Persuasive Essay On Child Beauty Pageants

ty pageantsChild Beauty Pageants
And why the rules should be much stricter

Overall stand: Child beauty pageants should be deemed illegal because: * They objectify the children in an attempt to achieve an unclear vision of beauty. * The parents more often than not force their ideals on the children in the pageants, and go to ridiculous lengths to win. * The children are being manipulated and turned into icons not appropriate for their age. * To have children compete for a title that is only defined by opinion * Infants and girls are objectified and judged against sexualistic ideals. The mental health and development consequences of this are significant and impact on identity, self-esteem and body perception.
Possible
Arguments against this point of view: * There are natural child beauty pageants which are not as bad as ‘Glitz’ pageants. * Children wear makeup only if they want to * There is no specific government which can control such an absurd idea. Beauty pageants happen in almost all countries, all which have their own idea of beauty. There is nothing that can limit the entire worlds view of what should or should not be beautiful * These pageants are legal, voluntary activities and should not be banned * May compare it to something such as ‘Driving a car is voluntary, and has risks, so should we ban it?’
Points against these arguments: * Natural beauty pageants are not as bad as the ‘glitz’ pageants, which require the children to wear makeup in order to succeed, however the child may come to look at themselves in a negative light if they do not win the pageant, makeup or no makeup. And this will affect their view of themselves drastically. * Most of the time, unless they’re involved in natural beauty pageants which limits makeup and other image enhancing things such as wigs and false eyelashes, The parent’s have the say in whether or not the child should do something. The child can of course say no, but due to the peer pressure of those around them, and they want to please their parents, they will end up subjected to it anyway. * (Cannot combat this, this is very logical and accurate, you could make a comeback by saying ‘Do they have child beauty pageants?’ but it would be a lost cause and you would be fighting to swim against the tide.
If they bring up this topic, say nothing, or nod your head and say ‘I understand’) * Although these pageants are legal, the parents and children should not have to go to such extremes in order to win. You are putting the child in a position that is not truly themselves, and giving them an iconic look that is not appropriate for their age. (You can support this by bringing up all of the ‘extras’ they have in these competitions, like false teeth, wigs, padding to make it seem like they have cleavage, etc.) * Driving a car (or another instance like it) is voluntary, but (if this instance they are rbinging up is something that occurs later on in life, after the teenage years) the people who drive are old enough to know the dangers themselves, and are hopefully experienced enough in the area of (whatever they say) to avoid the dangers that it comes with, simply put, we are old enough to know what we are doing, and are prepared for the consequences. Besides (such and such) does not throw out ideals that cannot be
achieved.

Summary (just in case):
Define, Beauty. Something that is beautiful. Something that has magnificent qualities that put people in awe. Something that is coveted, sought after, in an attempt to reach perfection. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if there are so many people on this earth, each one beholding a different view of beauty, then what does it really mean? Does the term actually exist? Or is it iconic and forever changing, along with the ways and ideals of our culture? There are some who think that beauty should be determined, evaluated, judged based on an idolized view of what should be, sometimes at an unreasonably young age. I am talking of course, about child beauty pageants.
Opening statement:

Further Argument:
Beauty pageants are competitions in which the participants fight for the title of most beautiful.
Most perfect. But the exploitation of these participants truly knows no bounds. Such contests reduce women to defining success according to characteristics of physical beauty. Now, while I can understand adult beauty pageants are held via the full consent of the participants, however, child beauty pageants are not. In a normal pageant, the contestants sign up for the competition and they know exactly what they’re getting into, and whatever risks they take is completely up to them. In a child beauty pageant, the child entered has little to no consent over whether or not they participate in the pageant. Of course, if their parent asks them “Hey Angela, do you wanna be in a beauty pageant?” They could say
yes.
But that’s where it ends.
Now, I’m not saying that every child entered in a pageant wears heavy makeup, has false eyelashes, and a spray on tan. I am merely stating that the parents go to some incredulous lengths to make their child seem to be the most “Beautiful”
So what can we do to make sure the children aren’t exploited in a way that is wholly inappropriate for their age?
For one, Limit the amount of Makeup used in Glitz pageants, meaning, don’t use any makeup at all.