The gentle mist of perfume, the soft and shiny texture of hair extensions, the ruby red of lipstick, the shine of a beautifully manicured nails, the flow of an evening gown in the spotlight, the faint click of heels on the stage, the glowing smile of extremely bleached teeth, the shadows created by obvious fake eyelashes, the orange tint of fake baked skin, the plastic look from plastered on cover-up, the exaggerated eyes drawn out by eyeliner, and the innocence of a child taken. These are all qualities that surround Beauty Pageants: Toddler Edition.
Although most countries thrive on the idea of beauty pageants, France has recently decided to ban child beauty pageants. According to news sources (92.2 The Bull) “they did it to prevent the hyper-sexualitisation of children. Judging children under the age of 16 on their physical appearance is now a criminal offense. If someone tries to organize a pageants, they will not only be fined a lot of money but faces with two years in prison.”
Over the past 1o years, there has been an 270% increase in the number of girls hospitalized with eating disorders, and girls as young as seven years old have been diagnosed with anorexia which is directly related to body image.
On Facebook pages, and debate.org many pros and cons are being discussed. One writer for the cons rebuttal stated, “The show toddlers and tiara should not be considered child abuse. The little girls love doing pageants and winning, as long as they’re happy with what they’re doing it’s fine.”
Not to be the devil’s advocate, but do they love to win, or is it their mothers?
Although there are many facts and reasoning why there should not be child beauty pageants, mothers’ entering their children into these age defying circus’ say it’s merely friendly competition.
Mother of three, Ann Panayi says “It’s all a bit of innocent fun. Every child deserves to feel beautiful and this is merely another way of making them feel comfortable and pretty in their skin.”
As much as I agree with feeling great about yourself, where is the line and how do we know when we’ve crossed it. These girls could have learned to love themselves naturally without the botox and prosthetic teeth (also known as skippers). Are we raising stuck-up girls who only feel good about themselves when they have way too much make-up and tight clothing? Are we teaching the next generation that the only way to make it in this world is to be fake?
Let’s face it, we are teaching the next generation to be, well, Honey Boo Boo.
I applaud France’s decision to ban child beauty pageants, and it is this writer’s opinion that Canada and the US should join the club.
