The Negative Aspects Of Child Beauty Pageants

One would believe that a life of glamorous hair and make-up, beautiful gowns, and sparkling tiaras would be every young girls dream, unfortunately, for many, this dream often turns into a nightmare. For nearly fifty years children have been subjected to the world of beauty pageants where they have been forced to behave as young adults rather than the five year olds that they actually are. Young children spend numerous hours every day practicing speeches and model walks for upcoming pageants rather than focusing on schoolwork and playing with friends. With an emphasis placed on appearance in beauty contests, children become devastatingly concerned with the way that they look before many of them can walk.

The lifestyle of child beauty pageant participants has proven to be one full of stress and negative self-evaluation which can ultimately lead to a number of mental and physical disorders as the children become older. While it is clear that beauty pageants can be damaging to its participants, especially ones who begin their career of pageantry at a young age, nothing is being done to solve this problem. Every pageant is independently organized and rules are specifically developed for each one. This variance in rules and guidelines allows an opportunity for anyone of any age to enter into beauty pageants. Pageant promoters, with little more than how much money they can obtain, do nothing to curb or change the aspects of pageants which lead to easily influenced children developing issues with their appearance and self-esteem. In order to put a stop to the lifelong negative effects of beauty pageants on young children, state laws need to be established, putting minimum age requirements and event restrictions on beauty pageants throughout the United States.

Beauty pageants have continued to grow in popularity ever since they were first created in the 1920's, however, they involve a much deeper level of commitment and work than many people are aware of. With nearly 250,000 children taking part in the various 3,000 beauty pageants created each year the competition is fierce and children are forced to spend a significant amount of time every day preparing for the contests (Nussbaum 3). As each beauty pageant typically consists of modeling different forms of attire, such as sportswear, eveningwear, dancewear, and costumes for talent showcases, children spend a great deal of time at fittings for every outfit that they wear. This fitting time is magnified by the fact that many children enter a pageant every other weekend, all of which require different outfits, many of which are handmade. Children must also practice in-depth for the interviews and talent portions of beauty contests, learning every word they speak or song they sing by heart. As for the days of the pageants much time is needed to prepare with, "hair lasting around an hour and forty-five minutes, make-up around an hour" (Nussbaum 2). For children as young as the age of one to be forced to sit still for such great lengths borders on child abuse as parents do not take into account the welfare of their children (Nussbaum 2). Children spend so much time in the world of beauty that they tend to neglect their schoolwork or even their playtime in exchange for an early entrance into an adult world.

As most children are not capable of making the decision to enter beauty pageants before they can speak it is obviously the decision of parents to place their children into these negative settings. However, when confronted, many parents insist that it is purely in their children's best interest and that their children will, "gain better social skills, listening skills, confidence, independence, poise, and talent," by participating in these intense competitions (Wonderlich 298). What many parents do not seem to understand is that they themselves often mentally hurt their children rather than help them. As children move into pre-adolescence and adolescence they become more susceptible to what they hear and see in their environment and this can often lead to negative side effects in their mentality or inner view of themselves. In pageant settings, parents become extremely critical of their children's appearance and in the book, Guidelines for Adolescent Nutrition Services, Jillian Croll states that, "Familial concerns and pressures may also contribute to increased body dissatisfaction and body image concerns" (157). By letting their children enter beauty pageants, or forcing them to, parents are not only paving the way for their children to have lifelong issues with their appearance and self-worth, but they are also causing rifts in their relationships with their children, who may grow to resent their parents and associate them as a constant figure of judgment in their life. In an attempt to live vicariously through their children, parents of beauty pageant participants are stunting their children's inner growth and development by entering them into pageants against their will and before they are old enough to deal with the pressures of a pageant life.

Putting aside whether or not a child willing or unwillingly enters into a beauty pageant, these contests can cause a number of negative effects regardless of whether a child does or does not want to partake in them. In various studies, it is proven that children as young as five have a clear image of what their appearance should be and if it is not up to par with that then their self-worth dramatically decreases and, in contrast, they feel that if they can improve their body through diets and other means then their self-worth will increase also (Herbozo 22-23). This critical sense of self is apparent in children who are not associated with pageants which means that for children that are, the pressure to be thin and the feeling of constant judgment is amplified radically. Croll reiterates the fact that, "Poor body image is strongly associated with low self-esteem and low self-worth," and also notes that both of these feelings can, "severely limit the potential for youth to succeed" (158). Therefore, children who think poorly of themselves will assume that they cannot succeed in any matter of their life, such as having a successful career, if they cannot even control their outer appearance. This negative mindset can affect the way in which these children approach certain situations for the rest of their lives. Children who are still young enough to be so easily influenced should not be allowed to participate in pageants created to primarily judge them on their outer-self rather than their inner-self.

