http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqzlxGGJFo
Before reading this blog, use the link above to watch a quick video by Dove. I saw this video today and it really hit home. I was watching Little Miss Perfect on the Women’s Entertainment channel and my aunt sent me this video. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Little Miss Perfect is the name of a children’s pageant. Young children compete in a glitz pageant while being judged primarily on beauty. I think that naming a pageant “Little Miss Perfect” starts children out at a young age that they need to strive for physical perfection. A glitz pageant is different than other pageants in that the contestants get spray tans, hair extensions, and they even wear a flipper! A flipper is a set of fake teeth that the children wear to cover up their baby teeth since they are small, there are typically gaps in between them, and some children may be missing a few.
One mother featured in the episode I watched today, decided not to buy expensive outfits, spray tan, and get extensions for her daughter. She decided that her daughter was beautiful the way she is and used simple, minimal amounts of makeup. I have to admit, her daughter stood out like a sore thumb amongst the competition. During judging, one of the judges commented that this minimalistic approach could have been a gimmick to get a sympathy vote. I was outraged that being natural would be assumed to be a ploy for sympathy! On a similar show, Toddlers and Tiaras, one mother of twins compares the twins by saying one is the “pretty one.” Throughout the entire episode, you can see an obvious favoritism she has toward the “pretty one” and she acknowledges that it is because that daughter is “cuter” than the other one. It disgusts me how much beauty has an impact on the world. Teaching children that beauty is everything is an atrocity waiting to happen!
Not many people care anymore how good a person’s personality is, even their own. I don’t really hear people complain about trying to be more charitable, more patient, or nicer. Most complaints stem from the yearning to change their outward appearances. To be honest, I’m also guilty of this. I am also one to start new diets, try diet pills, and wish that liposuction was less expensive and less painful. We have learned that a quick fix is the best way to handle our problems. We forget that being healthy is more important than fitting into the stereotypes depicted on TV, the goals others set for us in magazines.
This was even more evident to me when I went to the heath center on campus a few weeks ago. I was sick and went to the health center to make sure I didn’t have the H1N1 flu, which thankfully I didn’t have. I went through all of the normal questions with the physician when she suddenly asked me what I ate that day. Then, continued to ask what I ate the day before, and the day before that. I answered honestly since I thought she was seeing if I would notice if I ate anything out of the norm in case it was food poisoning or some type of allergy. I quickly found out that is not what her reasoning was. The physician quickly started asking me about eating disorders and attempting to convince me to see the nutritionist. I don’t know how much clearer I could have been that the reason I was eating less was because I was actually sick, not because I was attempting to lose weight. My conclusion from that visit was that on campus physicians probably see a lot of students with eating disorders, which is a scary thought.
Life is filled with all types of pressures to fit in, and to stand out in positive ways. Many people think of only changing their outward appearance since that is what people will judge first. If the world didn’t teach children that they must be gorgeous, then I bet there would be a lot less teenagers and young adults that go to extreme measures trying to fit the standards of others. I wish that the internal beauty of people would be judged more and put to a higher value. Wishing can only do so much though. A change needs to happen, I’m just not sure at this time what that change will actually be.
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I couldn't agree with you more. I am familiar with the Little Miss Perfect Tv Show and I think that its one of the most ridiculous and outragous shows I have ever seen. Over the past decade, reality TV shows have gone to extreme measures to shock their audiences. Unfortunately, this pageant program is more than just a entertainment show, it is the life style for so many young girls.
ReplyDeleteI am not against Pageants as whole. I actually held a a state title when I was in High school, but it was my decesion to enter the pageant and my modivation for signing up involved the possibility to win an academic scholarship. The experience taught me so much about self-confidence, interviewing skills as well as pubic speaking and making public appearences. There was no bathing suit competition and competitors that looked and acted "fake" were not scored well. After I gave up my title, I was actually hired as a choregrapher/pageant coordinator and I held the job for four years. I was so proud to be apart of my pageant organization because we were one of the few circuts that focused an the consestants intellegance, confidence and poise. We did not encourage or even allow girls under the age of 14 to wear ANY make-up.
Young women in our society are bumbarded with the expectation to be "perfect" and it because of this that there are so many women with eating disorders. I completly agree with you in regards to wishing that inner beauty is what should be focused on more so than outer physical perfection. "Glitz" pageants are teaching young girls that being false and looking pretty is the best way to get what you want, and I feel sorry for the girls that put themselves through this life-sucking routine. I hope that these organizations will one day seise to exist.
I am in complete agreement with you Kathy. I think the “kiddy pageants” are awfully detrimental for a little girls psyche. Mainly the women with the twins, she is ridiculous. To say that you like one of your children over the other because they are more beautiful is the most awful thing a mother can say. I am an only child but I was never told anything except for how beautiful I was and how I should always be proud of myself and happy with who I am. I just wonder what kinds of adults these girls will be some day. Will they be very confident women who are smart and sophisticated or will they be weak self conscious women who rely on other to complete even the most basic task. I could see both sides. I think it defiantly depend on how the mothers treat them. If the mothers are inhibitors then I see them growing up to be codependent. If the mothers explain to them that although being beautiful is great they also stress the importance of an education and personal strength. Either way I stand by my opinion that beauty pageants for children are more harmful than helpful in personal growth.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is really sad that little girls are being subjected to the harsh realities of the world at such a young age. Your youth is a time where nothing should matter expect that you are happy and healthy. Unfortunately as we've seen Mothers who are struggling with self esteem issues who take it out on their daughters. Shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Little Miss Perfect are a good indication of what can happen with little guidance and love. I did a research paper and an English Paper on the topic of child beauty pageants and such and found it to be extremely interesting. We can only hope that those young girls won't grow up to be crazy!
ReplyDelete- I’ve seen the Little Miss Perfect Show and it is sad to watch. I couldn’t believe how those mothers were so into the competition. This is the society we live in. Beauty is everything while brains and personality go on the back burner. It’s a sickenening thought to think of the pressure we as women are put under to be thin and attractive, and all begins so soon when were young.
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