Why Should Child Beauty Pageants Be Banned

Child beauty pageants started around 1921 but only recently have it become a trend. However, in France legislators feel child pageants should be banned in the USA. Child beauty pageants encourage children to act as an adult in a sexual manner. The girls have to sacrifice childhood activities for beauty pageants. Many young girls value external beauty rather than internal beauty. Beauty pageants can take away the experience of growing up at the right age. Sexualizing girls in both photo shoots and TV shows is one part of the problem to why child beauty pageants should be banned. In 2011, The Learning Channel aired footage of a 3 year-old contestant in “Toddlers and Tiaras” dressed as the prostitute played by Julia Roberts in the 1990 film …show more content…
The American Psychological Association noted “girls who are sexualized early will tend to gather their self-worth as an adult based on their appearance,” says Cartwright. In 2005, an experimental group did an experiment which compared 11 women who were in beauty pageants and 11 women who were not. Studies showed women who competed in beauty pageants as a child were more dissatisfied with their bodies and had great impulse dysregulation and more trust issues than those who did not compete. This is because beauty pageants require the girls to have everything a certain way. The way the girls dress, look, and talk have to be done a certain way. Judges award the winner based on individuality, capability, poise, and confidence. When girls have a mindset of their appearance being a certain way it can lead to eating disorders, low self-esteem, and body distortion. Girls in beauty pageants are so focused on their appearance they see themselves as being fat or do not eat because they do not want to gain weight. Our culture curbs the ambition of young girls by making them believe physical appearance is the only way to have a successful