Child Beauty Pageants: Mental Poison for Children
Heavy makeup, long curly hair, high-heeled shoes, dangling earrings, bikini top, and sexiness. What I was describing is not a film actress or a woman model, but rather an 8-year-old child beauty pageant contestant. Normally, none of these words should be associated with a child; however, multiple girls as I describe can be seen on child beauty pageants like Toddlers & Tiaras, Little Miss Perfect, and Painted Babies. Originating from the U.S., child beauty pageant becomes a world-wide drawing card recently. Proponents of beauty pageant claim it builds confidence in children. What they minimize is the destructive effects that beauty pageants would have on children, negative mental effects that poison children’s mind.
Child beauty pageants make children put more attention on external than internal value. In most aspects, beauty pageants stress looks, glamour, and provocative attire; they place more importance on the physical appearance instead …show more content…
According to a study conducted by Anna Wonderlich, it has been determined that there exists "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". Beauty pageants’ existence indicates that many people idolize tall, thin, and beautiful women. It virtually delivers a message that in order to have successful lives, girls need have absolute perfect appearance. Therefore, pageants girls measure their self-worth by their looks, on and off the stage; if they don’t win the competition or stay as pretty when they grow up, they would have body dissatisfaction problem and view it as a sign of personal worthlessness, accompanying feelings of
Heavy makeup, long curly hair, high-heeled shoes, dangling earrings, bikini top, and sexiness. What I was describing is not a film actress or a woman model, but rather an 8-year-old child beauty pageant contestant. Normally, none of these words should be associated with a child; however, multiple girls as I describe can be seen on child beauty pageants like Toddlers & Tiaras, Little Miss Perfect, and Painted Babies. Originating from the U.S., child beauty pageant becomes a world-wide drawing card recently. Proponents of beauty pageant claim it builds confidence in children. What they minimize is the destructive effects that beauty pageants would have on children, negative mental effects that poison children’s mind.
Child beauty pageants make children put more attention on external than internal value. In most aspects, beauty pageants stress looks, glamour, and provocative attire; they place more importance on the physical appearance instead …show more content…
According to a study conducted by Anna Wonderlich, it has been determined that there exists "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". Beauty pageants’ existence indicates that many people idolize tall, thin, and beautiful women. It virtually delivers a message that in order to have successful lives, girls need have absolute perfect appearance. Therefore, pageants girls measure their self-worth by their looks, on and off the stage; if they don’t win the competition or stay as pretty when they grow up, they would have body dissatisfaction problem and view it as a sign of personal worthlessness, accompanying feelings of