Child beauty pageants Essay

One of the main issues people have with child beauty pageants is that the children’s childhood gets taken from them. Children shouldn’t be wearing fake tan, false eyelashes and make up. France is looking to ban beauty pageants for children under 16 and anyone who organises a pageant would face up to 2 years in jail and a fine of about â‚ ¬40,000. The senate in France states â€Å"If we stop child beauty pageants now, these little girls will grow up to have self-respect and respect for others too, all these pageants do is destroy their self-esteem.† People also argue that these little girls attend pageants because they enjoy it and it’s a hobby, nothing dangerous will come of it. But what harm will banning them do? Child beauty pageants should be banned because they cause little girls, to be artificial to boost their self-esteem. The parents of these children put so much stress and pressure onto these children to look and be a certain way. Beauty pageants make children believe they have to be fake to be beautiful. I feel it can completely lower a girl’s self-esteem if they don’t win. Children of such a young age shouldn’t have to be worrying about the way they look or being judged at all. When we think of beauty pageants we tend to think of the society’s idea of perfect little girls competing to see who the judges think is the most beautiful. Also, we think of crazy moms who push their children too hard and will do anything so that their child will win. All of this is true but there are more issues with beauty pageants, some that are more concerning. Beauty pageants are judged based on physical appearance, yet haven’t we always been told not to judge based on looks? They aren’t healthy for kids- they take away their childhood. Lastly, beauty pageants do not set a good example for kids; they do many things that we are told not to do. One of the largest issues that deals with Child hood beauty pageants is the problem of little children being forced to be dressed in sexualising costumes, that ruins their innocence and such. However i would like to point out that a childhood beauty pageant ranges til the age of 18 years old. A 18 year old girl is allowed to choose to do a beauty pageant and if she wishes to wear something revealing. By placing all the problems of childhood beauty pageants is seen in a brief window of a child’s younger years. What will we achieve by banning the pageants other than a huge amount of protest and disapproval? Just because showing off may not be the best thing in the world why should we ban it? It is wrong to ban something because people look up to it and think they are not as good. Most people are intelligent enough to not do crazy things when they see someone prettier than them. These shows are for entertainment anyway. It is crazy to get rid of things because some people dislike them. People that don’t like the pageants shouldn’t watch them and shouldn’t ruin the fun for others. If people want to show off and get money for it, why shouldn’t they? In the professional pageants showing off is another form of advertising anyway. We shouldn’t ban something while we still encourage other things such as the tour de France, boxing and some legal drugs. Many people enjoy watching and participating in beauty pageants. Just because some people dislike them doesn’t mean we should eradicate all pageants of all types forever. In fact lots of people like them and that is why we have them. The competitors have fun hearing the audience applaud, dressing up, showing off and hearing that they are one of the prettiest, most talented or best dressed competitors. Most of the prizes for beauty pageants are scholarships or savings for the future by banning the pageants we are depriving the talented winners of a decent prize. Beauty pageants do not involve illegal activities, unlike sports. In some sports athletes use illegal drugs to help them perform better and win. We do not ban the Tour de France even when certain people use illegal stimulants. Eddy Merks, a famous cyclist, who was a winner of the tour de France had been caught using illegal drugs 5 times, in fact huge amounts of competitors have been found doping! Do I have to even have to mention Lance Armstrong? So why should we ban beauty pageants if we don’t ban things such as the tour de France? Why should it be illegal to dress up and compete to see who looks better? It is not illegal to have or use makeup, lipstick, eyelash thickener, and fake tans.