Child Beauty Contest - Report Example

CHILD BEAUTY CONTEST Student Name: Institution: Date: Introduction The increased involvement of children in beauty contests continues to raise concerns globally due to the negative consequences of such contests. Child beauty pageants refer to the beauty contests that involve participants under the age of 16. These children compete in different categories such as sportswear, talent, evening wear, decade wear, western wear and swim wear. There are different types of child beauty contests depending on the gender and ages of the children involved. Additionally, the contests have different guidelines depending on whether they are natural or makeup is involved. Although the child beauty contests increase the chances of children of being in the public spotlight, they portray a range of negative effects to the children. Some critics of the child beauty contests argue that parents should not allow their children to participate in such contests since it encourages an old fashioned type of feminity where beauty standards are characterized by makeup and spray tans. Beauty contests, therefore, have a variety of negative implications on children ranging from social, psychological and health problems. Health Problems Among the health problems associated with the child beauty contests is eating disorder and body distortion. As part of the requirements of the beauty contests, children are required to collaborate and look pretty as they are not required to add weight beyond a certain level. Consequently, the children who participate in such contests are likely to develop eating disorders such as anorexia (Villins, 2012). This is because the children tenaciously starve themselves to reach the required weight for them to win. Moreover, the participants of such contests are required to wear tight clothes that expose their bodies, thus much stress is put on the children to lose weight and stay thin. Another health problem associated with the beauty contests is feeling stressed and pressured. The need to grow thin to attain a certain weight puts the children through mental and emotional pressures. Furthermore, the children are expected to perform well on stage, failure of which results in mocking by their parents. This desire for perfection puts the children under so much pressure that may cause psychological problems in the future (Sinpetru, 2012). The other health effect of beauty contests on the children is depression. The main areas of focus for child beauty contests are the clothing, appearance and the attractiveness of the children participating in such contests. Although talent competitions also occur in such contests, they are often regarded as secondary components and the children focus on their appearance as judged by other people (Roche, 2013). This can lead to low self-esteem and depression in the long-run. Psychological Problems One of the psychological effects of the child beauty contests on the children is perfection. The desire to be thin for instance, makes children to go on diet to develop the desired body shapes and sizes for the beauty contests (Lindsey, 2016). Additionally, bad performance causes the children to be mocked by adults making them struggle to be perfect. This longing for perfection leads to the destruction of self-worth and self- beauty. Another psychological effect of these contests is the loss of childhood. Compared to adult models who are capable of making their own decisions, the beauty contests for the young children often ruins their childhood, causing them to grow up too soon believing in their looks. Additionally, the makeup and the costumes that they put on during such contests sexualize them way before they become sexual (Lindsey, 2016). The mistreatment of the children is another psychological effect of the beauty contests. For children to participate in the beauty contests, they need to attain a particular weight. The result is that parents who want their children to participate in the contests put their young children on diet for fast weight loss. Furthermore, the beauty contests encourage the sexualization of young girls because of the clothes and makeup that they wear as well as the activities they are trained to do such as posing and strutting on stage. All these things that take place in the beauty contests amount to mistreatment of children as they are not allowed to enjoy their childhood. Beauty Contest and the Society One of the social problems associated with child beauty contests is increasing chances of sexual abuse against the children. As part of the requirements in such contests, the participants strut across the stage, wink and blow kisses while posing for the judges (Dalzell, 2014). The poses that the children are taught emphasize on their hips and bottom. Additionally, they are dressed in tight and short dresses which reveal much of their flesh. The costumes and makeup that the children put on during such contests, as well as their poses, facilitate sexual abuse against the children. The other social issue resulting from the beauty contests is child abuse. In many cases, the children do not join the beauty contests out of their own free will but are forced by their parents to do so. To ensure that their children emerge victorious in the beauty contests, parents put their children on diet to help them in losing weight. This amounts to child abuse as the children are too young to be put on diet. Additionally, the children are trained to act in certain ways that would make it difficult for them to be themselves in future. In extreme cases, children born with facial differences have to go through difficult times such as surgeries, teasing and bullying by other children