Blog #10

 Child Beauty Pageants:

 Though some people agree that child beauty pageants are acceptable, I personally believe that they are a huge portion of the issues girls face in their teens, and are more detrimental to the health of the youth in our nation then helpful.

 So why were they started? And how come they have become such a big thing? You know, if they are “so wrong.” Some argue that beauty pageants for children build a sense of discipline, patience and confidence because of the level at which most these little girls have to compete. They also argue that is instills in a lot of the girls a love for charity, because most pageants are involved with the community through donations and outreach. They also argue that they teach the girls to focus on education, because the winners are not only given prizes but scholarships as well.

I personally have to disagree.

In my paper I plan on focusing on all of the social problems teenage girls are faced with today that may in fact stem from this early exposure to glitz and glamour. Anorexia, Bulimia, other eating disorders, distorted body shapes, competitiveness between girls, and other maybe less obvious issues. I plan to prove the correlation by researching the human development of what is occurring in those young girls through these pageants. Developmentally, these girls are forming personality, standards, and placing their sense of worth. If in the early years, all that is focused on is their beauty, well then OF COURSE we are going to end up with girls with problems. The affects also reach girls who are not participating in the pageants, because of their association with the girls who do. They feel compared to, less beautiful, and begin placing their values on less important features too.

I am interested to research more into the history of the beauty pageant in hopes with recognizing it’s original intent. I am also interested to research the counter argument more in depth, it is a side I currently disagree with quite whole-heartedly, because I don’t really understand how anyone could think they were good. Maybe they really aren’t—and simply a form of entertainment and fulfillment for the parents. Who knows? At least in the end I will have research to defend my argument, whichever way it may sway (more ok with the idea, or even less, haha).

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/child-beauty-pageants-pros-and-cons.html