Are beauty pageants exploitive? [ENDS 06/03/2011]

Are beauty pageants exploitive?

ENDS: 06/03/2011

The real true question here is whether women should participate in them, or whether this is another sexist ploy to lure girls into the consumer world. Although, some say it is great, for these girls are not only showing their beauty but also having a multi-cultural experience, by absorbing various cultures and broadening themselves within the pageants. Some say it is a good career starter to things such as modelling and also may I add quite entertaining.

On the other hand, they make young girls try and be as 'thin' as all the girls within the beauty pageants, often causing anorexia and other such chronic diseases. These pageants often symbolize wealth, fame and fortune and girls start preparing for them from a really tender age. Some say, this has a detrimental effect on a girls psychological development. Also, controversy has come from the fact that they are sexist and simply there to admire a woman's body/figure and not take much account of wit and talent, although this is changing.

So is it right, are girls getting exploited? Should we continue to think that the girls in the pageants are what beauty really is- or should the 'chubbier' girls also get attention?

Quite a few issues to debate, really in many terms.

Yeah, personally I think it's for women that can't get another job because they're stupid. As long as you've got money for plastic surgery then more or less anyone can enter.

The girls that don't enter obviously don't have time to prance around in fancy clothes because they're trying to get a good job.

So you're saying all beautiful women are stupid?? Some of them may need the money - there's usually prize money, so that may appeal. Also, not all models have plastic surgery - that's just a stereotype. I don't think there's anything wrong with entering these competitions - they boost confidence more than anything else.

Kid's beauty pageants are a little bit creepy IMO, especially the ones where the 8 year old girls are wearing water bras and a ton of makeup - they shouldn't really be dressed like that at that age - but at the end of the day it's the choice of the child or the child's parents.

You've asked two different question here - first asking if the pageants themselves are sexist and harmful to the participants, and then ending with a question about who should be a part of them. To answer the last one first (as it's a far easier question), anyone can enter themselves for beauty pageants whatever size and shape you are, but obviously if you're not what people think of as attractive then you won't get far. The idea isn't to be "fair" and make fat girls feel pretty, it's to showcase the physical beauty of the best of the bunch and nothing more. No-one pretends these girls are talented beyond knowing how to walk well and hold posture, but that isn't the point and there are other contests people can enter if they want to show off a skill, personality or mental ability.

Moving on. The pageants can only be claimed as "sexist" in that the participants are (depending on which contest it is) usually all of one gender. The claim that objectifying a person and looking only at their physical appearance is somehow sexist is ridiculous and serves only to prove that most people can't understand a simple concept - beauty matters. If a girl doesn't want to doll herself up, slim herself down and offer herself around then no she won't win, but that isn't sexist that's how such competitions work. To suggest otherwise is like saying a footballer shouldn't have to actually be any good or put in the hours at training to be picked for a team, one does what one must in order to do as well as one can, and in nearly all such walks of life natural talent counts to start you off but it's the most dedicated who win. Standing on the edge of your own 6 yard box for 90 minutes doing nothing won't make you the best even if you have the skill, and similarly being pretty won't win you a pageant if you don't play up to the pageant ideals.

Yeah, it boosts confidence for the pretty girls, but the "not so pretty girls" get thrown to the bottom of the pile.

Well it can be. Childrens beauty pageants are exploitive as all it is are the parents living what they wanted but using their child (most of the time) with a bunch of peadophilic judges. However adult ones aren't really at all as it is by choice, but all it does is creative a much larger split between crowds, the adored and the "rejects".

As a career, I guess it's not different to modelling for a magasine except people seem to get over indulged in things like this.

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Originally Posted by Gibs960

Yeah, it boosts confidence for the pretty girls, but the "not so pretty girls" get thrown to the bottom of the pile.

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So all competitions should be made illegal and we'll all just pretend that equality exists? I don't see anyone calling for a stop to spelling bees or sporting events

I find them incredibly pointless. No-one particularly cares about the pageant - the moment a ribbon is planted on the bosum of a stick figure, it's all over and no-one will remember the painted oil on canvas until they return for another year. The idea behind them is "decent" (going by the real ones, not the ones on TV and in films :P), but some people assume too much about them, and the whole air is filled with the smell of fake success. The "what do you think of this?" line is so corny and written years in advance.

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Originally Posted by Grig

Are beauty pageants exploitive?

ENDS: 06/03/2011

So is it right, are girls getting exploited? Should we continue to think that the girls in the pageants are what beauty really is- or should the 'chubbier' girls also get attention?

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I doubt letting fat girls win beauty pageants is going to change society's view on conventional beauty.

The competition doesn't focus solely on the "beauty" though - there's a lot of rounds (I'm not saying it doesn't play a huge role, that use other techniques from the contestants - public speaking for example.