Child pageants or child exploitation (Essay Sample)

Child pageants or child exploitation
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There are numerous beauty pageants for children as young as six months old. Mothers subject their young children to long days of make-up, hairspray, and judgement based on their looks, poise, perfection and confidence. Parents carry the greatest blame for subjecting their children to wearing inappropriate costumes, attracting negative attention and the emotionally draining competitive environment. Pageants further the ideology that beauty is only based on physical qualities. They fail to illuminate the fact that the true source of beauty is one’s heart and soul. Beauty pageants are exploitative in the sense that they advance materialistic attitudes in children, sexualize children, destroy their self-esteem and further the idea that beauty is only affirmed by winning in the pageants.
Children beauty pageants gained substantial popularity in the 1960’s. Little girls show themselves off dressed in sportswear and evening gowns. They also display their talents through activities such as singing and dancing. Preparation for participation in the pageants consumes unprecedented amounts of money. Parents often invest large sums of money that is hardly recouped back. They pay entry fees, and there are other costs associated with beauty maintenance. It consists of fees for professional hair and beauty experts, hair extensions, expensive gowns, and bikini bathing suits. Other costs include coaching fees, travel and accommodation to pageant venues and these expenses sometimes plunge some families into debt (Lieberman, 2010).
Some parents assert that beauty pageants provide an avenue where their children develop confidence that is helpful in their future. They purport that participation helps children to develop public speaking skills, and shape their personality making them socially acceptable. They also cite that pageants present opportunities to meet new people and make lifelong friends. Parents believe that pageants introduce children to the real world of competition that prepares them for higher education and jobs. They cite that children develop useful communication skills and a competitive spirit that proves beneficial in their adult life (Inbar, 2009). The pageants have numerous negative impacts on young girls. There is a need for reforms that address the risks that children participants face.
The competitions subject children to high levels of pressure to emerge winners resulting in elevated stress levels. Children also experience physically draining activities in the preparations. Strenuous exercises and diets subject children to unnecessary weight loss. Parents sometimes resort to hiring professional coaches to tutor their children on the expected way to walk, speak, and general etiquette. It sometimes involves vigorous rehearsals where children memorize answers to interview questions. It deprives children of the opportunity to exercise critical thinking because they rehearse answers to questions. The children also experience a loss of opportunity to explore their personal dreams as their parents force them to pursue pageantry (Wolfe, 2012).
Negative impacts of child beauty pageants engulf young women across their lifespan. Former child pageant participants indicate that participation has destructive effects. Upon reaching adulthood, many cite suffering anxiety and stress due to the pressure of meeting unrealistic standards of perfection. Participants have a strong drive to win and mothers have insatiable desires to see their children win. It often results in a detrimental impact on children’s psychosocial health. Child beauty pageants interfere with normal child development. Former child pageant contestants struggle with lifelong challenges such as depression, eating disorders and perfectionism. There are countless accounts of women that suffer from anorexia nervosa owing to exposure to pressures to conform to certain weight requirements to remain competitive (Lieberman, 2010).
Parents often use various techniques to mask their children’s imperfections. They adorn them with wigs, fake eyelashes, and makeup and in some instances fake teeth. Other parents spray their children with dihydroxyacetone to exude a tan on their skin appearance. These efforts result in the sexualisation of young children. Sexualisation is enhanced through wearing revealing costumes and provocative dancing. The girls often copy sexy dancers viewed on television and movies (Isaacs, 2011). Children are coached to remove pieces of their costumes while dancing and engage in provocative gestures such as winking at judges. It sexualizes children at tender ages inclining them to become flirtatious and exploit their sexuality to gain favours. Exposing children to such lifestyles is highly exploitative as it robs them of their innocence and childhood (Inbar, 2009).
Glamourised dancing in provocative costumes predisposes girls to violence in the future as women and also demeans their femininity. The premature sexualisation also stages young girls as targets for paedophiles. An example is the horrific story of a six year old named JonBenet Ramsey. She was a beauty queen in 1996 when her murderer strangled and sexually assaulted her in her family home. Following her death, television networks aired tapes showing how she played the role of a sexual child. Commentators referred to the content as child pornography. Her death exposed how children participants in pageants are construed as sexual beings. There are numerous calls advocating against dressing children up as glamorous adults and increasing their vulnerability to paedophiles (Isaacs, 2011). Thailand, for instance, took a stand that removed the swimsuit category in child pageants. It was believed that such contests stir sexual fantasies in the audience, and it may also result in temptations to have sex with child prostitutes (Tamer, 2011).
Many children become victims of their mother’s lost dreams. Mothers who don’t feel sexy enough turn their children into obsessions through which to achieve their lost ambitions. They push their children to pageants because of their low self-esteem and as a way to compensate for their perceived lack of attention from others. Pageants twist children to think that appearance is the most important thing about a person. They also encourage girls to conform to prescribed standards of beauty rather than celebrating their individuality. It also subjects children to undue pressure to win prizes and the thought of disappointing their parents makes them feel inadequate. Pageants predispose girls to vulnerability for low self-esteem. Participating in the pageant often causes children to believe that the love and approval of their parents is dependent on their beauty and consistent success in pageants (Wolfe, 2012).
Pageants plunge children in situations where their confidence depends on being more beautiful than others. They diminish contestant’s confidence when they are unable to measure up to certain beauty expectations. The truth remains that there is always going to be more beautiful girls than others. An absolute definition of beauty is non-existent, rendering the logic behind judges’ definition of beauty as highly flawed. The beauty industry promotes unrealistic expectations on children and engages children in chasing after the wind. It frustrates children because many are often unable to attain the unrealistic pinnacle of beauty. It twists their thinking towards thinking that without measuring up to the expectations, they are not beautiful. They constantly compare themselves with other girls and are taught that material items are essential to reaching the pinnacle of beauty. It is disheartening that parents and their children fall prey to predatory pageantry that robs children of their sense of worth just because they do not look as good as their competitors. It is a highly flawed and narrow perspective to life that children must be guarded against (Tamer, 2011).
Beauty pageants are responsible for advancing materialistic attitudes in children. They dictate that children must look a certain way to get a crown, and some parents encourage extremes such as whitening four year old’s teeth to acquire the right look and win the crown. Children learn that judges look for participants that look a certain way. It instills materialistic attitudes about life setting them up to believe that they can purchase self-worthiness through beauty. Girls participating in the pageants watch their mothers purchase expensive gowns, pay high pageant entry fees, and other associated expenses for the purpose of securing a crown for their child. Their children grow up in the knowledge that women must continuously adorn expensive products and clothing to be valuable. This is a materialistic attitude that follows children into their adulthood (Wolfe, 2012).
Materialistic attitudes stem from the judges’ opinion of the children as a complete package. It causes children to lack an understanding that appearance is not all that matters. Materialism corrupts their young minds because they learn to value material things rather than virtues such as respect and compassion towards others. The competitive environment tames their thinking towards value for physical beauty and a narrow belief that success is dependent on being beautiful. It is unfortunate when children feel unattractive and worry about their looks. Adults must encourage children to appreciate their appearance and capitalize on their inner beauty. Materialism fails to espouse values such as having a good personality is better than being beautiful (Wonderlich, Ackard, & Henderson, 2005).
All the products cause children to think that their natural beauty does not count. They are bombarded by the need to constantly ...