In the 20's an Atlantic City hotel owner conceived the American Beauty Pageant as a way to keep guests in the area after the tourist season concluded. Little Miss pageants didn't join them until the 1960's. For contestants ages 0-18 categories can include talent, interview, sportswear, swimwear, western, outfit of choice, and evening wear. Child beauty pageants are a billion dollar a year business. Until recently this was strictly an American past time. It can cost between $300-$5000 to enter your child into a pageant.
Pageant judges are looking for the girl that is the total package. While every competition is different there is a standard in the industry. For a natural pageant girls are encouraged to look their age without make up. Glitz pageants are an entirely different beast. A glitz girl's road to the crown starts with a headshot. The photograph is expected to be retouched in several areas including skin smoothing, blemish removal, adding blush, eyebrow thickening, adding of make up, tan, eyelashes, eye color enhancement, tooth whitening, and lip shine. The resulting picture often looks like a cartoon version of the original. Contestants one up their headshots on the stage with glamor make up, artificial hair pieces, and overlays for teeth known as flippers. The winners often walk away with nice cash prizes. Even cars are awarded in some of the bigger pageants.
Americans are fascinated with the subject of young girls glitz pageants. TLC and WE are both running documentary style shows on the subject. HBO's Living Dolls documented the making of a child beauty queen in 2001. Even BBC has its own documentary on the subject called Painted Babies. All of these programs focus on the controversial side of pageantry. Mothers are shown pushing their daughters to practice their modeling routines. The little girls are shown at the times when they are the most frustrated. None of these documentaries give a well rounded picture of what the experience is like for the contestants.
Observers critiquing pageants often note that the make up and costumes sexualize young children. They fear that girls featured in competitions like this will grow up to value looks over personality. Many people believe that it is the dream of the parent to see their offspring in lights and not at all what the child wants. All of these aspects have been highlighted in the tv shows that bring pageantry to our living rooms.
The JonBenet Ramsey murder case first brought pageantry into a negative light for mainstream America. JonBenet was a child beauty queen who held numerous major titles at the time of her murder. She lived a privileged lifestyle in Boulder Colorado. Home videos of her in various glitz costumes and heavy make up were splashed across news media in the days following her death. Leaps were made by reporters who often tied the tragic event to her exposure in pageants. There has been no evidence of that. Unfortunately there has been no evidence that has lead to the monster that took JonBenet from her family at all. We may never know if pageants had anything to do with JonBenet's murder. Since the media coverage of the case most pageants across the country have adopted a closed door policy for the safety of their contestants. Usually only the parents of contestants are allowed to watch the girls compete. Often girls are preforming before many empty seats and a panel of judges.
On the other side advocates for pageantry say that what the girls are really learning include lessons in poise and public speaking. Annette Hill is the owner and director of the Universal Royalty pageants, awarding some of the most coveted crowns in the business. She noted on the Tyra Banks show that girls are not being sexualized in these events. She believes it is the same as the girls playing dress up. Many pageant insiders believe that beauty is important, and simply a fact of living in America that must be accepted in order to succeed. Time and time again pageant mothers insist that their girls love what they do and that it is enriching to their lives.
The pageant debate is a heated one for most of us. They seem to be the kind of thing that you either love or you hate. Little girls in the south dream of doing the pageant wave to a serenade of the Miss America song. In California girls aspire to one day ride the rose queen's float on New Year's Day. It is a part of our culture. The competitive aspect is something pageants share with many other activities children are involved in including all sports. However, there is no other competition where a person is judged based on their looks.
Many psychologists believe that exposing a child to that kind of pressure is risking self esteem issues. Although the public regularly expresses concern about pedophiles frequenting such events, there has been no evidence to show that this happens. Many former child beauty queens have spoken fondly of their time on the pageant stage. Leslie Butler was one of the subjects of the HBO Documentary Living Dolls. By all accounts she is a well adjusted high school student today with a great life. The girls from BBC's Painted Babies were also documented again when they were 17. Both girls were poised and accomplished at this age. There has been no indication of problems caused by pageantry involvement. It seems to me that the problems with pageant involvement have more to do with the parents themselves than the competition. Competing on the pageant stage is a personal choice that I believe every family has the right to make.
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