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Negative Effects Of Beauty Pageants

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For the last 90 years beauty pageants have been evolving, adding more glam and glitz into children's lives each year. In 1921 an owner of an Atlantic City hotel came up with the concept of the idea of beauty pageants in hopes of boosting tourism. In the beginning, pageants were made for teenagers between the age of 13 and 17; however by 1964 there was 35,000 participants provoking age division. Now globally there are over 25,000 pageants per year in the US and the industry brings in about five billion dollars a year. With the increasingly development of beauty pageants around the world, people are questioning whether beauty pageants have a positive or negative impact of children and society as a whole. To begin, many critics believe that …show more content…

Beauty pageants are not only harmful to girls, but they discriminate against boys. It is the 20th century and we are still fighting for equal rights for male and female. Women have been protesting for years, wanting the same options for extracurricular activities as men. Beauty pageants are unfair because well women are fighting for the same opportunities, they are competing in pageants that are exclusively for women; this leads to a level of discrimination. Beauty pageants violate gender equality and contradict the disagreement women have been fighting for years. There are two sides to every story and many believe that beauty pageants can be beneficial. To begin with, beauty contests can teach valuable life lessons at a young age. Parents enter their children in beauty contests because they can enhance a child’s self esteem, teach kids valuable skills, and they will understand the benefits and importance of hard work. The most cited reason parents give for putting their children into beauty pageants is to boost their child’s self-esteem, as well as teach poise, public speaking skills, tact, and confidence. Pageants help a young child become skilled public speaking and can build confidence; that skill can last them a lifetime. Not only that, but pageant competitors understand the value of hardwork and are always looking to strive better. Parents understand that there is only one winner of the pageants and they believe

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