Beauty Pageants And Self Esteem

â€Å"Lets Call Her ‘Miss America’!†(Nussbaum). Beginning as early as the 1920s, beauty pageants presented girls and young women wearing various attires and showcasing their talent (Nussbaum). Judges, then and now, are looking for the â€Å"complete package†: the young lady that exudes the most confidence, beauty, and knowledge (Nussbaum). Since then, the child beauty pageant business is one of the most popular in pageantry and has evolved into a â€Å"multi-billion dollar industry† that has led to numerous reality†¦ The Dark Side of Beauty Pageants With their glamour, expensive dresses, jewels and, big fake smiles, beauty pageant contestants are just hiding their true personalities under materialistic things. People may say that beauty pageants aren’t always about looks. The contestants are scored on beauty, personality, evening wear, athletic wear and over all perception of the contestant. Beauty contestant ages range from 2 years old to 60+ years old. The fact that contestants lie about their beliefs†¦ the televised pageants in front of a worldwide audience. Every year when the time of the televised broadcast comes, opposition arises of the great tradition of beauty pageants. Today, pageant girls face people who cringe once they mention they compete in pageants. Shows like Toddlers & Tiaras make it worse for pageant girls, because the show makes pageantry look childish and petty. Most people only see the televised broadcast and are not aware of everything that goes on once the pageant crowns a new†¦ Most Americans are unaware that the first beauty pageant in America originated in 1854, 66 years before women could even vote. Since then, beauty pageants have been extremely detrimental to our society in many ways, although they may seem like nothing but glitter and glam. I believe that beauty pageants are exploitive because they promote the idea that women are just bodies that can be rated on a scale from 1 to 10, which causes society to believe women are nothing more than their appearance, it†¦ The Ugly behind Beauty Pageants Iconic actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn once said, â€Å"The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the beauty of a woman is reflected in her soul.† (â€Å"Audrey Hepburn Quotes†). These words remind girls that their self worth should not come from the artificial things, but from the strength and morals inside of each child. Child beauty pageants heavily contradict this idea, by leading girls to believe that physical perfection is just as, or more valuable than†¦ Beauty pageants originated a long time ago, and over the years they have evolved tremendously. Today, the use of spray tans, false eyelashes, fake teeth, layers of makeup, and over-sexed outfits are the norm of child pageants. Just over the course of a few decades, the pageant world has changed from simple church dresses to expensive glitzy outfits. Most little girls would relish at the thought of being treated like a princess, even if just for a few days out of the year; however, some parents take†¦ alone, 2.5 million females compete in Beauty Pageants every year. (Harden, Beauty) A beauty pageant is a competition that is based solely on physical attributes but also contains personality, talent, and question and answer segments. Beauty Pageants are seen by some as a path of boosting one’s self esteem and creating connections for contestants in hopes of advancing their careers, through popularity and promotions. (OccupyTheory) Many also say that through pageants one can learn public speaking, interview†¦ entrants, usually women, are judged as to physical beauty and sometimes personality and talent, with the winners awarded prizes of titles.’ The definition of a beauty contest objectifies women. Pageants only shows the beauty of someone. Sometimes showing talent, which involves singing, dancing, or baton twirling. In pageants, women display ‘girly’ talents to make themselves seem more appealing than their competition . Beauty is not everything, beauty pageants and contests shows little girls that the only†¦ the depiction of beauty in animated Disney princess films and measure the consequences that the portrayal of beauty has on young girl’s individual self-esteem levels. The hypothesis of this study, states that young girls who idolize the beauty standards of Disney princesses will have lower self-esteem levels than young girls who do not idolize Disney princesses standard of beauty. I expected that young girls who have the desire to mimic Disney princesses would have lower self-esteem levels because†¦ televised pageants in front of a worldwide audience. Every year when the time of the televised broadcast comes, opposition arises of the tradition of beauty pageants. Today, pageant girls face people who cringe once they mention they compete in pageants. Shows such as Toddlers & Tiaras worsen the situation for pageant girls; the show makes pageantry appear childish and petty. Most people only witness the televised broadcast and are not aware of everything that goes on once the pageant crowns a new†¦