There is nothing wrong with little girls wearing cute pink dresses and walking down a stage to perform a few adorable stunts or tricks. However, there is everything wrong when these actions could potentially lead to long term damages in young girls. And therein lies the problem with child beauty pageants. They have the potential to create long term issues for the many of the female children who are asked to participate in them. This is the stance that “Toddlers and Tiaras” takes regarding the issue of child beauty pageants; the author of the article, Skip Hollandsworth, asserts that “many psychologists believe that developmental and emotional problems can stem from pressure and value system that pageants embody” (493). Hollandsworth in his
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According to Hollandsworth, former contestants of child pageants are more at risk for “body dissatisfaction” than those who didn’t compete in them (493). Critics for child beauty pageants like to pretend that these gatherings help build self-esteem in the girls who enter them; however, the data proves otherwise. Girls in these pageants are made to put great care in their outward appearance. They are stressed that victory can only be assured to the girl with the best hair, face, and figure. The girls faced with the constant need to be the best looking, will eventually take its toll on them. They will begin to associate that their worth as a person only matters in terms of how flawless they are. They are constantly being judged and led to believe that being the absolute best is the only worthwhile endeavor. However, problems arise in the girls when they fail to meet them, for the girls have a view of themselves that is twisted. They will come to view any flaws in themselves as making them less than a person, just for simple imperfections such as having birthmark or being a little taller than other girls. Consequently, the desire to be the best becomes even more apparent when the girls leave the stage. Hollandsworth’s article also recounts about the experiences of a former beauty pageant, Brooke Breedwell, who …show more content…
They have little benefits and create more harm than good. These child pageants, however, are ultimately a reflection of our own broken society. They represent everything that is wrong with our current society. It is a society that believes we have achieved gender equality when we still have activities that suggests otherwise. A society that claims to cherish children but has no qualms with others using them for less than benevolent purposes. The same society that doesn’t see anything disturbing about people performing competitions that will later eat way at their inner psyche. The only way to truly fix pageants or to end them is for us to change as a whole. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with little girls dressing up in cute pink dresses to go on stage to do a performance, but we as a society have made it
According to Hollandsworth, former contestants of child pageants are more at risk for “body dissatisfaction” than those who didn’t compete in them (493). Critics for child beauty pageants like to pretend that these gatherings help build self-esteem in the girls who enter them; however, the data proves otherwise. Girls in these pageants are made to put great care in their outward appearance. They are stressed that victory can only be assured to the girl with the best hair, face, and figure. The girls faced with the constant need to be the best looking, will eventually take its toll on them. They will begin to associate that their worth as a person only matters in terms of how flawless they are. They are constantly being judged and led to believe that being the absolute best is the only worthwhile endeavor. However, problems arise in the girls when they fail to meet them, for the girls have a view of themselves that is twisted. They will come to view any flaws in themselves as making them less than a person, just for simple imperfections such as having birthmark or being a little taller than other girls. Consequently, the desire to be the best becomes even more apparent when the girls leave the stage. Hollandsworth’s article also recounts about the experiences of a former beauty pageant, Brooke Breedwell, who …show more content…
They have little benefits and create more harm than good. These child pageants, however, are ultimately a reflection of our own broken society. They represent everything that is wrong with our current society. It is a society that believes we have achieved gender equality when we still have activities that suggests otherwise. A society that claims to cherish children but has no qualms with others using them for less than benevolent purposes. The same society that doesn’t see anything disturbing about people performing competitions that will later eat way at their inner psyche. The only way to truly fix pageants or to end them is for us to change as a whole. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with little girls dressing up in cute pink dresses to go on stage to do a performance, but we as a society have made it