A TLC series called "Toddlers and Tiara" is a popular show about the lifestyles of young children, usually little girls, and their parents who compete for the title of 'Little Miss Supreme' in beauty pageants. Throughout the show, we see how contestants face many challenges to makeover and prep themselves in order to look 'perfect'.
I personally find that beauty pageants are degrading to little girls. Adolescents are put in the spotlight where they are criticized and judged based on their distinct personality and their outward appearance.
The video above shows a young girl dressed as Madonna for the section of the talent competition. I believe that the influence of media on the parents and children in pageants has taken over their view on what is appropriate and suitable for young girls. Media puts a lot of pressure on how these girls should act and appear and even more so in beauty pageants. Girls are constantly targeted and encouraged in magazines and commercials to follow the new sexy trends. Media, fashion, advertising and music provokes a strong sense for the need of sexualization of young girls. I believe that young females should not be evaluated or graded on their maturity, sexual appeal nor sexual behavior.
Mature women in magazines, commercials, and music videos are constantly imposed in a sexual manner. Why? ... because SEX SELLS. If young girls, like the ones in glitzy, over-the-top pageants continue to think that they have to look and appear a certain way in the eye of the public then how will females ever be satisfied with themselves? False teeth, hair extensions, false eyelashes, caked-on makeup, and ludicrous costumes may become part of the distorted image of beauty. The view to young girls of how a female should be is misrepresented and with time their superficial expectations they have for themselves may distort their perspective on inner beauty. Thus, it may not be easy for girls at such young ages to distinguish the difference between the surreal displays of media and reality.
I'm going to stop babbling.. it's your turn!!
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
- What are your opinions on the whole concept of beauty pageants (where they rate you on your physical attractiveness and your presence)?
- Do you think that the media has much to do with the choices parents make for their children to appear a certain way in beauty pageants, like the one above?
I agree with you Brittani, on how beauty pageants are degrating to young girls. It gives them the idea that if you look like the picture above that you are beatiful. In fact when watching the show you see that some parents force the daughters to participate in the pageants and wear the make-up, fake teeth and spray tans. I believe that the media has everything to do with the parents choices in the way they dress up their children in the beauty pageants.In my opinion the parents themselves believe the stereotypes about how girls/women should look. There was one case were a mother dressed her daughter in a hooker outfit, claiming it was 'tastesful and funny'. All beauty pageants are basically defending the stereotype that all girl should look 'perfect'.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about the whole beauty pageants for kids because at times when I do watch the show the kids seem very happy with what they are doing and at times they seem forced and almost depended on to win. I feel like this is too much stress for a little girl to be feel like she has to win the contest solely based on how she looks, how she dressed and how pretty she is. I feel like to be that young and to be looked at for these sorts of things is simply wrong. If this is the kind of spotlight these kids are being put under at such a young age it will do nothing for their self-esteem and self-love for when they’re older. Its weird to me that with the kind of society we live in and the amount pressure the media puts on women to look a certain way they would be encouraging their kids to do exactly what they media is saying a “perfect women” should look like. My opinion is that although these kids all seem to love what they are doing, their parents to find a middle and show them that beauty isn’t everything. They should be taught that what they are on stage isn’t what the real world is like but they are beautiful regardless if they are tanned, with extensions or with tons of make-up on. Lately, I totally believe that media has everything to do with the choices parents choice to make their kids look in these beauty pageants. They base the way they want their kids to look on celebrities and people in the public eye because these are the people that are looked at as being beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, beauty pageants are too much pressure for young girls. Instead of teaching girls to accept how they look, these high glitz pageants are only encouraging girls to enhance their appearance by wearing hair extensions, excessive make-up, tanning, and flippers etc. I do watch the show, and parents who are opposed to letting their child have the total “pageant look” usually don’t win the pageant or even place for 2nd or 3rd. It’s upsetting to see how the kids react when they aren’t called for the supreme title which is the overall winner of the pageant. I also think competing to be the most “beautiful” can cause these young girls to have self-esteem and body issues. It can also distort their opinion of beauty because of the images they’re exposed to in pageants. In one episode, a girl says, “She needs to be perfect” and this is an unachievable goal and I think pageants are very unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteI do think the media does play a role, in how parents make their children appear in pageants to a certain extent. The parents do try to get outfits that imitate celebrities like Jessica Simpson in her daisy duke outfit. It is important to realize these celebrities are twice the age of the competitors in the pageants and it’s not fair to blame them for the decisions made by parents. I think overall in the pageant world there’s a certain appearance every girl must attain. Girls that participate in these pageants tend to appear much older. I don’t think the media is portraying this image that 4 year olds should have acrylic nails, tan, and wax their eyebrows.
