According to the American Psychological Association, “sexualization occurs when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy, a person is sexually objectified-made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making, and sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person” (“Report of the Task Force” 1). Beauty pageants for young participants have numerous categories and age groups in which you are judged. Some categories include, prettiest eyes, prettiest smile, best hair, best outfit, and best personality. Most of these divisions are entirely determined by the way you look. Other categories include, sportswear and evening gowns (Lieberman 743). With categories such as these, it is very easy to sexualize someone by molding them to fit the standards for each section in order to win.
In one episode of the infamous show series, Toddlers and Tiaras, a young contestant wore a costume depicting Julia Roberts in her movie Pretty Woman, in which she portrayed a prostitute (Kelsey). Some critics believe parents put their children through a “diluted form of child pornography” because of the way they are dressed to look like adults in suggestive outfits (Lieberman 758). As Martina M. Cartwright, author of Princess by Proxy, observed beauty pageants, she saw one young girl dressed as a playboy bunny, the sex symbol of the Playboy Club, on stage with her dad dressed as Hugh Hefner. This instance, which is one of many, suggests that children are exploited in these pageants and are taught about sexualization before they even know what it is. According to the American Psychological Association, “when young girls are dressed to resemble adult women, adults may project adult motives as well as an adult level of responsibility and agency on girls (“Report of the Task Force” 34). The way young girls are dressed in pageants sexualizes them because of the exposing costumes and outrageous outfits they wear during competition.
Some parents and pageant coaches teach their girls methods to attain the attention of audiences and judges. Many participants are trained to “flirt” with the judges through ways of winking, dancing, as well as even removing some of their costume pieces (Lieberman 745). At the beauty pageant I attended, there was one four-year-old girl in particular who got everyone’s attention. As she walked on staged in front of the judges, she immediately started blowing kisses and winking at the judges. This was followed by many laughs and applause from the audience. A child specialist suggested that it is “developmentally inappropriate to teach a six year old to pose like a twenty year old model” (Lieberman 753). Such
acts like these, along with kiss blowing and butt-shaking, are considered
acceptable for the competitors because it is “cute” when these acts are
performed by young girls (Kelsey).
According to the American Psychological Association, wearing heavy makeup is generally associated with sexiness. Karen Kataline, who has a Masters’ Degree in social work and has competed in beauty pageants for several years as a child, says pageant parents are noted for encouraging sexualization of the pageant contestants. Parents will adorn their child with wigs, hair extensions, and fake teeth. While observing the pageant, I noticed most contestants had a full face of makeup. The youngest I saw was three years old and pageant parents were fixing and altering the way the child looked before the pageant started, making sure their dress fit in a flattering way and perfecting the participants hair to compliment the face. Adolescents,
the youngest being fourteen, sometimes go through breast augmentations to look
fuller and more mature and some girls even remove facial and body hair before
they have even gone through puberty (Lieberman 755).
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God," that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator” (CCC, 1701). As human beings who are made in God’s image and likeness, we are called to promote human dignity in our actions, which do not include sexualizing the way a person dresses, acts, or appears. Humans must reflect God’s intentions for the greater good because every human being has value and worth. By participating in beauty pageants, or any forms of public displacement through beauty, participants and promoters are intentionally selling the bodies of themselves based on their appearance. In beauty pageants, children are judged solely on the way the person appears, degrading the importance of the human person. This can often lead to sexualizing the individual’s appearance, promoting sexuality to human beings rather than the dignity of each person.