struggle to act as miniature live Barbie Dolls. Sometimes little girls become so focused with their fake hair and tans that the focus turns into an unhealthy obsession. The girls walk around with big heads and think that they are above everybody. Psychologists have proven that girls who compete in beauty pageants for most of their childhood lives have no social skills and do not know how to communicate. Many pageant contestants develop "The Princess Syndrome" and become self-centered. Sometimes the girls can be so superficial that they no longer know what reality is. The girls have no boundaries because their parents almost always force their child into pageantry. The girls forget the family concept and think of their parents as their assistants, not their mother or father. The TLC show “Toddlers and Tiaras” is a perfect example of showing the contestants yelling and screaming at their parents. Some people believe that pageantry teaches children how to be confident within themselves, but some children prove otherwise and act as if they are too good or special. Beauty pageants do not just change little girls by making them overly confident, but pageants also teach girls how to objectify themselves. Most psychologists believe that the photographs and clothing that are revealing ends up objectifying children and causing them to be aware of their sexuality before they reach the age where they are able to understand. Little girls dancing around provocatively in bikinis for a table of adult judges is our America today. The tragedy of these young girls displaying their sexuality is that the parents of the children are the people behind the judges shaking their “booties” teaching their daughters everything. Pageants take away the childhood of young girls and teach them that beauty over intelligence and creativity is everything, but their mental health is not the only thing being harmed.
these young girls displaying their sexuality is that the parents of the children are the people behind the judges shaking their “booties” teaching their daughters everything. Pageants take away the childhood of young girls and teach them that beauty over intelligence and creativity is everything, but their mental health is not the only thing being harmed. will always be in their minds.
Most pageant competitors feel the pressure to reach perfection in every angle. Perfection can cause girls to go to the extremes. Girls in pageants are said to need "the perfect body," causing most beauty queens as young as six to develop eating disorders. Studies have shown that 26% of girls that compete in beauty pageants develop eating disorders. Twenty-six does not seem like a large number, but the number should not even be above zero, these are children. The average BMI for a beauty pageant contestant back in 1930 was 20.0. Since then the average has dropped by 3%. Children develop an unrealistic expectation of how they are supposed to look because of the makeup, tans, flippers, and photoshop used on their photos. Not only do pageants harm a girl's body, but they can also destroy the child's self-esteem. Many children take losing pageants straight to the heart. Girls feel bad about themselves because they are not "pretty" enough for the judges. Statistics prove that 6% of adults that have competed in beauty pageants as children go through depression. Fully grown women that were involved in pageantry as kids admit to child pageant competitions making them feel worthless and that the memories will always be in their minds. Depression occurs because of the low self-esteem that they have developed from low-feeling moments in childhood.