The story of JonBenet Ramsey still sends shockwaves throughout the world today. Her brutal murder at the age of 6 brought an extra focus to the world of child beauty pageants that has only been enhanced as of late with shows like Toddlers and Tiaras. The world of the child beauty pageant circuit is incredibly competitive, puts children under intense pressures to perform, and as many people have seen, can even bring out the worst of what humanity has to offer.
Are there some positives to having child beauty pageants as well? By evaluating the pros and cons of this practice that dates back to the 1960’s in the United States and as far back as the 1920’s around the world, a full opinion of this topic can be formed.
What Are the Pros of Child Beauty Pageants?
It helps children be able to adapt to the pressures of modern life.
With most of the world operating under some form of capitalism today, the pressures of the adult world to compete and perform at the highest levels are ever-present. Girls who are performing in child beauty pageants are able to adapt to this type of world at any early age and perfect their skills to compete so that they have an edge when it is time for them to enter the working world.
Not all of the child beauty pageants are about glitz and glamour.
There is a tour of child beauty pageants that doesn’t have any makeup associated with it whatsoever. These pageants are called “Natural Pageants” and eliminate a lot of the stigma that is associated with a toddler that is made up to look like an adult. This takes a lot of the pressure off to perform because girls in these pageants can just have fun and be themselves.
It is an effective way to teach girls how to be in control.
Girls need to be disciplined in order to regularly participate in child beauty pageants. This means that they must be able to stay in control of their own bodies, attitudes, and tempers so that they can leave the best overall impression. Control also comes in the form of developing and performing talents, which may give them the chance to show everyone who they really are.
It provides girls with a number of unique opportunities.
Many child beauty pageants offer winners the chance to have scholarships for advanced schooling, savings bonds, and other monetary rewards that they’ll be able to use later on in life. The competition of these pageants gives girls a unique perspective on life as well and this builds a foundation for them that can help them achieve more through the structures that modern schooling require today.
It’s a safer way to compete than sports.
Girls are competing in a number of different ways today, including sports and other activities where injuries may occur. Competition in the form of a child beauty pageant allows children to have that competition experience without the same risks of injury that could affect them well into their adult years.
What Are the Cons of Child Beauty Pageants?
There is a heavy focus on personal appearance.
Child beauty pageants, even the natural ones, have one ultimate purpose: to judge the beauty of a child. This means that even though we might teach girls what is on the inside matters more than what is on the outside, the pageant process changes that dynamic. Girls are judged often based on how they look first, which means they are being taught that looks matter more than skills, talent, or even ethics.
It may lead to future health problems.
Children who lose beauty pageants may become upset or depressed because they’ve been judged to be not as beautiful as other children. For those who do win a contest, they may become overconfident and arrogant later on in life because of their experiences. The challenge for parents and industry professionals is to balance these two extremes, which can be rather difficult to do.
It normalizes the process of judging others.
The Golden Rule of treating others like you’d want to be treated isn’t emphasized in the world of the child beauty pageant. Girls are taught to judge others based on what they see and form opinions of people based on these first impressions. This means that the children participating in these pageants could be getting set up for an isolated, lonely life in the future because they may judge everyone to be inferior to them and therefore avoid social engagements.
It requires children to become more mature before they’re naturally ready.
Girls are being asked to act like adults in these competitions, as are boys who may be entered into them as well. The competition requires young children to become mature before they’ve even figured out who they are as a person, which means the environment they are in will dictate more of the person they become then family or friends or their own natural interests.
Child beauty pageants create unrealistic expectations.
There are some children who may go onto professional modeling contracts because of their experiences in these pageants, but that won’t happen for every child. Parents and children aren’t generally entering a competition with the expectation to lose. They’re trying to win and the entire persona that is required to engage judges is an unrealistic expectation to teach children because it creates behavioral expectations that don’t translate into the real world.
Are Child Beauty Pageants Something That Should Be Abolished?
Child beauty pageants have the opportunity to give children higher levels of self-esteem and confidence, but they could also destroy a child from the inside out. Even worse, in the case of JonBenet Ramsey, the experiences could take wind up causing someone to take the life of the child or have strangers stalking a family. There are some benefits to consider, but some disadvantages to think about as well as each person forms their own opinion on child beauty pageants based on pros and cons like these.
