Beauty Pageants Critical Analysis

Did beauty pageants go a bit too far? According to Oxford, beauty pageants are public entertainment contests of a procession of people in elaborate, colorful costumes, or an outdoor performance of a historical scene; however, child beauty pageants according to Wikipedia child beauty pageants are beauty contests that feature contestants up to 18 years of age; however, Competition categories may include interviews, talents, swim wear, casual wear, western wear, theme wear, etc.

Contingent on the type of pageant system competitors may be seen with elaborate hairstyles, or wearing makeup as well as and custom designed, fitted outfits to fit their act on stage. There are a lot cons and pros to participating in beauty pageants. The most effected by such pageants are children, who are mostly hopeless and do not have a say in such things. In this essay I will be discussing how child beauty pageants are harmful to members psychological healthiness, developing superficial values that would distract from family relations and mess-up the natural progression of infantile or childhood, and promote a degrading prospect of women.

The negative outcome of these pageants on the health of our children is becoming very scary and concerning. To begun with, beauty Pageants tend to cause psychological issues that may appear as sicknesses later on in their life, and members grow up in a mood where they absorb fake, damaged values. Such Pageants, effect children, especially girls in a very harmful way leading to anxiety, Paranoia, low self esteem, feelings of inferiority , bulimia, depression ,anorexia ,etc. Nevertheless, these are just the early effects of competition on young girls.

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The worst part is that those little innocent girls or boys are stuck in between two horrible extremes, which are the two feelings of wining, or losing. Experiencing such feelings at a young age is definitely unhealthy for children. “This study evaluated the association between childhood beauty pageants and adult disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, depression, and self-esteem. Eleven women who participated in childhood beauty pageants were matched on age and BMI with 11 non-participating women.

Childhood pageant participants scored higher on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation than non-participants, and showed a trend toward greater ineffectiveness. There were no significant differences between groups on measures of bulimia, body perception, depression, and self-esteem. These findings suggest childhood beauty pageant participation may influence adult body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation, but not bulimic behaviors, body perception, depression, and self-esteem” (Gold, Eating Disorders).

Secondly, childhood is a precious moment of a person’s life that should be churched and lived to its fullest; nonetheless, these beauty pageants cause Little girls to start developing superficial values such as the importunacy of looks over everything, conformity to the sick society, growing radical measures looks and wanting to be perfect, and lastly trying to fit the ideal. All those superficial values lead to producing, superficial women that will raise a generation under poisoned values.

Beauty pageants teach little girls that in order to succeed in life it is acceptable to be two-faced and shallow. Conversely, media also helps in convincing little girls to be dependent on others' opinions and decisions for themselves, which is considered a big negative vibe. “Author's abstract: Child beauty pageants are a phenomenon in rural communities throughout Georgia. My belief is that most of those who compete in these pageants are from the lower socio-economic bracket, participating for a multitude of reasons.

A bricolage of post-structural feminism, critical ethnography, critical hermeneutics and cultural studies lenses will analyze how the performances of participants and the power exercised by the beauty pageant culture work to formulate girls' identities. Analysis will also include how power operates to perpetuate this subculture and its right to dictate norms for beauty and acceptance and will be situated in the culture of girlhood. Examination of what is depicted in popular culture through videos, documentaries, and television shows will also occur.

I suggest that the rural beauty pageant culture does work to create girlhood identity and a way in which the participants view the world and themselves. In fact, I believe that the rural beauty pageant culture does intricate cultural work in terms of gender and class” (Thompson, Reynolds, Trailer park royalty). Superficial values can distract from many important things such as family life, which is a very important component in the raising of each child. Messing up the natural progression of childhood can have unpleasant consequences that can lead to bigger issues.

Lastly, Children are innocent creatures that should live their childhood without the interference of media, and sick minded people. The sexualisation and Materialization of these young girls is highly wrong, and also leads to degrading the female gender, and lastly places them in danger of being sexually harassed. Taking advantage of such innocent creatures is highly immoral, and should be punished for. Beauty pageants opened the doors for sexual harassers, by allowing little girls to do sexual routines or to wear sexual outfits.

The issue of sexualizing children is a dominant issue that seams to be pushed and encouraged by the media: “stealing away a child's innocence by portraying her in the suggestive pose of a sexualized nymphet ... when her sense of self-worth is defined largely through a notion of beauty that is ... such relations is that the identities of the young girls who enter the pageants become meaningful” (Giroux, Stealing innocence). Media and beauty pageants Degrades the image of both women and girls around the world, therefor each and every one of us should act against such things that put us, and the next generations in danger .

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