It is a method for parents to scapegoat their own fallacies on their child. A way to exploit a child and instill ideas of value only for appearance. Exploitation. three words to encapsulate this all, child beauty pageants. What is a child beauty pageant you might ask? According to the Oxford Dictionary, a child beauty pageant can be classified as “an event created to reward children for their appearance” . Beauty pageants have been around for a very long time, since the 1960s, with several TV shows being made around them, such as Little Miss Atlanta. Here comes honey boo-boo, and the most well-known, Toddlers and Tiaras.  Some may argue that they provide an opportunity for children to express themselves and build self-confidence, yet the exploitative nature cannot be ignored. We often overlook the inhumanity that is inherent throughout these competitions, while letting them reinforce society’s cruel unrealistic standards. The insinuation of these pageants that value children for their appearance and nothing else is a clear representation of this.  I beg to argue that the inherent nature of these pageants is the extortion of the innocence of young girls in the form of flimsy, glitter crowns. 

One of the main points I’d like to bring up is that Child beauty pageants are a breeding ground for a range of long-term issues. A study conducted by Kelly Canolan from World Press discusses the correlations between childhood eating disorders and beauty pageants, with the mother of a 7-YEAR OLD girl telling her and I quote; “It doesn’t matter if you can breathe; it only matters if you look good.” A comment like this, especially from a mother can start a plethora of body image issues developing- degressing through the age groups as victims of this are getting younger and younger. These young girls grow with the notion in mind that to ‘win,’ they must look perfect, forcing them into an innate obsession with their physical appearance stemming from a young age. This follows through to adolescence and adulthood as their perception of beauty has been altered and they seek “perfection” at all costs, to the point where it becomes their central concern at a level that is detrimental to their self-esteem and adult livelihood. A study conducted by Wonderlich states that 55.9% of women who partook in child beauty pageants engaged in bulimic behaviour. For those unfamiliar, bulimia is a serious eating disorder in which individuals tend to “binge” foods, usually unhealthy, and essentially get rid of the food through different means of “purging” such as over-exercise, the excessive usage of laxatives, fasting, or self-induced vomiting. The level of detriment is evident in that Bulimia is linked to throat cancer as well as an increased risk of suicide.  

As documented by The National Library of medicine, out of 55.9% of child beauty pageant finalists, 26% were either diagnosed or perceived by a doctor as having one or more eating disorders. On top of this, parents, usually mothers, further influence the physical appearance of their children by putting them on crash diets, in the hopes of giving their young girls enough sugar for them to act enthusiastic very quickly. A key example of this would be the mother of whom is constantly called the pageant queen- Honey boo boo. Her mother would mix ‘Mountain Dew’ and ‘Red Bull’ together into a bottle, to then force the 7 year old to drink it before every single one of her competitions. With its dangerously high caffeine content,  this is ridiculously hazardous for the young girl's health. This further implements the idea that these girls in a natural state are not enough. Some of the other crash diets include eating low calorie and carb food, weeks before competitions  for the girls to be able to display their tiny bodies in even tinier swimsuits. Child beauty pageants cater towards these disorders by putting young, impressionable young girls in a position where they are only judged on their physical appearance, which is normally already highly altered by their parents through things like fake tan, hair extensions, fake teeth, and pounds upon pounds of makeup. 

When a child does not win one of these competitions, they begin to foster negative feelings towards their own bodies- and also towards the other competitors. This results in high levels of resentment from younger girls, which tends to manifest in violent mannerisms. The pageant mothers tend to be quite unhelpful in this area, even encouraging their daughters to trip their competitors before they go onstage to fuel fear. While this issue surrounds more of the parents' reaction in high pressure situations as well as parenting, these young girls are also prone to the behaviours of adults, regardless of the high stakes. In these competitions, not everyone can win. Beauty pageants are not like sports games, in which you go against people's hard earned skill level- you compete to see who is the prettiest. Therefore, when one of these children doesn’t win, they immediately foster doubts over their own appearance, relating back to the body issues. The dejection that these girls experience should not be experienced at such young ages. It really is as simple as if the judges don’t like how the children look, neither will the children. 

Now, while these girls might not feel satisfied with the way they look, I assure you that there is most likely someone in the audience who is.  Beauty pageants expose young children to extremely dangerous situations such as child predators. One of the most famous cases of this would be of Jon Bennet Ramsey, a young girl who was extremely popular due to the pageants she participated in. In the morning of December 26th, her mother called the police after discovering a ransom note demanding monetary compensation for her daughter’s safe return home. She was later found sexually assaulted and murdered. While it is not proven that her fame was involved in her kidnapping and eventual murder, it would not be a far reach to say that they are associated. The sexualization of pageant girls feeds into the fantasy that several predators have. By putting young girls in front of predators, these parents exploit their children by receiving money from the predator (entry fee)  and essentially using their children's small bodies as a form of income. 

However, it is clearly not the children’s fault that they are being put into these pageants.  Most pageant parents suffer from a form of achievement by proxy, nicknamed princess by proxy. This is essentially what drives parents to put their children into pageants. Benign ABP occurs when parents, coaches or caregivers of young children experience pride or satisfaction through their children's achievements, but still understand the child's limits. However, adults with pathogenic ABD (ABPD) happens when adults are driven mostly by the personal gains that they receive, usually monetary value and social gains directly earned through their child. Therefore, parents with this condition tend to put their children in things like pageantry in order to fulfill the needs of the disorder. Instead of receiving help for the disorder, they are glorified as “parents involved in their children's sport”. Pageantry serves as an environment for these parents to further exploit their children to fulfill the needs of the disorder instead of receiving help. These parents vicariously live through their children. However, this does cause an insane amount of stress on the young girls, as losing doesn’t just mean that they as individuals lose- their parents lose too. This leads to the girls being in fear of not winning their competitions because they perceive that they let their parents down. 

Now, after all that, it would be a no-brainer to ban all of these cruel competitions. However, the parents of these young children still say that this helps their children become comfortable in their bodies, and accompanies these girls into developing higher levels of self confidence. However, I say throw caution to the wind and in order to fix this problem, follow in the footsteps of france. After a controversy surrounding the world renowned VOGUE magazine and their contribution towards the sexualization of young girls, the parliament of France heard a report named “Against hyper-sexualization; A new fight for equality” Which demanded the ban of beauty competitions for U16s, as well as a suggestion towards a ban on child sized adult clothing, such as padded bras and high-heeled shoes.  The former sports minister is quoted saying “Let us not make our girls believe from a young age that their worth is only judged by their appearance”. The organisers of beauty pageants in France may now face a jail sentence of two years and a fine of 30,000 euros. This must now be passed down to the National Assembly before becoming law. As can be seen, France has begun the first stages of banning child beauty pageants. These young girls are told that they are not enough. That they will only win awards due to their beauty instead of their personalities, brains, or attributes. An entire sense of individuality is thrown out of the window. I propose that all countries around the world abolish beauty pageants for those under 16 years of age, as well as for children to not be judged on physical appearance regarding beauty in any shape, form, or context.

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