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Brittany Butler, Jessi Crawford

Mrs. Huff

English 11

May 22, 2009

Do beauty pageants have a purpose?

Strutting her stuff out onto the stage in front of millions of people and flashing

cameras, she flips her long, wavy hair, and twists her not too wide hips. As soon as

she hits the spot light the crowd goes wild while she stands there in her string bikini

and high heels preaching about how her home town should build a wild life

reservation refuge camp. Beauty pageants are based majorly on beauty and money,

and, as a result, sends a bad message to young girls and teenage women.

To compete seriously in beauty pageants you have to have the money:

According to the 2006 progressive U.org blog post from peppermintfrost, these women

work out so much so they can look good in their swim suits, but a person with little

money doesn’t have the ability to train as well. Most of the contestants have personal

trainers, which are very expensive (Peppermintfrost). It’s not fair to the girls that aren’t as

wealthy. Our society claims that money isn’t everything but in reality it really is.

Tamar Alexia Fleishman is an attorney; writer, former pageant winner and

pageant judge based in Baltimore, posted a note and her advice on Bankrate.com in 2002

and wrote what she thought about the cost of winning a beauty pageant, she says that the

pursuit of a title and a tiara has grown into a $5 billion-a-year industry, according to the

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Pageant News Bureau. An estimated 3,000 pageants draw 250,000 entrants a year, and

parents spend thousands of dollars on pageants. Some want their children to gain extra

poise; others hope that their children will become the next supermodel or a movie star

(Fleishman). Why should you spend thousands of dollars on pageants? When the beauty

comes from within it shouldn’t matter what gown you wear or how you look in a bathing

suit.

Kareen Nussbaum writes in the A Minor Consideration that in Universal Royalty

pageant that there was a minimum cost of $545 to enter the pageant, which covers basic

entry fees. Another $395 is needed for the maximum options of this pageant. The average

cost of the pageant is about $655 which includes the formal wear, sports wear and dance.

The average cost does not include travel, hotel and food, which can be up to an extra two

hundred dollars. According to several stage mothers participating in Universal Royalty,

dresses for sports and formal wear can cost up to $12,000 with a minimum of $1500

(Nussbaum). I don’t think entering a pageant should even cost anything, why do you have

to pay so much and then only one girl wins. I don’t think its right. Seeing as how our

society is today we need all the money we can get.

Beauty pageants are also based majorly on beauty, which can send a disturbing

message. One commenter to a 2006 blog post on ProgressiveU.org suggests beauty

pageants demean women: “a lot of people like to see women prounce around in bikinis

and formal dresses spouting off their desires for ‘world peace’” (Nooknak355). I agree:

having women running around half naked, trying to sound intelligent about issues that

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matter is degrading. Why must women be judged namely by their beauty? Having women

parade around naked is disgraceful.

Beauty pageants also send the message that women should be skinny. Which

could lead to anorexia, bulimia, and also, possibly killing themselves. A commenter on

Progressive U said: “These pageants are such jokes. It doesn't take much skill to do

something like that. It is sad that that is what society has come to. And we wonder whey

so many girls are anorexic and sick and killing themselves. Once again it is this mold and

people feel the need to conform to (Gyal, Trini).” I agree with her statement. It is a shame

that these beauty pageants send the message to young females that being skinny is the

way to live and if you’re not skinny then you’re not going to make it in the real world.

This can cause eating disorders and suicides in young women and is probably the reason

why to the past problems.

Lined up on center stage with twenty five other competitors, she stands there

trembling and smiling all at the same time. Is she going to win? And, if she does, why?

What did she do to deserve it? The bigger girl down at the end with the less fortunate

family was way more impressive and seemed more into the world peace than her own

looks. But the thinner, more beautiful girl’s name is called for first place winner. This

happens all the time, all over the world. Girls who deserve it are getting put down

because they weigh too much or their hair is not as long or pretty or they don’t have as

much money as the rest of the girls in the competition. This sends a bad message to the

teens watching the pageants ever year. Maybe I should lose weight and dress completely

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inappropriate to get noticed. Do you want your kid getting obsessive over her weight and

developing an eating disorder?

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Works Cited

Fleishman, Tamar A. "The cost of winning a beauty pageant." Compare Mortgage Rates |

CD Rates | Credit Cards Home Equity Loans Mortgages Best

Rate Calculator Bankrate.com. 8 Aug. 2002. Bankrate, Inc. 21 May 2009

<http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20020808a.asp>.

Gyal, Trini. "Beauty Pageants: Degrading or Great Opportunities? | Progressive U."

Progressive U. 23 Apr. 2006. 21 May 2009

<http://www.progressiveu.org/074949-beauty-pageants-degrading-or-great-

opportunities>.

Peppermintfrost. "Beauty Pageants: Degrading or Great Opportunities? | Progressive U."

Progressive U. 22 Apr. 2006. 21 May 2009

<http://www.progressiveu.org/074949-beauty-pageants-degrading-or-great-

opportunities>.

Nooknak355. "Both. Degrades women." Weblog comment. ProgressiveU. 22 Apr. 2006.

19 May 2009 <http://www.progressiveu.org/074949-beauty-pageants-degrading-

or-great-opportunities>.

Nussbaum, Kareen. "Children and Beauty Pageants." A Minor Consideration Website. 21

May 2009 <http://www.minorcon.org/pageants.html>.

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