they do and are easy to be preyed on by predators. Also, they are at risk for starting puberty young because of the environmental stressors they are surrounded by leading to health issues. Although they can be used wisely to get ride of stage fright, it damages a child further down in life. They should be banned to stop further encouragement by the public eye in tv shows and other forms of media.