Are Beauty Contests Harmful? Essay Example

Are Beauty Contests Harmful? Beauty? Now what exactly is beauty? The dictionary defines beauty as “the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations, a meaningful design or pattern, or something else.” This definition is very vague, but it basically states that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While I might think that brunettes are beautiful, others may think differently. The term beauty has infinite meanings and cannot be summed up into one definition. In todays society beauty has become a big part of life. Either people are trying to make themselves more “beautiful” with cosmetic surgery or they are flaunting it. Just recently beauty pageants have become very popular; this trend has made society look at women for their appearance rather than their inner beauty. How can a contest decide whether someone has beauty or not? Beauty should never be a contest. This can be harmful to women by encouraging dieting, eating disorders and cosmetic surgery, or simply by making them feeling inadequate and ugly. Audrey Hepburn once said, “The beauty of a woman is not a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives and the passion that she knows.” In the beauty pageant industry being skinny or thin is a must. Many women go above and beyond to meet this criteria. Some women even resort to starving themselves. “In recent studies, researchers have indicated that there is a trend among women who have participated in the pageant circuit regarding eating disorders” (Beauty). The focus on outward appearance has gone too far. eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are often caused by these pageants. Kristen Haglund, Miss America 2008 is living proof that eating disorders come about in the pageant lifestyle. She was one of the many pageant contestants who has struggled with an eating disorder. “Although today Kristen