Child Beauty Pageants Are Not Beautiful

Child

Beauty

Pageants A

re N

ot B

eautiful

By

Tessa R

ife

Imagine that in the future, each of you have a daughter. Would you want her to look like this?

Video clip #1 Introduction to the “pageant world”

History of Pageants

Adult beauty pageants began during the 1920s in order to give hotels more business.

Later, in the 1960s, child beauty pageants came about.

About forty years Participants compete in modeling

sports wear and evening wear, performing a talent, and speaking publically.

How are the Girls Judged?

Judged based on appearance, poise, perfection, and confidence.

“An ugly American subculture has been formed as a result of this emphasis on perfection” (Giroux).

Example of this subculture

Video clip #2 Notice the satirical nature of this clip

Child beauty pageants negatively

effect the lives of

young girls involved.

1. ) Loss of self esteem

2.) Waste of m

oney3.) Teaches skewed

values4.) Creates unrealistic ideas for their futures

Fake nails!!

1.) Loss of Self Esteem

Pageant industry abolishes respect for natural beauty, and replaces it with fake

tans and false lashes. Being surrounded by a culture obsessed

with perfection makes girls insecure.

Not taking home a tiara m

akes the girls feel that they are not pretty enough,

talented enough to satisfy the society that “bred” them

.

2.) W

aste of M

oney

Pageants are extremely expensive

Entry fees at least $500

Travel costs upwards of $200

Outfits $700

Total = $1,400

Money that could be spent to “establish a

[savings plan] to help…alleviate the cost of a

college education” (Giroux).

3.) Pageants Teach Skewed

Values

Com

petitiveness / Cattiness

Teaches the belief that beating every other person = success

Greed

Strive to attain the large amount

of prize money

Sexuality

The industry sexualizes young girls at m

uch too early an age Em

phasizes sexuality while

onstage to impress the

judges

4.) Pageants Create False

Hopes for G

irls’ Futures

Within the w

orld of pageantry girls can be successful due to

their appearanceG

irls believe that this is transferrable later in life

Some aspire to be

models or

actresses G

et by on looks M

ore often than not, this does not happen.

Less than 1% of

Am

ericans are runw

ay models

Chances are slim

If Abby did child pageants…

…she would grow to be insecure.

If Maggie did child pageants…

…she would have less money later in life.

If Alexx did child pageants……she would become overly competitive in the future.

If Rachel did child pageants…

…she may end up jobless.

Therefore, participation in child beauty pageants truly

does corrupt the lives of young girls by low

ering their self confidence, w

asting their money,

teaching them skew

ed values, and creating

unrealistic goals for their futures.