Argumentative Essay - Beauty Pageants - Exploitative?

A beauty pageant is a competition that is based solely on physical attributes but often includes talent, personality and question and answer portions. Most beauty pageants are made for women especially young girls at the age of five. Although beauty pageants are seemingly harmless and just provokes the competitive side of women, it should not be welcomed to young girls at age ten and below because (a) beauty pageants set their own definition of what is beautiful, (b) it may affect their future outlook in life, and (c) it is a form of abuse to young girls.
Even though most beauty pageants are for women and is a competition on physical appearance, it is difficult to join one especially since they have their own definition of what is beautiful. Most of us look not only on the outer beauty of people but also on the inner beauty. In beauty pageants, what is important is your outer beauty. They give more importance on how you look in a dress and how well you can carry yourself. This can be a setback to young girls wanting to join beauty pageants because in a way, these pageants are discriminatory to others. To be able to join a pageant you must first meet their requirements such as having the right height and weight, having the right size of body and most of all having a beautiful face. Aside from these, you must also be the right age. The most common of all pageants are the ones for young girls wherein they need to wear sparkly clothes just to attract the attention of many.
Children who are aspiring beauty queens tend to be pressured by their parents. According to the article entitled, “The child beauty-pageant queens who grew up” (2008), mothers hire make-up artists just to apply make-up on their daughter’s faces. And these girls cannot do anything about it because it is their parent’s will. During these events, young girls are criticized by judges as they get on stage wearing skimpy clothes, shaking their butts while making kissy faces (Frazier, 2009). Another is that rather than basing their judgments on the girl’s capabilities, they value more what the girls look like. As a result, young girls will ten to believe that it is right to judge others – to think of them as objects who can be criticized by their personality or what they wear. Thus, it may have an effect on how they will perceive other people. Instead of looking at what is on the inside, like their personality or attitude, they will look at what is on the outside. Young girls will have the same perception of what is beautiful and think that they, too, are capable of criticizing others based on their appearance.
Beauty pageants may also be considered as a form of abuse especially if the child is forced into joining. Most mothers pressure their child into joining these competitions because of the prize money they will be receiving after. They do not think of the consequences it may bring into their child’s life. There are some cases wherein young girls do not win and they will always carry the burden of thinking that they are ugly. Also, young girls are taught to be more competitive at a young age. In the article, “The child beauty-pageant queens who grew up” (2008), when the young girl, Asia, was interviewed why she joined the pageant, her answer was “We like to go where the money and the cars are prizes, grandmother really needs the car and we really want money, money, money!” In order for them to win, they must wear thick make-up and practice their talents that their mothers are making them do. While it is fine to make your children wear make-up and pretty clothes, they should not be pressure into doing something that they are not willing to do. Using young girls as a means to get easy money is not the way to treat children.
Therefore, beauty pageants should not be welcomed to young girls because beauty pageants set their own definition of what is beautiful, it may affect their future outlook in life and it is a form of abuse to young girls. It brings negative results to young girls and sets as a bad example. It should be meant for fun and not a means for parents to get easy money and for others to criticize what is and is not beautiful.

References:
Frazier, S. (2009) Children’s Beauty Pageants – Exploitative or Beneficial? retrieved on December 7, 2009 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2050265/childrens_beauty_pageants_expolitative_pg2_pg2.html?cat=9
The child beauty pageant queens who grew up (2008) retrieved on December 7, 2009 from Times online website http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article3997487.ece