The Further Exploitation of Little Girls in Our Society

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]Recently, an interesting topic has come up among my classmates and I: children participating in beauty pageants.

While it is obvious that these functions can often result in low self-esteem later on in life, extreme parental pressure, and overall unhappy children, some people still seem to be for these Little Miss *insert name here* events.

I am not sure how many years ago it was that a little girl was murdered as a result of her participating in a beauty pagent. I am not quite sure what the story was, though I believe she was murdered (directly or indirectly) by the competition's parent/guardian.
I find it appalling that people (parents, especially) could take something so hollow so seriously. If one is going to dress your daughter up and pressure her to become skinny and look what one envisions as "pretty", one should at least retain some degree of civilty about it.

I know that not every one could possibly take these things [i]so[/i] seriously, but I am against the concept of beauty pagents all together. They send a negative message to girls because of the strange ideas of "beauty" that exist today.

Be rail-thin, pile yourself with makeup. I find neither of these concepts at all appealing, but there are people who are driven to take them seriously to a disturbing level.
Starting to send such intense waves of the above messages from when your child is six or seven years old cannot possibly benefit their self-concept in any way. Similarly, I would imagine it would give them a skewed image of how [i]other[/i] people should look and behave.


It's a rather obscure topic, I know, but I think it's serious in its own right. What are people's opinions in the matter?[/FONT][/COLOR]

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=darkviolet]Some parents are just extremely pushy and don't care what their kids want. They don't even realize the consequences of their actions.

As for beauty pageants it's nothing more than a meat market even for the younger girls and from the age of when they start they're shown that the only thing that matters in life is how pretty you are and if you can walk with a stack of books on your head. Or twirl a baton and sing Camp Town Races at the same time. What kind of message is that to send to your daughter? Just as long as you can look pretty everything will be okay.

Have you seen the Bravo series [u[Showbiz moms and dads[/u]? I have it's somewhat disturbing what these parents are willing to put their kids through to get famous I keep hoping I don't end up like that. Especially that guy with teh seven kids....okay off topic sorry!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that anything that judges your child on how they look or on how you look is a bit demoralizing to a person. You keep being told by family members, friends and signifigant others (hopefully) that you're pretty and you're good at something and then the public gives you a swift kick in the butt. It can hurt.[/color]

[Adora]

[quote name='Godelsensei][font=Courier New']children participating in beauty pagents.[/quote]
And here I thought this was going to be about something serious like paedophillia in the Asian sex trade.

But yeah, Beauty paegents freak me out, no matter who the participants are. They are dolls, and nothing more, parading about drenched in chemicals and badly cut fashion. It's disturbing.
[/font]

[DeadSeraphim]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1][FONT=Arial Narrow]It's sad, because these girls think that what their parents are doing to them 'for them' is normal, and people who don't are the weird ones. Oh and I thought this was about paedophilia when I saw the topic title too, heh.

My overall view of this, is the same on parents pushing their children in sporting events. They are pushing their children to accomplish goals that they failed in their child-hood. You see these girls on TV, and they are either one of two things:
1. Deluded or
2. Miserable
The deluded ones think that what they are doing is normal. The miserable ones just don't want to be there. But both mindets are the result of their parent's pushing. Christ, if a parent isn't content with their child-hood and how it turned out, they should stay that way, not attempt to feel some fleeting glory living through their children. It not only demeans the children, but themselves as well.

~CrH~[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Domon]

[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][SIZE=1]While I tend to agree that parading your child at such a young age around a stage for a beauty pagent is a little over the edge for some families. There are some kids that want to do it on their own. I mean its not all that uncommmon, there are young kids that would want to enter a beauty pagent on their own because they want to have fun.

Of course, then there are those parents who think their child is simply gorgeous and therefore enter them into a beauty pagent to show up another person or something like that.

I know that consensus of the children don't want to do these beauty pagents, but a few do. I guess that's all I have to say.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Panda]

A few weeks ago I saw a special on baby beauty pageants. It was quite disturbing to me. You have girls from a few months old to college age involved. Many of the moms and dads were "stage parents". They say they are doing it for their child but when the child is tired or wants to go play they force them to "pratice" the routines.

Cash, prizes, trophies, crowns...it all seems to be for the parents and not the child. The parents are proud as peacocks when their child wins. If they don't win then it's the poor judging. The time, money and everything else involved is just mind boggling!

In the show I was watching one 15 year old girl was being home schooled so she could go to all the pageants. Her entire life was being involved in beauty pageants. She actually seemed to enjoy the competition, but the younger girls looked like they were doing it to please their parents.

To me there is just something wrong about making your 3 year old daughter parade around wearing a ton of make up while in a bathing suit on stage.

[Queen Asuka]

[color=crimson][size=1]Well, I'm sure there are some children who ADORE the spotlight and enjoy the competitions. Like anything else, you have to work for it, and so they will get frustrated and upset at times. But if they really didn't like it, I'm sure they would absolutely refuse. They wouldn't do the little walk like they were supposed to if they didn't want to. And from what I can tell, the children that start doing these things at a young age gain a LOT of confidence. Not necessary in themselves, but in front of crowds and audiences. And that is a good thing to have later on in life.