While there are a number of detrimental short-term effects of beauty pageants there are also a number of proven long-term ones that carry over into adulthood, affecting the course of one's life altogether. In a study done by Anna Wonderlich, it was discovered that there was, "A significant association between childhood beauty pageant participation and increased body dissatisfaction, difficulty trusting interpersonal relationships, and greater impulsive behaviors, and indicate a trend toward increase feelings of ineffectiveness" (296). Many of the former child beauty pageant winners were still concerned with a thin ideal that they had been subjected to as kids and had strived to achieve and maintain. It is also clear that these ideas carry over into adult pageants when, in a recent study, it was discovered that Miss America contestants, and especially the winners, have become "increasingly thinner over the past 75 years" (Croll 157). When winners on such grand scales become apparently thinner, the children who watch these pageants take notice and start to believe that, if they too want to win a pageant such as Miss America someday, they also need to be thinner and the cycle repeats itself. As it is right now, many pageant winners have a body mass index on par with those who suffer from anorexia nervosa (Wonderlich 292). If pageants continue to operate in the way that they do many harmful health disorders will arise until people eventually risk their lives for a pageant.

Due to all of the negative aspects, it is absolutely necessary that changes be made regarding the world of beauty pageants. Currently, every pageant is organized individually and rules are established at the time of the pageant by the organizer of the contest. As a result of this, rules vary from pageant to pageant and state to state. Due to no apparent laws in a few select states "it is presumed that there are no laws concerning beauty pageants" (Nussbaum 1). As child beauty pageant participants, many of them are too young to stand up for themselves or realize to a full extent the damaging consequences involved in pageantry. Therefore, there need to be laws protecting the rights and welfare of these children. They should not be subjected to events that clearly, and have been proven to, affect their mental and physical health which can, in turn, negatively affect the rest of their lives and the way in which they live and relate to other people.

Establishing similar state laws among the United States regarding child beauty pageants would make it easier to identify when wrongdoings in pageants were occurring, as there would no longer be individual rules to supervise for every pageant. It is clear that many parents do force their children to participate in pageants when they do not want to and are too young to go against their parents wishes and voice their opinions. Many children are being forced to spend too much of their time focusing on pageant preparations rather than schoolwork. It is most definite that children are too young to be forced into an adult world. Children are easily susceptible to the negative effects that pageants can have and are at an age where much of what they are told, hear, or see has an impact on them. In order to preserve the welfare of children and their feelings of self-worth and self-esteem, familial relationships, mental and physical health, and their future success in life there, must be laws protecting them. Laws should require that no child under the age of sixteen should be allowed to participate in beauty pageants. By the time that a person is sixteen they have usually established their identity and are not as impressionable in regards to the environment they that are in. A child who is sixteen is able to speak up when they feel uncomfortable doing something in a pageant, whereas a child who is five is not as likely to. A child any younger than sixteen is experiencing the turmoil of adolescence and is still trying to decide who they are and what they want to do with their life and is apt to take criticism to heart which can result in them turning to a damaging lifestyle.

The idea of child pageants are not completely void of any positive qualities. While a minimum age requirement of sixteen should be required for beauty pageants, there is still room for younger children to partake in other pageants. Pageants for younger children should be created that focus on talent, intelligence, poise, and confidence. These qualities can be focused on without looking at a child's exterior and can encourage children to develop their personality and inner qualities. Rather than focusing primarily on the idea of competition, every child should be awarded a prize for trying to better themselves. While there can be positive aspects of pageants, it is dire that laws be established creating an age requirement for child beauty pageants, otherwise the physical and mental health of pageant participants, young and old, will continue to worsen.

Works Cited:

Croll, Jillian. "Body Image and Adolescents." Guidelines for Adolescent Nutrition Services. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Leadership, Education and Training in Maternal and Child Nutrition, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota; 2005. 155-166. http://www.epi.umn.edu/let/pubs/adol_book.htm.

Herbozo, Sylvia. "Beauty and Thinness Messages in Children's Media: A Content Analysis." Eating Disorders 12.1 (2004): 21-34.

Nussbaum, Kareen. "Children and Beauty Pageants." A Minor Consideration. Dec. 2000. http://www.minorcon.org/pageants.html.

Wonderlich, Anna. "Childhood Beauty Pageant Contestants: Associations with Adult Disordered Eating and Mental Health." Eating Disorders 13.3 (2005): 291-301.