Thesis: Beauty pageants should be outlawed for girls under sixteen because they over expose young women, teach them that being self absorbed is okay, and there are other hobbies the girls could pick up that would teach better qualities and allow kids to be kids. I. Can make children self absorbed
A. Pageants are a “me” thing
1. Children shouldn’t grow up learning it’s all about them 2. Parents often neglect parenting and focus on perfecting the childs pageant performance. B. Winning makes or breaks little girls self confidence
II. Young girls are over exposed
A. Six years old dressed like they’re entering adulthood
1. Promotes hypersexualization of little girls
2. Kids lose sense of what age they are
B. Studies show pageants have long-term effects on behavior
1. Does have positive effects on public speaking and grace
2. But has negative effects on impulse control, ineffectiveness, interpersonal distrust, maturity fears and body dissatisfaction. Braxton
III. There are better hobbies for young kids to be participating in A. Hobbies such as girl scouts or a sport teach better qualities 1. Allow kids to learn key life concepts such as leadership, teamwork, and sharing 2. These skills allow them to be better prepared for life
B. Kids can be kids
1. Not caked in makeup they can get caked in mud.
2. Do activities that would be deprived of them if they were on “pageant schedule”
Braxton 1
Beauty pageants: crowning queens, or monsters?
On the stage a young woman is flaunting her curves and swinging her hips down the runway dressed like a showgirl .She blows a kiss to a roaring applause. That would be fine if the young woman wasn’t six years old and the roaring applause didn’t come from parents who have a major financial stake in the competition. That’s a modern beauty pageant, where parents allow their young children to be taught all the wrong values. Beauty pageants should be outlawed for young women under the age of sixteen because they over expose young girls have a tendency to make children self absorbed, and there are hobbies that teach children better values while allowing them to act like normal children not Las Vegas whores.
Tune into TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras” and you’ll watch an hour’s worth of tantrums from both moms and toddlers. The point to be made is that pageants often make not just children, but their parents into monsters. Children are taught to be self-absorbed because pageants are a “me” thing. It’s always about the child and the attention is on just the competition and winning it. No child should grow up learning that everything is all about herself, or all about winning. Often though that is exactly what happens as parents are more concerned with a child’s formal gown or pose over look every other aspect of parenting including the teaching of right and wrong or the concept of sharing. In a Good Housekeeping article focusing attention on the anniversary of the death of child pageant star Jon Benet Braxton 2
Ramsey, Skip Hollandsworth reports overhearing these remarks from the mother of a six year old contestant at a Texas pageant, “’ Remember honey, step, then turn, then give those judges a big wink…Your job is to make them love you. (1)”’ Often pageant parents even neglect to make sure their children have appropriate eating habits. In the Tulane Law Review, Lucy Wolfe asserts that viewers of the popular Toddlers and Tiaras program are “captivated to watch as a variety of colorful pageant parents (mostly moms) try to transform their young children (mostly girls) into pageant princess…filling them full of sugar and energy drinks. (1)” These parents are espousing the very dietary habits condemned by pediatricians and pediatric dentists everywhere, all for the sake of capturing a tiara. When all the focus is on just the child’s appearance and winning the pageant, and so little concern goes into properly raising the child, it is easy to see why the outcome of pageant life so often makes or breaks a child’s long-term self-image, physical, and mental health.
Braxton 3
For these reasons pageants should be outlawed for girls under the age of sixteen. They teach kids many unacceptable behaviors, over expose them to the point of indecency, have long term negative effects, and deprive kids of the chance to participate in things that most of us consider inherent to growing up. So I ask the audience do we want our kids to remember their youth wearing a soccer uniform or in a dress that exposes them, spending the night at a friend’s house or spending the night in a motel in some city the night before a pageant? Do we want young girls to earn the beauty of teamwork or competing in something with a singular emphasis on appearance? .