I never participated in a beauty pageant. My parents never even thought to allow me to, either. I'm kind of glad though, but I hate my negative body image. I'm 5'4" and I weigh 135ish pounds, but I think I am fat. I'm not bone-skinny, but I KNOW I'm not fat. Yet I can't stop thinking of myself as thus. I'm glad that I don't have a shallow boyfriend because he loves every inch of me and that is the only thing that keeps me feeling beautiful. I'm so glad to be out of high school because I constantly thought I was ugly. Now I can go a week without brushing my hair and still think I'm attractive. I am so weird.[/color][/size]

[eleanor]

[color=firebrick] Similiar things happen to child movie/TV stars: they make tons of money and then they become broke because their parents have taken all of the money. It's disgusting that a parent- someone who is supposed to love and support you- would try and use you as child as a way to get money and fame even if it means hurting him/her.

*shrugs* But QA has a valid point. If they want to do it, it has a number of positive affects. They'll learn how to work hard and be passionate about something, plus they learn social skills etc. [/color]

[DeathBug]

[color=indigo][size=1][font=comic sans ms]Does it bother anyone that we're running our children in the same types of shows we're running our dogs?

As I recall, there was a huge fuss recently...somewhere...when a Children's Beauty Pagent wanted to include a swimsuit contest. As you can rightfully imagine, no one went for that.

Is there exploitation going on? Yes. However, I don't think that it's gender-specific in this case. Bueaty pagents are a way girls cam be exploited, but I'm sure there's many boys on sports teams who just don't wanna be there.

I'm reminded of the Student Council elections held in my school. Students pour, literally, thousands of dollars into this type of event. Yet, many of the candidates I talk to are apathetic to the whole thing.

I think the exploitation of young girls in beauty pagents is merely a small part of a wider phenomenon: overzealous parents trying to live vicariously through their children.[/color][/size][/font]

[Zen]

[color=green][size=1]

Although I never really saw the point to such competitions, my current girl freind actually competes in these things. I don't understand why, I never really asked her that much, although she says she enjoys it and seems to quite a bit. Contrare to popular beleif, she never show's a sign of inner-depression, in fact, she's a very positive and happy person. She's not 'rail-thin' and she doesn't wear alot of make-up on a regular basis. So, there isn't really a stereo-type going on, I guess.

I'll ask her more about it tommorow. But my opinion on it is that people take it to seriously. I mean, it, to me, is that when parents force and pressure their children into this, it seems childish because its like their playing the old "My (whatever) is better than your's", but its with your children. I don't see the purpose of this, I think it may be the self-esteem of the parents, because I havn't seen to many beuty pangeant mom's who set a "good example" of how to carry yourself. Maybe their trying to redeam their own imperfections threw their children. Who know's? Maybe some are just psycho. Either which way, I don't see why people go to such extremes to win at something that most moral people would say doesn't matter. So the answers really lay in the minds of the those who do it. So, I'll probably ask my girl freind more about it.

PS- The reason they wear so much make-up is because the lights placed on the girls when on stage causes their faces to seem extremely pale, so the make-up is there to add on and make up for the lost complexion due to the lights. So speaks my girlfreind.[/color][/size]

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]Ahh, but I would assume your girlfriend is of an age where she is able to make decisions like whether or not to participate in beauty contests for herself, no?

Even babies are included in these sorts of competitions. How can you possibly take a little girl from when she is an infant and raise her believing that looks are the most important thing in the world and then say it hasn't had any negative effects on her self image? It's rediculous. In our highly developed society, where we are constantly striving (as a whole) for equality and acceptance, how can we condone such things?

The message that most children's TV shows send is "Be yourself." or "You're special." (<---though this last one is negative nowadays...XD)

If a teenaged girl who has grown up being taught that she does not have to compete with other girls over looks to be considered worth something in this world decides that she would like to participate in a beauty pageant, that's her business. But forcing it upon small children is emotional harassment (and often borderline pornographic, as well).[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Zen]

[color=green][size=1]

I agree with you on that part and that goes back to my opinion. I feel that parents shouldn't place children in such situations. I think its kinda sickening and abusive the way some parents abuse children and make them jump threw hoops on stage for money. I mean, when your child breaks out in tears on stage because she made a mistake in a song, thats a sign things have gone to far. Some people take things such as looks way to far and I'm suprised that things like the subject in the first post hasn't gottent he goverment in this sort of thing, because this child beuty pageant thing has gotten on the level of near child abuse and emotional neglect. [/size][/color]

[XxmagentaxX]

I think it's disgusting. Watching parents parade their children around like freaking show dogs!
The children are so small they don't really understand whats going on. They just want to make their parents happy.
Doing pagents can't make these little girls happy.