Beauty pageants have been around since ancient Greece, but the popularity of child beauty pageants only really began in the mid 1800’s. For centuries, women were valued primarily by their appearance, making beauty pageants a popular activity.
There are 100,000 beauty pageants around the world in existence to this day, and nearly a quarter of them are specifically for children. These beauty pageants for children are absolutely, 100% predatory, problematic and exploitative.
It’s important to note that beauty pageants for adults are not inherently a bad thing. Some beauty pageants have become more progressive over the years, with pageants like Miss Universe embracing transgender women and inclusivity. These pageants can be inspiring to some women and boost their self confidence.
However, these events can have adverse, even opposite effects on children.
When I was a child, my parents signed me up for a local beauty pageant. At a young age, I learned that a lot of my value was based on my appearance because I was forced to dress up in a way I didn’t particularly care for just to be told I was beautiful.
I had reached this conclusion after going to one child beauty pageant that wasn’t even close to as strict as some other ones are, especially the ones aired on reality television like Toddlers and Tiaras.
In a study conducted on eating disorders, it was found that the women studied who participated in child beauty pageants reported higher rates of body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust and a lack of impulse control.
Furthermore, a similar study reported that ¼ of child beauty pageant participants in the study experienced an eating disorder, nearly half reported a desire to be thinner and more than half were in the process of trying to lose weight.
Many children who participate in child beauty pageants, particularly those on reality television, experience extreme pressure and often abuse by their parents and the other adults around them. This can lead to anxiety and depression, and it could stunt other areas of their development, such as intellectual and emotional growth.
While the mental stress and image problems caused by these pageants is horrible, something arguably worse that tends to come out of child beauty pageants is the sexualization of children.
In his podcast PsychologyInSeattle, Dr. Kirk Honda discusses this very topic.
“Perhaps the most tabloid-y thing about child beauty pageants was that you had these pictures of this 4-year-old, 5-year-old, 6-year-old little girl, just a normal kindergartener, and she’s dressed up to look like a sex object and she looks like an adult,” Kirk said.
In many of these beauty pageants, children are required to wear makeup, wear jewelry and wear dresses that all make them look older than they actually are. Sexualizing children to make them look “beautiful” and judging children on how they look is absolutely deplorable and disgusting.
Children deserve to be valued for who they are and given all the patience and grace they need in order to develop healthily. Any sort of contest or program that could prevent that from happening should be shut down completely.
