As college students, we hear all about the necessity of dressing for the job we want. We need to start checking career aspirations off of our lists, and the best way to do this is to look the part.
That phrase makes me wonder about the underlying message in child beauty pageants, which France moved one step closer to banning last week.
If society tells young women the part for which they need to dress starts with pancake makeup and heels — which these pageants do — how much of a chance does that offer these girls to grow up well-rounded?
I know some girls enjoy prancing around in flouncy dresses with their mother’s makeup on, because I was one of them. Had it ever evolved into joining one of the 250,000 pageants that make up the modern worldwide circuit, school would have been secondary to dressing up like a princess and winning money.
That doesn’t seem like a decent trade-off.
The pageant industry seems to me like a way to introduce ever-younger children to today’s social norms of beauty, wealth and fame, and since it centers on young girls, a primer in adjusting to society’s watchful eye.
Maybe I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but take a second. While pageants don’t always focus on looks, a majority do, and when this happens families go all out. In most cases, the girl becomes a status symbol onto which the caretaker can project their own body image.
You’ve probably seen “Toddlers and Tiaras,” so you know what I’m talking about.
Then the jewelry and dresses have to come from somewhere. That’s the kind of wealth issue this promotes. If we as a country ever expect to be financially on our feet again, we need to stop glamorizing all the glitz.
Pageants are a perfect microcosm. Spend so much on this outfit and hairdo and your child will win. She will be a public princess. All you have to do is pay up.
As far as fame goes, pretty much everyone has heard of Honey Boo Boo and JonBenét Ramsey. They’re not every pageant contestant, but they do embody the fame that exists for the taking of the next gorgeous child star.
Some worry this is not a government’s battle, that legislation shouldn’t poke around in personal matters. This isn’t a personal choice or a matter of a consenting adult making an educated choice.
This is a child, and as soon as pageantry leaves the home, it becomes a public issue.
Children have the right to choose hobbies, and if that involves pageantry, more power to them. Some governmental urging toward school plays and away from the catwalk will do France good, though.
Sometimes, sexualization can mean power over one’s image for a consenting woman. Six-year-olds aren’t women yet. As much as I believe humans have the power to do as they wish with their own bodies, children still need some protection.
This opposition shouldn’t center on individual liberties, because this is about the health and well-being of young women.
Parading pre-teens around in $1,000 dresses and wigs doesn’t promote either of these ideals. An official law against such will hopefully turn child pageants into a thing of the past, if only in France.
The pageant promoters won’t go down easily though. The head of France’s mini-miss pageants, Michel Le Parmentier, said he would consider moving the pageant to Belgium, close enough to the French border for the girls to still compete.
What a boom for the Belgian princess dress industry.
Megan Dunbar is a 20-year-old English senior from Greenville, S.C.
As college students, we hear all about the necessity of dressing for the job we want. We need to start checking career aspirations off our lists, and the best way to do this is to look the part.
That phrase makes me wonder about the underlying message in child beauty pageants, which France moved one step closer to banning last week.
If society tells young women the part for which they need to dress starts with pancake makeup and heels — which these pageants do — how much of a chance does that offer these girls to grow up well-rounded?
I know that some girls enjoy prancing around in flouncy dresses with their mother’s makeup on, because I was one of them. Had it ever evolved into joining one of the 250,000 pageants that make up the modern worldwide circuit, school would have been secondary to dressing up like a princess and winning money.
That doesn’t seem like a decent trade-off.
The pageant industry seems to me like a way to introduce ever-younger children to today’s social norms of beauty, wealth and fame, and since it centers on young girls, a primer in adjusting to society’s watchful eye.
Maybe I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but take a second. While pageants don’t always focus on looks, a majority do, and when this happens families go all out. In most cases, the girl becomes a status symbol onto which the caretaker can project their own body image.
You’ve probably seen “Toddlers and Tiaras,” so you know what I’m talking about.
Then the jewelry and dresses have to come from somewhere, that’s the kind of wealth issue this promotes. If we as a country ever expect to be financially on our feet again, we need to stop glamorizing all the glitz.
Pageants are a perfect microcosm of an example. Spend so much on this outfit and hairdo and your child will win. She will be a public princess. All you have to do is pay up.
As far as fame goes, pretty much everyone has heard of Honey Boo Boo and JonBenét Ramsey. They’re not every pageant contestant, but they do embody the fame that exists for the taking of the next gorgeous child star.
Some worry this is not a government’s battle, that legislation shouldn’t poke around in personal matters. This isn’t a personal choice, a matter of a consenting adult making an educated choice.
This is a child, and as soon as pageantry leaves the home, it becomes a public issue.
Children have the right to choose hobbies, and if that involves pageantry, more power to them. Some governmental urging toward school plays and away from the catwalk will do France good, though.
Sometimes, sexualization can mean power over one’s image for a consenting woman. Six-year-olds are women yet. As much as I believe humans have the power to do as they wish with their own bodies, children still need some protection.
This opposition shouldn’t center on individual liberties, because this is about the health and well-being of young women.
Parading pre-teens around in $1,000 dresses and wigs doesn’t promote either of these ideals. An official law against such will hopefully turn child pageants into a thing of the past, if only in France.
The pageant promoters won’t go down easily though. The head of France’s mini-miss pageants, Michel Le Parmentier, said he would consider moving the pageant to Belgium, close enough to the French border for the girls to still compete.
What a boon for the Belgian princess dress industry.
Megan Dunbar is a 20-year-old English senior from Greenville, S.C.