Atrocities of Child Beauty Pageants
CHAPTER III
DISCUSSION
There is no law regulating the management of child beauty pageants, according to the Attorney General of the Department of Justice in California. In this, the activity is exempted from the federal child labour laws and participants are not considered in labour although they do receive prizes and awards. The participants aren’t considered in labour despite receiving rewards for their performances. Since beauty pageants function individually, they set their own rules and differ in operation. There are those pageants which are sponsored but are very strict in requirements while there are those which let the participants spend for the costs. Since pageants are after all pure business, organizers’ main purpose is to earn and are unconcerned with the protection of the personal matters of children. (Nussbaum, 2000) Since there are no rules set, should child beauty pageants be vilified because of the issue that the activity causes harm to children when they are in fact not technically responsible for the said damage?
Exploitation of Children in Child Beauty Pageants Child beauty pageants may be viewed as an exemplary site for proving the ongoing issue of exploitation of children in the modern society. This is not to say that all child beauty pageants have the exploitation aspect and that exploitation is limited to beauty pageants only for there are other activities designed for children such as dance and sports, where parents push their children into the spotlight to gain acknowledgement and fame. Stage parents may equally be as intense into encouraging their children into such activity. Cartwright (2012) refers to the idea where adults push their children into activities that makes them obtain social or financial gains regardless of the risk as “Princess by Proxy distortion”. In a video documentary courtesy of the hit American reality series Toddlers and Tiaras, Ava, a 5-year old girl participating in a high-glitz pageant, was forced
DISCUSSION
There is no law regulating the management of child beauty pageants, according to the Attorney General of the Department of Justice in California. In this, the activity is exempted from the federal child labour laws and participants are not considered in labour although they do receive prizes and awards. The participants aren’t considered in labour despite receiving rewards for their performances. Since beauty pageants function individually, they set their own rules and differ in operation. There are those pageants which are sponsored but are very strict in requirements while there are those which let the participants spend for the costs. Since pageants are after all pure business, organizers’ main purpose is to earn and are unconcerned with the protection of the personal matters of children. (Nussbaum, 2000) Since there are no rules set, should child beauty pageants be vilified because of the issue that the activity causes harm to children when they are in fact not technically responsible for the said damage?
Exploitation of Children in Child Beauty Pageants Child beauty pageants may be viewed as an exemplary site for proving the ongoing issue of exploitation of children in the modern society. This is not to say that all child beauty pageants have the exploitation aspect and that exploitation is limited to beauty pageants only for there are other activities designed for children such as dance and sports, where parents push their children into the spotlight to gain acknowledgement and fame. Stage parents may equally be as intense into encouraging their children into such activity. Cartwright (2012) refers to the idea where adults push their children into activities that makes them obtain social or financial gains regardless of the risk as “Princess by Proxy distortion”. In a video documentary courtesy of the hit American reality series Toddlers and Tiaras, Ava, a 5-year old girl participating in a high-glitz pageant, was forced