As young children, mostly girls participate in child beauty pageants. Their perception on what makes a person beautiful is reshaped. In the popular TLC reality show, Toddlers and Tiaras, young girls are seen in expensive dresses, heavy makeup, fake eyelashes, and spray tans. Some even apply hair extensions, because their hair is too short, and fake teeth, because they just lost a tooth. All this beauty treatment is done to win cash prizes and tiaras. This teaches those participating and watching that beauty does not come from within but rather from changing who you are and striving for the world’s definition of beauty, being perfect (Kelsey). Chantal Jouanno, who wrote the France amendment, stated to the senate that child beauty pageants make “girls believe from an early age that their only value is their appearance.” It teaches that beauty is not in their intelligence or confidence; it is in their appearance and how others perceive them.
Attempting to reach for “perfection” can lead to other problems as well. Pageant parents are often seen bribing their children with food or toys to get them to cooperate and keep participating. At the Sunburst Beauty Pageant I attended, there was one mom who was bribing her daughter to smile and go back on stage because she could win one or more of the many trophies that were displayed. Many parents often deny their child participant to nap because it might ruin the child’s appearance (Blue). At the beauty pageant I observed, there was a 4 year old who was napping but was quickly woken up once it was time for her category to go on stage. This caused her to be restless and upset for being put as the center of attention. Martina Cartwright, who observed two live tapings of Toddlers and Tiaras, saw numerous parents give their child energy drinks and candy to keep them awake and energized. Some even get angry if the child did not do as good as they should have or did not win the award the parent was hoping for them to get. The pressure parents put on their young ones can lead to recognizing the needs of themselves over the needs of their child (Blue).
Some pageant participants also gain eating disorders in order to reach perfection in the judge’s eyes’ and win. Brooke Breedwell competed in child beauty pageants and was a star of Painted Babies, a documentary on child beauty pageants. “As a girl, she suffered from stress and anxiety while striving for an unrealistic standard of perfection. She explains that her mother’s ambition as well as her obsessive goal to win, resulted in severe social and psychological consequences.” Nicole Hunter stated by competing in pageants as a girl resulted in dealing with anorexia nervosa once she left the pageant lifestyle (Lieberman 740). “The emphasis on physical perfection may put young girls at risk for adult body dissatisfaction, and potentially eating disorders” (Blue). These beauty pageants teach children that it is okay to judge others on how they look and appearance is very important in life (Kelsey).
During an anonymous survey of 131 female beauty pageant contestants to examine how beauty pageants can effect the participants self-esteem and body image, 26% of them “had been told or perceived they had an eating disorder” around the age of sixteen. About half of the women, 48.5%, wanted to be thinner and 57% were trying to lose weight (Thompson).