1. The concept of a beauty pageant is unacceptable for young girls and female teenagers. There is always a line that should not be crossed by anyone. One reason for the disapproval of beauty pageants for young females is that they cut down on food so much that they are diseased with disorders such as anorexia. Malnutrition for young females is definitely not a good thing as they go through puberty (even males for that matter). Another reason is that I believe all these beauty pageants must be strictly for adults. You (in general – anybody) do not need young girls contesting in superficial beauty pageants by flaunting their skin and portraying an unrealistic image of themselves.
ReplyDelete2. The media, undoubtedly, has much to do with the choices parents make for their children to
appear a certain way in beauty pageants. The media places such a huge emphasis on beauty and fashion that many parents would be influenced by it and convince their children to be fashionable. The children would be innocent enough to listen to their parents and excited, for that matter, to be able to contest in a beauty pageant.
If I had kids, I would not let them participate in something such as beauty pageants. Overall, I do not prefer the concept of beauty pageant at all for anyone. However, we cannot stop others because of what we believe in. A reason I dislike beauty pageants is because it fuels the sexual desire of men (when a women’s beauty pageant is on – and they seem more popular than male beauty pageants).
The socioeconomic status of a family also matters, in my opinion. A rich family would want their children to take part in beauty pageants rather than a family who is not so strong financially. As they say, “Money makes the world go round”, and rich families would want to impose the society’s pressure on their children and make them appear more fashionable than others’ children in their society. It would be a matter of prestige for them.
In my opinion, I don’t like the whole concept of beauty pageants, especially when young girls are the ones who are participating in them. It puts way too much pressure on them. Being under that much pressure at such a young age is not healthy and will usually lead to much more severe conditions when the girls get older. When a young girl is constantly competing in beauty pageants, she always wants to win. The thought of always winning and being better than everybody else is set into her mind and she will continue on through her life thinking this. In my opinion, that’s not a good way to think because in life not everything always goes your way. You’re not always going to be the best at everything, and you have to realize that. These kids obviously don’t because when you’re in a beauty pageant, the only thought going through your mind is something like “I’m going to win this”. It’s not healthy.
ReplyDeleteYes, the media does have much to do with the choices parents make for their children to appear a certain way in beauty pageants. The parents are the ones who decide to put their children into beauty pageants so they get “inspired” from the media. They look at images and believe that they are fashionable and want their children to look that way. I also think it has to do with family values. If beauty pageants have been going on in your family throughout every generation, then you are kind of obligated in a way to continue this trend. If you decide to not allow your child to enter into a beauty pageant, the rest of your family will be upset with you because you are stopping a “family tradition”.
I agree with what all of you are saying. I find it outrageous that parents are allowing their little girls to dress this way especially at such a young age. The girl with the Madonna outfit shocked me. How was a girl no older than 7 allowed to wear a dress with pointy boobs and her parents be completely okay and excited about it. It makes me wonder what is going to happen to this girl when she grows up.
ReplyDeleteThese poor little girls are being turned into what they believe is sexy at such a young age that as they are growing up they believe that it is normal for them to be dressing like this. Media is playing a huge role in this because by them even airing this show on television it is encouraging more parents to do this to their children to get money and become famous. Media, especially the show Toddlers and Tiaras is encouraging young girls to rate each other on the way they look and whether they are pretty or not and i feel like that is going to lead to a great amount of bullying as they grow older.
The girls viewing these shows are going to start by rating themselves and because they don't look like the girls on television it is going to give them self confidence issues. After rating themselves, they are going to start rating their friends and other people. When they begin to rate other people it affects the people they are rating and then gives those girls self confidence issues as well, which is basically bullying the girl that is being rated. I feel that this show shouldn't even be allowed to air on television and pageant shows shouldn't be awarding these girls because they have a sexy dance or are wearing these beautiful dresses with lots of makeup on. The should be awarding them on their personalities because that is supposed to be one of a persons best qualities
I agree with all of you. I think it's stupid to put young girls into these pageants because there is so much pressure put on them. I think it's degrading to have a girl dress up in these short clothes and prance around on stage so that she can be judged. In my opinion a lot of the kids on that show are snotty and brats. It just puts so much pressure on them when they should be out having fun being kids. I agree with Sumayah, I believe as they get older they get used to this image that they see in their heads as beautiful and become really insecure as they get older and will do anything to look a certain way. This is probably why women get face lifts or boob jobs.
