Child Beauty Pageants

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.