The Advantages and Disadvantages of Child Beauty Pageants Essay Sample free essay sample

In today’s universe. there are rather a few things that bother us Americans. One controversial subject at-hand would be child beauty pageants. The article. â€Å"Playing at Sexy† written by Peggy Orenstein. goes into item of the negative effects of showcasing one’s kid in a pageant. Hilary Levey takes a different attack to child beauty pageants. She finds them to be merely every bit helpful as kids who take after school lessons in her scholarly article. â€Å"Pageant Princesss and Math Whizzes. † Both articles take two different takes on the kid pageant universe. In world though. pageants can merely be every bit detrimental as helpful. Two of the major concerns are the cause of legion wellness hazards. and the many concerns of sexualising immature misss. Child beauty pageants have been referred to as a athletics. Like any other athletics. child beauty pageants should be purely regulated with regulations that include the child’s wellness and wellbein g. When it comes to beauty pageants. there can be many important wellness hazards when fixing for a pageant. The figure one wellness hazard reported by Dr. Travis Stork on the show The Doctors is the usage of hairspray. A chemical in hairspray. known as phthalates is non good for human inspiration. It is known to be a endocrine disrupter which causes many jobs. There is a connexion between liver malignant neoplastic disease and phthalates. Dr. Stork stated ( â€Å"Should† ) . There is besides a connexion between phthalates and generative harm. We have to recognize that these immature kids are non merely inhaling what is being sprayed onto their ain caputs. but besides what other parents are spraying on their ain child’s caput around them. This increases the sum of hairspray a kid will inhale at a beauty pageant. doing their hazards for jobs higher. Another wellness concern Dr. Stork references is the job with have oning elevated. high heels. Small misss who wear or are forced to have on high heels for competition are at hazards for lower-back jobs and developmental jobs for one’s pess. Dana Points reported to CBSNews. â€Å"At the age of 5 and on up until 10. 12. the castanetss are still organizing. The print is organizing. † she said. â€Å"You can acquire some shortening of the sinews in the heels. So you truly don’t privation to allow them pass more than a small clip every hebdomad in some sort of heel† ( â€Å"Should† par 7 ) . Additionally. some parents force their kid to tan. whether it’s in a tanning bed. of course in the Sun. or spray sunburn. All types of tanning listed above are all harmful. Natural sun-tanning is harmful to immature kids because it increases the opportunity of skin malignant neoplastic disease. but put them in a tanning booth with UV Ray bulbs and the hazard of skin malignant neoplastic disease is enormously increased. The last signifier of tanning is one depicted many times on TLC’s hit show Toddlers and Tiaras is the spray sunburn. Spray-tan contains a chemical known as dihydroxyacetone. which can do skin annoyance. hair follicle annoyance. and lung annoyance if inhaled ( â€Å"Health† ) . Another major negative consequence of beauty pageants is the sexualizing of immature misss. Orenstein explains in her article. â€Å"That sexualising small misss — whether through images. music or play — really undermines healthy gender instead than advancing it. These immature misss are being depicted as sexy. † I did some research on Toddlers and Tiaras. One contestant. Alana Thompson. received her ain show. known as Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. In an episode on her show. she is seeking on wigs and asks. â€Å"Do I look sexy? † This is a perfect illustration on how we can see the media and pageants act uponing these immature contestants to be something they shouldn’t be. Sexy. One female parent who was on the Toddlers and Tiaras dressed her 3 twelvemonth old girl as the Hooker Julia Roberts played in Pretty Woman. Levey found it is the female parent who is â€Å"†¦ responsible for how her kid expressions and performs on stage† ( par. 19 ) . The girl’s female parent told Fox News. â€Å"I love life vicariously through my 3-year-old girl Paisley. † Levey discusses mother’s vicariousness. â€Å"CBP female parents get vicarious satisfaction from the success of their kids and sometimes counterbalance for their ain thwarted dreams by traping their hopes on their children’s success† ( Levey par. 72 ) Paisley has competed in over 60 pageants. but it was decidedly the ‘Pretty Women’ costume that put Paisley’s name out at that place. † This type of attitude is what is advancing sexualising of immature misss. What female parents need to recognize is that female parents don’t look at their kids the same manner other people look at them. such as paedophiles. For illustration. female parents don’t look at their girls as if they want to hold sex with them like paedophiles might make. It’s merely authorising the sexualizing of immature misss that aren’t supposed to be sexy. Although all may non hold with the statements above. some find it a productive activity. It is found to assist to happen contestants about competition. good work moralss. and female parents are deriving net income every bit good. Levey. in questioning parents. has concluded that one large ground parents have their girls compete is that they see the competitions as a agency of geting accomplishments that can be utile subsequently in life. The pageants teach the contestants the regulations and rudimentss of competition. It teaches them how to vie and learn them the values of winning and losing. Levey besides notes that the contestants are â€Å"learning confidence† ( Levey par. 52 ) . They learn how to accept licking and that a large loss will non take them down it will merely do the contestant. and their assurance stronger. This is a valid point in reasoning for the pageants. I feel this could be one benefit of the pageants. Beauty pageants besides teach them good work ethic. Equally long as they are viing. they’re traveling to desire to vie harder and harder to acquire the chief rubric. They work hard to vie in the pageant. If they lose they work harder and harder for the following pageant with hope and finding to win. This is a great point in defence for the pageants. It teaches contestants good work ethic while holding their thought of ‘fun’ . One pageant ma Levey quoted in his article said. â€Å"‘I started doing my daughter’s apparels and she was winning. Then people kept inquiring me for apparels. . . . That’s my concern. That’s what I do. I sew’† ( Levey par. 57 ) . Her girl competing is assisting the female parent bring in income. Some people rely on their kids to vie good and win. It’s their chief beginning of income. Although. a positive. this is a counterproductive statement. Children should non hold this type of duty. They should non be relied upon as income. If the kid should lose. they are left feeling as a failure non merely to themselves. but to the household every bit good. This type of force per unit area may be traumatising to a kid. Child beauty pageants may non be everyone’s cup of tea. It promotes serious wellness hazards to a developing kid. and besides promotes the sexualizing of immature misss. Others see it as a great thing. It teaches them to the values of viing. to work hard to accomplish what they want. and how competing can be a family’s chief beginning of income. Personally. you won’t catch me watching Toddlers and Tiaras. Plants Cited â€Å"Health Risks of Child Beauty Pageants† . AOL. America OnLine. 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2011.Levey. Hilary. â€Å"Pageant Princesss and Math Whizzes: Understanding Children’s Activities as a Form of Children’s Work. † Childhood 16. 2 ( 2009 ) : 195-212. Print. McKay. Holly. â€Å"Mother of ‘baby Hooker’ on ‘Toddlers A ; Tiaras’ : Controversy Made Me Famous. † Fox News. FOX News Network. 04 Apr. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. Orenstein. Peggy. â€Å"Playing at Sexy. † New York Times. New York Times. 13 June 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. â€Å"Should Small Girls Wear High Heels? † CBSNews. CBS Interactive. 19 Jan. 2012. Web. 05 Dec. 2012.