Pageants: The Good, The Bad, and the UGLY.

Watching little girls parade around on stage with “airbrush tans, hair extensions, uncomfortable costumes, and false eyelashes” is a concept that many people find hard to understand. These little women girls, are expected to remember stage routines from the tender age of 2 or 3, while maintaining their “Barbie-esque” appearance for a panel of judges at all times. Most would argue that watching children shake their hips and wiggle their butts to provocative dance music is COMPLETELY inappropriate. Although these little girls may not realize the suggestiveness of their performance, parents do. Dance or acting lessons allow children to perform on stage without being subject to the fake and unrealistic aspects that come hand-in-hand with full glitz pageants.

               

Beauty pageant advocates, however, feel that the majority of arguments proposed by critics are due to their complete lack of knowledge on the subject. Unlike most people choose to believe, pageants aren’t solely based on “superficial beauty”. They give girls a chance to show off their talents, and enhance their self-confidence. They are judged on “speaking ability for age, modeling ability for age, personality” and many other aspects that have no relation to their appearance. How is the “fake stuff” that pageants get so much flack for, any different than the gear and equipment children require in other sports or activities? Pageants provide children with a safe environment that allow them to have fun, make friends, and express themselves.

While both sides make compelling arguments, we feel that beauty pageants are in fact a little on the ugly side. Despite the fact that children are building their self-confidence, there is an underlying sense of emptiness associated with this “safe environment”. We feel that the superficial aspects of pageants do in fact outshine the idea of inner beauty and personality. It’s almost impossible to see who a child really is under all that fake hair and make-up.

“You are beautiful, no matter what they say.”

               

http://suburbanturmoil.blogspot.com/2006/09/pageant-mom-responds.html

NO BOYS ALLOWED!

As if the pageant world wasn’t controversial enough, let’s throw young boys into the mixture. While some feel that boys entering beauty pageants supports “gender equality”, others however, feel that boys entering beauty pageants “promotes femininity” (1). Is our North American society ready to accept little boys who want to strut their stuff on stage?

           

For decades, women have been fighting to even the playing field between themselves and the male gender. Prohibiting boys from competing in beauty pageants would turn this sense of equality into a major hypocrisy. It is not unusual to see little girls playing on the soccer field or shooting hoops on the basketball court. With this being said, why shouldn’t young boys have the opportunity to dazzle audiences and succeed in beauty pageants? Many argue that boys eventually out grow the pageant world, making it less likely to become a “lifelong obsession.” (1).

           

A greater audience however, feel that beauty pageants have no room for boys. Some critics go as far as calling it “disturbing”, saying that “boys should not cross gender lines in this way” (2). In an extremely controversial episode of TLC’s “Toddlers & Tiaras,” a pageant mom is shown with her two sons, referring to them as the daughters she never had. If little girls looking like baby prostitutes wasn’t bad enough already, young boys with gelled hair, bronzed skin, after shave, manicured nails, and gyrating dance moves is considered a serious “NO-NO”! (2).

           

While we feel that boys entering beauty pageants only contributes to the number of children with a skewed image of self-esteem, they should be given an equal opportunity to compete in the pageant world. As young women in today’s modern society, we are fortunate for those who have fought so hard earn us equal rights with men. In our opinion, the negative aspects that stem from superficial beauty are no different between little boys and girls.

 “LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS!”

(1)   http://www.bukisa.com/articles/300699_boys-in-beauty-pageants-a-look-at-varying-perspectives

(2)   http://masculineheart.blogspot.com/2010/07/pre-adolescent-male-beauty-pageants.html