I wrote this for my English class as a research essay. I thought it had pretty good information and I wanted to share it with you all! These are my thoughts on Child Beauty Pageants supported by plenty of research. Feel free to comment thoughts and feedback. ENJOY!
Toddlers and Tiaras
By Kesia Timoteo
Watching a child get
her face caked with make up and glitter, strutting with a sassy, “sexualized”
attitude down a runway once a week for 1.4 million views is social suicide
(Hollandsworth 1). Toddlers and Tiaras is
a show previewing little girls in beauty pageants and their parents but what
makes the show so entertaining for those who watch it, is when the parents
freak out and watching the kids not really care. Personally, I have become very
bitter about child beauty pageants. Mary E. Doheny from Northwestern University
couldn’t have done better summing it up for me. She says, “The message these
little girls take away is that natural beauty isn’t enough – that their self-esteem
and sense of self-worth only comes from being the most attractive girl in the
room, not from being smart or resourceful or tough or creative.” At such a
young age, not only is it their hair, face, and dress being tampered with but
their self-esteem as well. Beauty pageants are pointless for youth in many
aspects. Some people do it for the crown and award, some do it for fun while it
gives them something to do, and others do it for the money but what is it that
we find so appealing and, to some, ‘approving’ about child beauty pageants?
After much research and a personal opinion, I answer with ‘It isn’t appealing
or, unlike some, approving’.
The beauty of woman and children has
always been admired as far back as history can take it. Beauty pageants for
women in America have been around since the 1920’s. One of the first modern
beauty contests was put on by Phineas T. Barnum, a great showmen for circuses in
America in the 1950’s, displaying photographs of women in a museum rather than
having them parade down a runway as they would now. Once the photos were
exhibited in the museum, the public would vote on the photograph they liked
best. The top ten winners of the contest would win a special oil painting of
their portrait. From that time period to now, beauty contests have become all
around beauty pageants, switching from only voting on the prettiest girl to
putting on a show. Dancing, singing, and acting in front of judges shows that
these contestants not only have the looks but they have the talent, attitude
and poise as well. They have become much more popular and up to date. Child
beauty pageants, however, came about in the 1960’s by the Atlantic City Hotel
owner at the time. He came up with the idea of having a children’s pageant to
keep tourists there longer. The infamous saying, “let’s call her ‘Miss
America’” came from a reporter who was journalizing this event (Nussgaum par 2).
After its big boom, child beauty pageants have grown tremendously.
The reality TV show Toddlers and Tiaras first aired in
January 2009 on TLC (The Learning Channel) and just finished its 6th season
this month, October 2013. It has caught the attention of many people but not on
very good terms. The American show just this past season had its first showing
in the UK, raising much controversy in the area and causing a petition to
cancel the show. Australia and New Zealand themselves have already forbidden
the showing of the reality show for its horrible reputation and inappropriate
messages that it portrays (Westbrook 2). What is it that makes the show so
unwanted? After looking at pages and pages of reviews on Toddlers and Tiaras found on TLC’s website, I didn’t find much
positive feedback. People complained about how it seemed like abuse for parents
to put their children in pageants, causing damage to the child. Many parents
(not necessarily pageant parents) had a lot to say how it was absolutely insane
how much money that these pageant parents would spend on one beauty
pageant let alone beauty pageants every weekend. One review commented:
“I
was flipping channels and this show caught my eye. I just watched a 2 -year old
cry and slap her mother because she was too tired, and the mother just laughed
and forced her [child’s way] on stage. Another girl said she didn't win because
"she wasn't as pretty [enough]". Another mother actually said proudly
that her daughter looked like a prostitute in feathers. I don't care what the
parents say about the "pageants building their [child’s] confidence and
they love it". This show and the parents on it are an absolute disgrace.
It's inexplicable that these parents can't see how this fails to be responsible
parenting. It’s 90% overweight mothers living THEIR dreams through their child,
who is going to grow up screwed up for being visually prostituted for a plastic
bejeweled crown. It’s pathetic and disgusting!” (TLC 1).
Many
may say it is the parents’ fault and it is completely respectable to see where
they come from. There are parents who put their children in pageants as young
as 6 months old, some even younger. Parents use the excuse “You get to be sociable
with all kinds of people”, “It boosts self-confidence and brings kids out of
their shell”, or “It’s fun to dress up and feel like a princess”. In my
opinion, there are plenty of things in life that can help you gain these
qualities without being put in a pageant. An anonymous writer from the article
‘Horrid beauty pageants strip away girls innocence’ said, “Little girls belong
in sand pits and playhouses. They do not belong in beauty pageants, dressed as
Las Vegas showgirls, wearing eyeliner, pancaked make up, spray-on tans and fake
teeth. Little girls should be playing with dolls, not being made to look like
them” (1). Little girls can play dress up and pretend to be princesses any day
of the week they’d wish and they will learn social skills as they go to school
and become more involved but these girls who are put in pageants by their
parents are growing up with the wrong idea in their minds. The parents think
it’s good for them but really it could just be destroying them. The big
questions pageant parents should be asking themselves is “who am I doing this
for?” and “How does this affect them in what ways?”
