A beauty contest is a competition in which the entrants, usually women, are judged as to physical beauty and sometimes talent, with the winners awarded prizes or titles. There are several disputes over the affects of beauty contests, but in reality beauty contests give negative images to girls of all ages. Beauty contests build up the hopes and dreams of little girls, and even teenagers, only to hurt them later in life. Sure it’s fun to get dressed up and have everyone looking at you; it’s always nice to be told you’re beautiful, but being beautiful isn’t going to get you through life.
Being in beauty contests places the importance of a women’s physical beauty above her intelligence, which leads most women to believe that their self worth is linked to their appearance instead of their personality. A lot of women that are more physically attractive than most other women think that things should be handed to them, without giving any effort to work for it, but that doesn’t happen in the real world. There is a saying that goes like this, “beauty catches attention, but personality captures the heart”. This means that your looks may get you to where you are, but they will not keep you there.
It takes more than physical appearances to survive in this world. Just because you are beautiful and can win a contest because of that advantage does not necessarily mean that people in the world will like you. It isn’t always looks, personality counts too. Beauty Pageants also give young girl’s very low self-esteem and contribute to the increasing rate of eating disorders and suicidal thoughts among young women (http://www. blurtit. com/q281887. html). If beauty pageant participants fail to live up to the unrealistic standard of beauty then they often live their lives feeling that they are ugly and worthless (http://www. lurtit. com/q281887. html). Mothers of these children are usually trying to live their own dreams through their young daughters. They put their young children through these beauty contests do not realize that they are completely taking away their children’s childhood.
Toddlers are forcibly being put in $1000 dresses and uncomfortable shoes, having pounds of make up put on their faces, and ridiculous hairstyles, making them miss out on the things that they should be doing like playing on the playground and making friends. These toddlers grow up into young teens and learn to believe that his is the way their lives should be spent. Teenage girls should be shopping at mall or watching movies with friends, not spending all of their time and lives on beauty pageants that kill their self esteem. Beauty contests also take away from one of the most important factors of life now a days; school. Down the road when the girls are too old and their “beauty” has gone, it will be hard to find a good paying job without an education. Most beauty contest participants are too caught up with trying to win to have enough time to worry about their school work.
If you want to win a beauty pageant, you’d better be prepared to spend plenty of money. In addition to costs associated with travel, it is important that you examine the other costs associated with regularly entering your child into beauty pageants. Modeling coach, pageant hair, dress, additional outfits, make-up, shoes, mouthpiece (fake teeth), jewelry, and traveling expenses are just a few examples of things you will end up spending thousands of dollars on while putting your child through beauty contests.
Pageant entry fees run from $25 to more than $500. Pageant lessons typically cost around $100 per hour from a top coach, and are necessary in order to know how to behave and dress for the winning crown. A week of her training costs $5,000; a day goes for $1,000. Most parents buy a wig or a hair piece for their child to wear during contests, costing around $30. A used competitive dress for a child will cost from about $500 to over $1,000. A new custom-made dress, of course, is usually significantly more.
Contestants wear a flipper, or a mouthpiece, that fits over her top teeth to give her the appearance of perfectly straight, dazzling white teeth. A flipper costs about $250-$300. At a small local pageant, a contestant can get a good hair stylist for around $65 but at a big national pageant, this same person will charge more because of demand. It’s a necessity in the pageant business to have a great tan, and tanning is usually $25 per month. With knowing this, just to attend one beauty contest we now know that it will cost you near $6,500 not including traveling expenses, food, and a hotel to stay at.
Often times when people have to spend an enormous amount of money that they don’t have, as they must do in beauty contests, it can cause a lot of strain and stress on the family. This is known as financial stress and it isn’t good. Less money for self-care, loss of sleep, and unhealthy emotions are a few effects of financial stress. Financial stress is one of the leading causes of stress in Americans. Charles Dunn, publisher of Pageantry Magazine, tells us that some parents spend so much money to prepare their children for beauty contests that they must take out loans (Dunn).
