Beauty Pageantry,
an affair which makes an excuse to rate and judge women on how beautiful they
are on the outside. Nowadays these standards are accompanied by the talents,
aspirations, and plans on how to make the future better. Do these extra
categories apply to Child Beauty Pageants? Do these young girls receive a score
on their personal talents and plans to improve the world, or is it all about
looking pretty? Most importantly, how does this kind of competition impact them?

Of course they are scored on their talents – if they can sing and dance. Global and societal
issues are definitely great topics to include in beauty pageantry, the only
problem is that kids have not developed the mental ability to understand them.
That leaves us with only the beauty category. Since all other aspects of the
show are minimized, the beauty category becomes the focus of it all. This is
where the “good nature” and intent for “fun” of such competitions reveal
its flaws and lack of thought, in my opinion.

Pounds of
makeup, big, glitzy dresses, and perfectly curled or straightened hair are
taken into consideration by the kids and their parents in order to comply with
the standards of what the judges believe is beautiful. Evolution of beauty pageantry
now portray girls with provocative clothing and suggestive acts for talent
shows as competition winners. The different views and inputs of how these girls
are supposed to look like are signs of early sexualization. With the early
sexualization of girls, comes the shame and embarrassment they feel once they
are much older. Being young, these girls are unaware of what their skimpy
outfits and indecent routines really represent. They and their parents see it
as the ultimate strategy to win, but a good proportion of the world see it as
minors being depicted as sex objects.

Being told
how to dress, act, and even eat in order to fit into their outfits, they become
a pawn on a chess board, playing to the command of their parents, and approval
of the officials. Most of the girls that enter competitions like this do not
even reach the age of ten before they start dieting. Striving to keep up with
their competitions, they eventually fall into bad eating habits. Disorders such
as Anorexia nervosa, Purging disorder, Selective eating disorder, and
orthorexia nervosa are some of the eating disorders that arise when young
people go on crazy diets.

Child Beauty pageants are known for building a kid’s confidence. It can on the other hand,
emotionally drain the child, or create an ever growing ego. Instead of enjoying
their lives as normal kids do, pageant participants stress about how they can
beat their opponents. In extreme situations, school becomes less of a priority.
Friends and extracurricular activities automatically turn into “distractions”.
With all of their energy focused towards the contest, the young girls forget
about every other aspect of life. They miss out on certain events that are
meant to build up their childhood. The choice to explore what they really want
out of this life is taken away from them. As a result, many of them fall into
depression as they grow up.

Parents play a major role in the lives of these contestants. Sometimes they become the ones
who mess with their child’s mind. Obsession with the competition takes over the
guardian to the point where they try to do anything for their kids to win.
Telling the child what they did wrong, while praising them with comments about
how perfect they are, can cause confusion for the child. It is overwhelming.
Because these girls take in so much criticism, especially about their outer
image, they slowly develop low self-esteem, a negative view of their bodies and
in less than no time anxiety starts creeping in.

The young girls who fall in love with these competitions, decide to carry on in it during their
teenage years and adulthood. This kind of decision requires them to start
building a specific lifestyle for themselves. Similar to child pageant, as an
adult, friends and other leisure activities are limited. One would think that
since they were kids, they have been taking criticisms, so it won’t be that
difficult for them to integrate into Adult Beauty Pageants. That is not always
the case. Growing up, constantly entertaining comments about how you look, can
lead to a very dramatic, yet concerning breaking point. It isn’t easy for that
person to just quit and leave the only life they’ve known. Where do they start?
How do they even get a job if beauty pageants took up most of their time and energy?

Participating in beauty pageants as a child may not be the worst thing in the world, but it’s not really the ideal thing to do. These young girls’ worldviews are limited, their mental and physical health are put at risk, and they are degraded as human beings as a result of early sexualization. Not being able to live the type of life kids are supposed to live, and not being exposed to certain events and activities, their childhood isn’t as enriched as others. In an attempt to be a winner and boost their confidence, the well-being of a child should always be protected. If I had the power and ability, I would ban Beauty Pageants for children. Kids are free spirits who tend to enjoy their lives, are curious, as well as open to follow any path to their future. There’s no reason to hinder this opportunity, when they clearly deserve it.

By Anu F.