Pageants are definitely not cheap.
Pageant entries vary from $40 - $250 depending on the systematic pageant level
you enter in; local, state, regional, or national (Bradford 2). In Michelle
Healy’s article “Could child beauty pageants be banned in the USA?”, she
mentions quite often a woman by the name of Martina Cartwright, an assistant
professor at the University of Arizona. Cartwright
has done much research on beauty pageants leading her to a successful
publication in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry. According to Cartwright’s research, one competition for a child
adds up to $3,000 - $5,000, including the entry fee and things such as dresses,
costumes for performances, getting hair and make-up done, spray tans, photo
headshots and whatever else it is that could possibly make the child more
‘glitz’ for her pageant (Healy 2). The competition is always high and parents
aren’t afraid to spend money when they believe their child is a winner. Prizes
are quite beneficial for winners; cash, cars, TVs, toys, scholarships, savings
bonds, vacation trips, etc (Larsen 1). Often the money that is won from
competitions is used to pay off what they had spent on the competition. Is it
really worth it to spend so much money on one pageant only to get a crown, a
trophy, and a little stack of money to help pay off what you spent getting
yourself in the pageant? I wouldn’t quite say so. Even with the winning of
cars, toys, TVs, and vacation spots, you still have to pay that pageant off
somehow. Imagine those families who do pageants every weekend. Their totals are
adding up quickly, I’m sure.
After reading much commentary on
beauty pageants, I often saw the words ‘child abuse’. To shrink it down to size,
tears and temper tantrums were common but you also had many parents denying
their children naps or breaks during pageant hours in fear that they might mess
up their hair or make-up. Parents allow their child stay up past midnight the
night before a pageant prepping and practicing their performances and routines.
In an episode of Toddler and Tiaras,
there was even a parent who gave their child an energy drink mixed with juice and
Pixy Stix candy before her daughter went on stage hoping that it would wake her
up and give her a boost of energy for her performance. Critics would say
‘parents will raise their child the way they want to raise them’. Some would
think that this is child abuse but I say it is just bad parenting. Not only is
it extremely unhealthy for the child but also it is bad habit for someone so
young. This shows that some parents don’t settle for less than perfect,
especially when the competition is high. These actions are showing how much
beauty pageants are important to the parents but truly, they aren’t as
important as a child’s health and being sure that they are getting rest.
Parents portray that pageantry, winning the crown, and physical attractiveness
are more important than other qualities to a human being. Withholding the
necessities of life should be considered child abuse but to reviewers and
pageant authorities, it is just another way a parent brings up their child
which is why TV programs don’t mind airing it on television. Sociologist Hilary
Levey Friedman, a research associate at the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social
Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School prompts “historically and legally, our
system defers to parents to make the right decision for their child even if we
might disagree with it” (Healy 1).
Many of those with an opposing opinion
towards child beauty pageants would often say that pageants sexualize children
years before maturity causing them to gather self-worth based on their
appearance (Healy 2). The anonymous author of the article “Horrid beauty
pageants strip away girls’ innocence” concludes his writing by saying, “In a
world in which childhood is being stripped away at [such] a young age, children
should be learning the importance of being comfortable with who they are on the
inside, not worrying whether they meet someone else’s ideal of how they should
look” (2). Child beauty pageants violate children and exploit them in so many
ways. They are being rushed into adulthood and learning how to get by in life
by flashing their smile and putting on an act.
In concluding with my exploration of
child beauty pageants, I would like to close with a simple quote Peter Larsen
mentions in his article, “I think one of the last things we need to teach a
child is to get through life on a smile on stage. Because one of the things
that happens is that a child learns to try to get by on her smile and not her
mind” (4). I got by in life without a crown, a trophy and a judge telling me I
was prettier than the girl next to me. I wasn’t rushed to grow up. I was a kid.
I played dress up on my own time and felt like a princess when I played
pretend. I learned how to be social as I grew up and joined programs like the
Girl Scouts, Dance Companies and associations that would get me involved at
school. I gained confidence by making mistakes. I don’t need make up, big hair,
or a fancy smile to get me by in life because I was taught at a young age that
with knowledge, the least amount of make up and imperfection, you are the
prettiest girl in the room.
