Daneisha Espinosa

Eng 160

Sara Vinciguerra

Oct 31, 2023

Are Children’s beauty pageants ethical?

Growing up I would watch toddlers and tiaras and I remember thinking to myself how cool it would be to dress up all pretty and prance around, when I got older, I saw a YouTube video about child pageants and whether they’re ok which led me into researching how it can be harmful. Children in these pageants are often sexualized due to their altered appearance making them seem like mini adults. This can obviously be detrimental to ones confidence if it isn’t already established such as when you are a child or young teen. This is wrong as we’ve already created unachievable beauty standards for adult women and now, we expect literal children to achieve them. Children who have grown up in this environment often end up with some sort of mental repercussions. Therefore, child pageants should be banned as they are harmful to a child’s future sense of self-worth which can be a catalyst to future mental illnesses. Parents will spend thousands of dollars on hair, makeup, and clothing every year turning their child from a 5 year old to a teenage girl. These girls are being taught to act like an adult and dress like an adult to catch the attention of the judges in order to bring home a prize. “Former child beauty queen Nicole Hunter, who competed in pageants as a girl,'” explains that dressing and acting like a woman at a young age compelled her to prematurely confront her sexuality, which in turn lowered her self-esteem. Hunter further reveals that since leaving the pageant circuit she has struggled with anorexia nervosa.” (Lieberman). Nicole Hunter is one example of many who struggled with her mental health after growing up in the pageantry community. These competitions expose young girls to an environment where they can possibly be preyed upon by older men. “In 1996, the industry gained nationwide media attention after the murder of beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. ‘For the first time, the American public viewed photographs and videos depicting a five year old dressed up as a twenty year old seductress.’” (Liberman) One of the suspects ended up being a “fan” of hers a man in his 30s. The child pageantry circuit much like child acting is a vigorous amount of labor for a young child. The children who participate in these beauty pageants are often subjected to training for hours on end and beauty enhancements such as fake nails, spray tans, and fake teeth to hide their missing baby teeth. “… many parents attempt to give their daughters an edge in the “beauty department” by applying “enhancements,” such as fake nails, spray tans, hair dye, permanent eyelashes, teeth-whitening strips, eyebrow wax, and even fake teeth, which are known as “flippers.”(Wolfe). Pageantry resembles a career for these children, their parents work them till the point of perfection and the even more if they fail to win the pageant. Children are worked to the point of exhaustion. “Children were denied naps, reprimanded for poor performance or flaws, threatened with punishment, and given many Pixy Stix (also known as “pageant crack”) throughout the day to maintain their energy”(Cartwright). There are no regulations for these children to be kept safe. Often times in an effort to show their child off in an eye catching way to win over the audience and judges the parents will exploit their child. These little girls who can be as young as a few months old are meant to parade themselves dressed up in these costumes meant for adult women at the curtesy of their parents. In the TV series ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’ we see on more than one occasion parents dressing their daughters up in outfits that are nowhere near appropriate in order to portray a character. “Mia’s Madonna dance is neither the first nor the last scandalous performance that has shimmied its way across the Toddlers airwaves. Three-year-old Paisley became a national sensation after she took to the pageant stage dressed as Julia Roberts from the movie Pretty Woman, complete with long, black boots and a midriff-revealing minidress.'” Fouryear-old Maddy also sparked attention when she appeared on Toddlers wearing breast and derriere enhancements to complete her Dolly Parton costume”(Wolfe). This leaves these young girls susceptible to predators who may go to these pageants looking for what they would consider attractive. The parents who should be protecting these children are leaving them vulnerable to harm in more than one way. “One convicted pedophile in Canada, speaking of a popular child beauty pageant show, was quoted as saying ‘It’s legal eye candy that nobody will admit.’”(Adarichev). As a parent your supposed to protect your child from all forms of harm so why subject them to mental and in some cases physical harm. These pageants stand as a danger to the well-being of these young girls who have grown up in this environment. Regulations should be placed in order for parents to not only stop modifying their child a significant amount but also making sure they are not worked to the point of exhaustion. Pageantry has the possibility to not be inherently negative but that would mean the people apart of that community and our legislators need to make an effort to protect these girls.

Works Cited

Kelly, Jessica M., and Lance C. Garmon. “Perceptions of Child Beauty Pageants and Their Impacts: What Really Lies behind the Tiara?” Atlantic Journal of Communication, vol. 24, no. 4, Sept. 2016, pp. 201–15. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2016.1208528. Lieberman, Lindsay. “Protecting Pageant Princesses: A Call for Statutory Regulation of Child Beauty Pageants.” Journal of Law & Policy, vol. 18, no. 2, Mar. 2010, pp. 739–74. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=53500114&site=ehost-live. Wolfe, Lucy. “Darling Divas or Damaged Daughters? The Dark Side of Child Beauty Pageants and an Administrative Law Solution.” Tulane Law Review, vol. 87, no. 2, Dec. 2012, pp. 427– 55. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=84526799&site=ehost-live. Adarichev, Matthew. “No more toddling in tiaras.” The Hofstra Chronicle, 13 Dec. 2022, https://www.thehofstrachronicle.com/category/editorials/2022/12/13/no-more-toddling-in-tiaras