Child Pageants - Recent Article

Henson, Melissa. “’Toddlers and Tiaras’ and Sexualizing 3-Year-Olds.” CNN. CNN Opinion, 13 September 2011. Web. 21 February 2013.

This is a picture of a young girl, more specifically her mother and others like her, protesting at a child beauty pageant in Melbourne, Australia, that was hosted by the same company behind the U.S. show “Toddlers & Tiaras”. The general public, view my topic as shameful, harmful, and over-sexualizing to children, as can be seen in this photo and in the article containing it. Some common issues that the women in this picture are protesting are that it teaches young girls that not everyone is beautiful, you need to look a certain way to be successful, and the “stealing away” of the innocence of little girls. This can supposedly lead to eating disorders, diminished cognitive and emotional development, sexual violence, and a lack of women pursuing jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. What is particularly upsetting to me about this picture are the two posters that say “All kids are beautiful” and “Pageant culture is toxic”. One of the many common misconceptions about child pageants is that the children who are the skinniest or prettiest or have the sexiest costumes and routines always win and therefore are promoted by child pageants. This is not true. Judges for child pageants openly admit that what they look for most in the contestants is happiness, confidence, and their enjoyment of performing. They also make sure to have many individual awards so that almost every child gets to go home with a trophy or some sort of prize. Child pageants are to show every child that they are beautiful and are in no way all about trying to show off the child in the “sexiest” outfit. The poster that reads “Pageant culture is toxic” displays the exact line of thinking that I plan to disprove with my paper. Pageants are not toxic or degrading, but help to produce healthy, confident women in all aspects of life, including their personal appearance and their beliefs.