Beauty isn’t defined by a measurement or number; it comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s not healthy to have young girls growing up thinking that they are only beautiful if they fit into a certain size. Pageants impact many children’s self esteem, and especially on the participants themselves. Healthy self esteem is accepting yourself the way you are. It requires you to have a realistic understanding that nobody is perfect, but rather we are all diverse individuals with different interests and talents, and that is not what beauty pageants demonstrate. According to the New York Times article “Beauty pageants, Like the Miss America Contest, Should Die,” real beauty is resilience, which means girls and women who have been through something and came out stronger, is real beauty.
Beauty pageants are fake programs that are harmful both mentally and physically to girls. Pageant supporters may say that pageants have a wide spread of categories from talent to question and answer categories. Although that is true, beauty pageants are mostly based on the actual appearance of a person. The pageants mostly focus on the way a girl looks in dresses, and how they can carry themselves. This can be very depressing for a lot of girls who would like to be a pageant queen because this requirement is discriminatory to others. There are also other requirements such as height, weight, and facial features. This can kill many young girls’ dreams of being able to feel happy about themselves. Beauty pageants are enforcing the message that physical appearance is all that matters.
The girls in the pageants wouldn’t be able to do this without their parents. Parents are investing a lot of their time and money into their daughters to make them “perfect” for the show. According to The New York Times article “Debating Beauty Pageants,” it costs a lot of money to be in a beauty pageant. Parents spend huge sums on whatever is needed to make her look amazing. They also buy stage lessons. Because of this, girls may start to think that money is nothing and that they should have the best of everything. With this much attention, the girls may start to believe that the earth revolves around them.
The effects on pageants for girls can be dangerous. Girls who are watching and want to be in a pageant can begin to think they aren’t good enough for anything or that they are “imperfect.” They think this is right because this is what they are seeing. Seeing this can make girls feel like they have to be a size 00. This can cause girls to go on insane diets that can really affect their health. Beauty pageants are not shaping the right face of beauty in the world.
