The beauty pageant in which children participate was made in Atlantic City in 1921 with the aim of encouraging tourism in the city. Namely, children's beauty pageants are considered to be competitions in which children under the age of 18 participate, and the usual categories of which it consists are: talent, interview, thematic show, swimsuit show and evening toilet show.
A beauty pageant involving children was made in Atlantic City in 1921 with the aim of encouraging tourism in the city. Namely, children's beauty pageants are considered competitions in which children under the age of 18 participate, and the usual categories of which they consist are: talent, interview, thematic show, swimsuit show and evening toilet show.
What is worrying is that there is also an age categorization (of which the youngest is up to 11 months!), In addition there are two types of competitions - Glitz and Natural, and depending on that, the contestants wear heavy makeup and soaked hairstyles.
Children are generally prone to travel to the world of imagination and their desire to participate in this circus can be explained by the desire to live a few days a year as Sleeping Beauty, surrounded by splendor and glamor. Children need to relive and relive their childhood in order to grow into normal and mentally stable people.
However, beauty pageants are not appropriate for their age because they primarily send the wrong message to girls and boys.
Of course, all this would not be possible without the consent of the parents, so they are actually the biggest responsibility on them. Such parents not only register their children for beauty contests, but also subject them to difficult diets from early childhood, harassing them with waxing, makeup and hairstyles in an attempt to cure some of their frustrations, as it often happens that parents try to achieve some of their own. they sleep and in many cases have some childhood trauma trying to heal their children. Namely, these competitions and "glamor" for children very quickly cease to be fun and turn into real torture, and for what? So parents can be proud of their gold, the most beautiful eight-year-old in Texas? Crazy isn't it ?!
Dr. Martina M. Cartwright, a part-time professor of nutrition at the University of Arizona, published an article pointing to the fact that Miss pageant contests with contestants harm their self-esteem and health, especially looking at $ 5 billion Glitz contests. As a subject of her analysis she took the reality show "Toddlers and Tiaras", which popularized this type of beauty choice that is more luxurious and kitschy than the others, and the girls look like live dolls with heavy makeup, artificial eyelashes, soaked hair in gorgeous costumes that cost and up to $ 5,000!
Analyzing the show’s content, Cartwright concluded that some of the parents who enroll their children in such choices suffer from identification or what she calls “princess power of attorney syndrome” when adults primarily run social and financial benefits because of their child’s accomplishments. regardless of the possible risks to which the child is exposed.
- Parents cannot separate their needs from their children and, in order to achieve the desired success, they often know how to overdo it. Prizes waiting for the winners include money, crowns, travel, puppies and even smaller roles in movies. It is the stellar potential that most influences the development of the princess syndrome through the parents. This happens when parents can no longer distinguish their needs from their children and objectify them and exploit their own children at the cost of success.
Parents need to know the limits of their children and not push them because it will negatively affect their self-esteem at a later age - Cartwright claims, adding that it is unrealistic to expect a child to make a great Hollywood career.
The child will then no longer have fun playing with disguises and glamor due to the pressure created.
Sexualization of children
Along with these problems, the fact is that beauty choices, especially those for younger children, focus primarily on looks - “sweetness” and good styling are important, and the “show what you know” competition segment is often marginalized and irrelevant. Setting such criteria can lead to eating disorders and distorted self-images, as even the youngest contestants are subjected to diets to fit into competitive costumes and dresses. The traumas and mental illnesses of such children are unquestionable, because parents treat them as adults from an early age, which has a bad effect on the psyche and mental health in general.
What is also worrying is that the sexualization of children is increasingly emphasized - girls wear very suggestive costumes and learn from this that they can attract attention with sexual attraction. They look like real little women at an age when their physical appearance should completely unencumbered them and enjoy their childhood.
In addition, such competitions teach children unhealthy life values, such as winning at all costs, pushing physical appearance to the forefront, while diminishing qualities such as academic success, empathy, and social skills. Eventually, children grow into mentally unstable people who suffer from various mental disorders, and often from distorted moral values, and very often become sociopaths with antisocial personality disorders.
