Children Beauty Pageant: Pain Is Not
Beauty
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Kelsey Locher
English 101: 16
Argumentative Essay: Children Beauty Pageants
Professor Stephen Whitworth
April 1, 2013
Children Beauty Pageant: Pain Is Not Beauty
Child beauty pageants started in the 1960’s, and have been increasingly more popular in
the past decade. Currently, there are over two hundred-fifty thousand children under the age of
fourteen competing in beauty pageants (Triggs et al 2012). There are no age limits in place; age
groups range from zero months to eight months all the way up until eighteen years of age.
Parents who enter their children in pageants can damage their children for the rest of their lives.
However, pageants do help the beauty industry, and essentially create jobs.
Children should not be allowed to participate in beauty pageants at such a young age.
Preparing children for beauty pageants is physically harmful. Beauty pageants are also
psychologically harmful to children. Children raised in beauty pageants lead them to believe that
life is superficial. Competing in pageants can potentially lead to three major mental health
problems— eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression.
Preparing for beauty pageants is physically harmful to children. An avid blogger on child
beauty pageants, Miranda Barzey, pointed out that beauty pageants are similar to competing and
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preparing for sports or academic events. If one’s child scores low in an area such as talent, but
high in beauty, that is an easy fix: you just have to work on that area (2010). Increasing scores
can be an easy fix; perhaps what is needed is a little extra time working or maybe buying new
outfits for the routine at hand. Barzey agrees with the fact that judges do base their scores off of
appearance (2010). In children beauty pageants judges also base their scores off of their
appearance, personality, and modeling techniques. Therefore training your child is no different
from training for a sport, where they say that practice makes perfect.
Physical harm is defined as any physical injury or impairment of the human body (Wolfe
2012). Many parents have physically harmed their children while preparing for beauty pageants.
Lindsay Lieberman, Brooklyn Law School student, says:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the
chemical, DHA, used in spray tan products; however the FDA
commonly alters its findings after further research is developed.
The FDA recommends avoiding contact between the DHA and
the mucous membranes… (2010).
Printed clearly on the bottle with the recommendation parents, coaches, and beauty professionals
continue to use tanning spray on infants and children with the hopes that they will keep their
mouths and eyes closed. On the hit series television show Toddlers & Tiaras a ten year old,
Aubrey Burgess, is shown preparing for her beauty pageant. During this clip, Aubrey first
endures the pain of getting her eyebrows waxed, and received a small cut in the process.
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Aubrey’s mother, Tia, decides to continue with the spray tan regardless of the cut her daughter
received. During her process of getting tanned, Aubrey winces in pain, stating that it hurts worse
than a paper cut. The stylist and Tia turn to each other while laughing and say, “It hurts to be
beautiful” (Rogan 2009). Children getting spray tanned are more commonly found in the “Glitz”
pageants. Many other products that pageant moms use to “help” their child win the pageant, the
FDA warns, can cause serious eye injury, or even blindness. Beauty pageants can do more harm
than good.
Beauty pageants are also psychologically harmful to children; they can affect
relationships with parents, family, and friends. However, Rayanna DeMatteo is recorded
illustrating the life behind the stage for Skip Hollandsworth. Rayanna says she remembers how
they played games between intermissions and after shows, games such as hide-and-seek, and
going swimming after competition with other children participating in the pageants
(Hollandsworth 2011). Pageant moms report this a lot through blogs and interviews on news
stations. Rayanna’s statement shows that competitions between some children have little to no
effect on the interaction between competitors.
Even though this might be true that some children are not affected by competitions, there
are many sources that show how relationships between family members and friends are put on
the line. In an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras, two sisters are competing in the same age division
for the first time. Sibling rivalry is to be expected; not only does Karley keep telling Kylie
she’s going to beat her, but her mother also agrees that Kylie, the oldest, cannot beat Karley.
Kylie admits sadly that Karley is the cutest and she doesn’t know if she can beat her (Rogan
2010). This type of psychological abuse will affect Kylie for most of her life, causing her to
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think that she is not as good as her sister is, and will never be. Ted Cohen, editor of International
Directory of Pageants and pageant judge, has seen many parents ruin the event for their child by
hollering or hitting the child for not performing well (Gleick and Booth 1997). After enduring
both physical and psychological abuse, children feel as though they have done something wrong.
Some might feel as though they will never be perfect in their parents’ eyes.
Children who are raised in beauty pageants can be led to believe that everything in life is
superficial. Rhonda Shappert, an expert pageant coach, leads to believe otherwise. She is a firm
believer that beauty pageants can be a major self-confidence builder. That is unless you are
trying to fill in a hole in your life to tell yourself you’re good enough for someone else (Shappert
2011). Every contestant goes home with some sort of prize to let them know that they did a good
job. Many “natural beauty” contests forbid the use of spray tans, fake hair, and even excessive
make-up in order to let the children’s natural beauty come out.
