Beauty Pageants should be banned

When we think of beauty pageants we tend to think of the society’s idea of perfect little girls competing to see who the judges think is the most beautiful. Also, we think of crazy moms who push their children too hard and will do anything so that their child will win. All of this is true but there are more issues with beauty pageants, some that are more concerning. Beauty pageants are judged based on physical appearance, yet haven’t we always been told not to judge based on looks? They aren’t healthy for kids- they take away their childhood. Lastly, beauty pageants do not set a good example for kids, they do many things that we are told not to do.
In school we are always told not to judge someone by appearance but that is exactly what beauty pageants do. They are culturally specific and the non-attractive girls do not win and they are rarely ever accepted into the beauty pageant world. Some cultures don’t allow their children to enter because of provocative clothes they would have to wear. Beauty pageants pressure girls because they make them seem like they have to be perfect to in life to win, which is not true. Also, intelligence is not factored into child beauty pageants. They are all about your looks, indicating that appearance is the most important quality. There is a talent competition, yes, but the pretty girls still win overall. Pageants, in the United States started in the 1960′s but in other countries they started in the 1920′s. Maybe that was a time when women were not as educated but these days women are in school longer and work just as hard and as well as men. Beauty pageants just reinforce that beauty is the most important quality. The thing is, it is not the 1900′s anymore.
Child beauty pageants make children grow up too fast. Six year olds are getting spray tans. Not only is that really bad for them but they are just kids! They also use other chemicals like hairspray and it is definately not a good idea to use a lot of chemicals on growing children. It could be causing cancer. They look like completely different people once they have their eyebrows plucked, fake eyelashes, makeup, wig, and spray tan. It just is not natural. Kids should be outside playing, being mischevious and unpolished- not flawless. Kids in beauty pageants are often over-confident and come off as snobby. Many of them are depressed or stressed out because their parents expect them to be perfect. This just is not a childhood.
Beauty pageants are not a good thing for kids to watch on t.v. or participate in. The show that you have to be perfect and this causes eating disorders, plastic surgery, and self-esteem issues at young ages. The contestants expose their bodies at too young of an age, they wear bathing suits at the age of two years and shirts that look like undergarments. Would a child wear these out in public? The pageants give money as prizes and this only shows them that they should earn money by the explitation of their bodies. Lastly, many of the kids at the pageants are seen acting like brats; they are rude and they complain and they get away with it. Other children who are watching are likely to start doing the same because it is monkey see monkey do. The fact is that the environment of beauty pageants and the signals they are sending to kids are not good!
If it is true that beauty pageants go against many lessons we are taught, then why are they still taking place? Important things for parents include teaching their kids not to judge people by their looks, leading healthy lives, and setting children up with good examples. Therefore, pageants are not developing our world in any significant way. The only good factor about them is self-esteem but that can be built in more active and healthy ways. Children should not be judged on how “beautiful” they are but yet that is what child beauty pageants do.
“No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.” -Oscar Wilde