ReplyDeleteI believe media plays a huge role in the choices their parents make because they want their children to look like the celebrities do so they have a change at winning some cash. But, I also think that the mothers of these children are usually trying to live out their own dreams through their young daughters. They probably never had the chance to do any of this so they put their children in pageants.
What are your opinions on the whole concept of beauty pageants (where they rate you on your physical attractiveness and your presence)?
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on this Beauty Pageant is that it is very stupid , yes it might be their child's dream but there is the right age and time to achieve such goals. These girls are put into pageants in an early age that for the rest of their life , they are left with pressure and self consciousness.This is not how a "childhood" should be like , as a child , they are to play with toys not with make-up.
Do you think that the media has much to do with the choices parents make for their children to appear a certain way in beauty pageants, like the one above?
Of course the media has much to do with the choices parents make for their children to appear a certain way in beauty pageants.I agree with what Bhumi said , they show it as a chance to win some money which every parent or person in this planet wants.The hunger of money begins to kick in and a lot of these parents put their children in pageants due to that hunger of money.
In my opinion I think that it is not media, but parents who make the choices for their kids to look this way in beauty contests. I think that parents (usually the mothers) force their kids to do this sort of things for many reasons such as money, they themselves used to participate, they either always won or never did and they believe that they can do it. This contests promote physical beauty as a main value. A child specially a female that is going to pay so much attention to her looks and that knows she is being assessed for it, is very prone to develop eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia. I think that this little girls also might suffer from anxiety because of the stress. E.g. what if they did not want to do this, but they do it because they want to please their mother? Or what if they do this because if they feel embarrassed or they want to be spending time with friends instead of in a cheap hotel somewhere? I think this little girls go through so much when they are supposed to be home with friends playing house or dress up. I also think that inner problems are not the only things they go through, but also displaying mature looks like a 15, 16 year old girls might attract unwanted public. I've heard of many cases where little girls from pageants were either raped or murdered. A pageant is just not the place for a child to develp.
ReplyDeleteI feel the whole concept of beauty pageants is wrong and stupid, as Britney said they are degrading to young girls. It sends out the message that in order to be beautiful you have to look a certain way. Even though there are talent shows and other things within the beauty pageant, people mostly focus on the physical appearances and forget the other qualities that make them beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI think media has a lot to do with the choices their parents made by making the children dress in a certain way. Media points out what is cute or what is pretty and the parents are influenced by it because of their desire to win, even though it may not be suitable for toddles. Also like Bhumi said, I feel that some parents might put their children in the beauty pageants because they are trying to fulfill their dreams through their children.
1) I think the whole beauty pageants concept totally destroys the natural beauty of young girls from their childhood. Everybody should encourage little girls to be comfortable and proud of their natural beauty rather than giving them too much pressure to be like those famous mature women. These parents seems to be going over money and popularity rather than thinking about the future of their children.They don't even think about how would these little girls feel if they lost the contest.These little girls would definitely feel bad about themselves. So these kind of contests harmful for the children`s image.
ReplyDelete2) Yes, I think that media can create an open discussion regarding this matter. Whenever the public participation in such issues lead to make awareness of the parents. But unfortunately media these days is doing a completely marketing role by advertising these kind of contests.Media doesn't concern about the values of society which is one of their major responsibilities. Money is more powerful than social values for them.
What are your opinions on the whole concept of beauty pageants (where they rate you on your physical attractiveness and your presence)?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the media has much to do with the choices parents make for their children to appear a certain way in beauty pageants, like the one above?
My opinion on the concept of beauty pageants is that I see no harm from this and simply see it as a sport like any other. Many take pride in their appearance and participating in a competition such as this is rewarding for them.
I believe that the media has everything to do with the choices of these parents as it advertises that women and girls need to fit a certain image to be labelled at "hot" in which parents find this pageant to be a route they should take to guarantee the future of their children to be rewarding in the sense that they will be accepted and loved by society for their appearance.