Syd Brown, a child and adolescent psychologist, says, "What they are learning basically
is that they have one characteristic which is of total primary importance, and that is their body
and their attractiveness" (Schultz and Murphy 2011). Glitz pageant scores rely greatly on their
makeup, hair, dress, and overall appearance. Shappert continues to say, “If the only time a girl
or woman hears the words ‘you are beautiful’ … is when she's wearing makeup … the potential
for pageants having a negative impact on her self-image is great” (2011). This can devastate a
child’s perception of beauty throughout her life. This can lead to their believing that they must
wear makeup, dress nicely, or be fit in order to be beautiful in someone’s eyes.
Competing in pageants can potentially lead to three major mental health problems—
eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression. Wendy Dickey, pageant mom, says, “My
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daughter [Paisley] is much more confident and outgoing than other kids her age. She has a huge
personality…” (Triggs et. al., 2011). If a child has a high self-esteem and self-confidence, her
probability of becoming depressed or having an eating disorder decreases. Many mothers
believe that their child will only receive benefits from participating in beauty pageants.
Statistics show half of girls ages 8 to 10 as being unhappy with their size, 40 percent of
fourth graders admitting to previously being on a diet, and more than half of girls ages 9 to 15
having exercised to lose weight (Motley 2011). Not all pageant participants will have body
issues when they get older, but some will. For the girls who do develop image obsessions, it
appears that the environment of their youth produces a drive towards the unattainable goal of
physical perfection. They develop an unrealistic expectation to be thin, physically beautiful, and
perfect (Cartwright 2011). This can aide in developing disordered eating behaviors and body
dissatisfaction, and even depression. The beauty pageant industry, however, has given out prize
to all pageant contesters even if they lose; they receive a title of “princess.”
Children beauty pageants can take a toll on contestants. Some contestants might be
subject to physical and psychological harm, along with an altered view of what true beauty is
which can lead to health problems such as eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression.
Perhaps certain laws should be put into place to aid in prevention of the actions. The minimum
age in order to compete in beauty pageants should be set at age fourteen. By this age, most
students have completed middle school and have endured the bullying and abuse from other
students. This will allow them to handle losing better, or perhaps push them to be a better
competitor. Rules and regulations need to be set in order to protect children from unlawful
damages to themselves.
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References
Barzey, M. “Child Beauty Pageants: Right or Wrong?.” Online posting. (2010).
World Press: Building Atlantis. March 19, 2013 Retrieved from http://buildingatlantis.
wordpress.com/2010/10/13/child-beauty-pageants-right-or-wrong/
Cartwright, M. (2011, August 12). “Child Beauty Pageants: What Are We Teaching Our Girls?”
Psychology Today. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/food-thought/201108/childbeauty-pageants-what-are-we-teaching-our-girls
Gleick, E., & Booth, C. (1997). “Playing at pageants.” Time, 149(3), 48.
Hollandsworth, S. (2011). “Toddlers in Tiaras.” Good Housekeeping, 252(8), 150-194.
Lieberman, L. (2010). “Protecting Pageant Princesses: A Call For Statuary
Regulation Of Child Beauty Pageants.” Journal Of Law & Policy, 18(2), 739-774.
Motley News and Photos (2011). “Pageant mom gives Botox to 8-Year-Old… and defends her
actions.” Motley News. March 26, 2013. Retrieved from http://motleynews.net/
2011/05/12/pageant-mom-gives-botox-to-8-year-old-and-defends-her-actions/
Rogan, T. (Executive Producer). (2009). Chitlin’ Strut [Television series episode].
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TLC: Toddlers & Tiaras.
Rogan, T. (Executive Producer). (2010). Sugar Plum Pageant [Television series episode]. TLC:
Toddlers & Tiaras.
Schultz, K, and Murphy, A. (2011, February 26). “Beauty Pageants Draws
Children and Criticism.” ABC News: Good Morning America. Retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=126315&page=1#.UU8aDaPaL3B
Shappert, R. “Beauty Pageants –Effects Beauty Pageants Have on Self-Image and Self-Esteem.”
Online posting. (2011, March 9). Winning Through Pageantry. March 25, 2013.
Retrieved from http://www.thepageantexpert.com/post/Beauty-Pageants-e28093EffectsBeauty-Pageants-Have-on-Self-Image-and-Self-Esteem.aspx
Triggs, C., West, K., & Aradillas, E. (2011). “Toddlers & Tiaras: Too Much Too Soon?.”
People, 76(12), 160-168.
Wolfe, L. (2012). “Darling Divas or Damaged Daughters? The Dark Side of Child Beauty
Pageants and an Administrative Law Solution.” Tulane Law Review, 87(2), 427-455.