Beauty Pageants A Blatant Objectification Of Children

Beauty pageants are essentially a form of child abuse. Forcing children to continue to participate in pageants even though it is evident that they are not enjoying it for the sake of gratification for the parents or financial gain is ethically immoral and a form of abuse. Some parents believe that they are providing healthy competition for their children and that since it is not physically harming them, then it is not a form of abuse. However, when parents coax children to do something the parents want or offer treats for acting good while at the pageant, these parents are only providing a temporary form of happiness because they know their children do not want to participate. Due to the multiple events scheduled in one day during a pageant, …show more content…
The pageant world is extremely competitive and children who participate learn numerous negative values. By the time children retire from the pageant world, they will most likely be suffering from a variety of psychological issues. Young girls are dressed in a manner that reveals their preadolescent bodies and attracts unwanted attention. Children in beauty pageants are being taught that perfection and flawless beauty is the key to winning. Parents are unable to care for their children properly when they are absorbed in the competition, therefore neglecting their needs and resulting in a form of child abuse. These young children are overwhelmed with feelings of stress and anxiety, feelings that children at their ages should not even be able to comprehend yet. They are expected to perform perfectly on stage and made to practice until every move is robotic and flawless. This places a great amount of pressure on these children. Ideas of a slim body and flawless skin are instilled into the minds of these little girls. They are taught that without these attributes they are not pretty and will not achieve anything. Instead of preserving their childhood, these children are forced to enter adulthood much too early. Their childhood is destroyed, and they are made to look and act like grown women which causes confusion on the boundaries of acting like an adult outside of the pageant world. The parents are aiming to take home the greatest prize and stop at no cost to get it. They force their children to be someone else for the satisfaction of a crown and the ability to live vicariously through them for financial gain and fame. Overall, child beauty pageants are more hurtful than they are beneficial. These young girls grow up thinking they are perceived only by how they look, not who they are as human