and adults as well. Possible positive effects of beauty contests Boosting confidence and communication skills Although the child beauty contests have a wide range of disadvantages against the contesting children, the possibility of the existence of positive effects of the contests cannot be overlooked. One of the benefits of allowing children to participate in child beauty contests is building self-confidence and developing communication skills. Communication is one of the important skills that children can learn when participating in the beauty contests. First, the children need to freely communicate with other contestants as well as with their trainers. The contests enable the children to effectively communicate with other children and make friends thus improving their abilities to socialize. Apart from socializing, the beauty contests help the children to boost their abilities to communicate through the question answer forums. One of the most valuable skills in communication is the ability to convey one’s thoughts. When children are allowed by their parents to participate in beauty contests, their communication skills are given the opportunity to flourish. This is because the contestants of such contests are given the chance to face auditions and show their ability to articulate educative and cohesive responses to modern issues. The development of communication skills among the children participating in child beauty contests helps them to effectively communicate with the adults. Another importance of allowing the children to participate in child beauty contests is to build their confidence. Allowing children to participate in contests enables the children to build their confidence, which is a very important life skills. Beauty contests helps in building confidence in children by allowing them to stand in front of a large audience and participate in question and answer forums or even talent shows (Cordero, 2013). For the children who are shy and quiet, the beauty forums gives them the opportunity to develop confidence and carry themselves with pride before the audience. In helping children to achieve confidence and effective communication, the child beauty contests are refuted for several reasons. One is that the contests do not always increase the confidence of the participants as the comments from the judges and the audience are not always positive. Cartwright 2016, argues that participation of children in activities that mainly focus on the physical appearance can result in poor eating habits, struggles with perfection and body image issues, hence low self-confidence. Moreover, allowing children to participate in beauty contests gives them better opportunities for the future. These contests serve as the places where children can develop effective ways of communication and other important life skills such as confidence. These life skills are significant especially in their future careers. In the increasingly competent world in such sector as employment and education, the skills that children learn in these contests can help in propelling them in their future careers as well as helping them to land on better opportunities in future. However, the contests are refuted because they are mainly concern with money. Administrator, 2013 states that mothers are more concern with the pageants and use their children to fulfill their failed dreams. The author further argues that parents are ready to sexualize their children to get money and use the contests for this reason. Conclusion With regards to the above discussion, child beauty contests remain a critical area of debate because of the several effects they have on the development of children. Additionally, parents may opt to spend money on designer clothes than on the children’s education and sexualize their children to get money (McKay, 2010). It is therefore, important for such contests to be stopped so that children are allowed to enjoy their childhood. References Administrator, M. (2013). Six-year-old millionaire: How beauty pageants and Toddlers and Tiaras reality show helped girl make a fortune. Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/six-year-old-millionaire-how-beauty-pageants-1829726. Cartwright, M. (2016). Child Beauty Pageants: What Are We Teaching Our Girls? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/food-thought/201108/child-beauty-pageants-what-are-we-teaching-our-girls. Cordero, R. (2013). Child beauty pageants: Growing up on stage. Retrieved from https://repsub13.wordpress.com/projects/childbeautypageants/ Dalzell, S. (2014). Child pageants should be scrutinized, committee says. ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-27/child-beauty-pageants-to-be-scrutinised-in-wa/5554364. McKay, H. (2010). Parents of Children on Tlc's 'toddlers In Tiaras' Hurting Their Kids, Critics Say. Fox News. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/06/03/tlcs-toddlers-tiaras-returns-critics-say-parents-exploitive.html. Roche, R. (2013). The ugly side of child beauty pageants. Irishexaminer.com. Retrieved from http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/the-ugly-side-of-child-beauty-pageants-242192.html. Sinpetru, L. (2016). Child Beauty Pageants Foster Adult Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorders. Softpedia. Retrieved from http://news.softpedia.com/news/Child-Beauty-Pageants-Foster-Adult-Body-Dissatisfaction-Eating-Disorders-302540.shtml. Villins, Z. (2012). The Effects of Beauty Pageants and Cutest Baby Contests on Children. GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog. Retrieved from http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/beauty-pageants-and-children-not-always-pretty-1115127. Read More