Small children should not compete in pageants

Thank you Kayteecurt for your comments --"To my relief, the two shocking little Dolly Partons whom I had filmed all those years ago had both become poised, decent and disciplined young women. Who knows? Perhaps some of that is down to the beauty pageants. They certainly think so."-- Jane Treays This is a quote from Jane Treays, who filmed "Painted Babies Growing Up". The two girls were interviewed 13 years after Treays original documentary, and attribute their strengths to their history in pageantry. One of the two, now in college, was still active in pageants, of her own free will. http://women.timesonline.co.uk... --" Unfortunately, that's how some children are dressed for pageants. Layers of make-up to hide flaws, absurd outfits to attract attention, and flippers to give them perfect smiles. There are some pageants which have contestants with only a small amount of makeup and no fake eyelashes of hair-extensions, but most are full glitz."-- This is from the rules page of a glitz pageant: -Color and style of dresses are the contestant's choice as long as it stays within the length requirements -These pageants are Glitzy. If your are wondering if we are low, medium or high glitz, the answer is anything goes! -Contestants who are participating in this pageant with us for the first time or who are "low glitz" in their makeup, dress, or stage presence have just as much chance to win a title as those who are more experienced or "high glitz". I can't speak to the rules of ALL pageants, but I can imagine that most are very similar. The last sentence in that paragraph shows that all those things that parents do that we don't agree with, are not necessary or required, by the pageant itself, in order to win a title. That puts the responsibility, for doing those things, back on the parents, just as I argued last round. They don't HAVE to go to the lengths that they do, but for whatever reason, they do. I would argue that that speaks to the personality, of the parents, and even if pageants didn't exist, that part of the parent's personality would show itself, in some other aspect, of the child's life. http://www.princessglitz.com... --"pageantry gives girls low-self esteem"-- I'm sure there are cases where this is true, but again I would argue that the lessons that the child learns depends on the parents' handling of the competition. Many pageant participants claim that their experience taught them poise and self-confidence. Our society is much worse than pageants, when it comes to causing low self-esteem. We place so much value on outward appearance that, no matter the degree of inner beauty, so many young girls, unfortunately, don't feel like they measure up to expectations. Admittedly, I didn't know a great deal about this issue at the beginning of the debate, so to attempt an effective argument, I had to do some research online. The most important thing that I wanted to know was, whether or not, competition in pageants causes long term physical or psychological harm to children. What I found was, some articles from women who participated in pageants, as a child, who state that it is a negative experience. On the other hand, I found some former participants crediting their positive experiences for their current successes, and self-confidence. All I could learn from that is, for some it's bad but for some its good, no real consensus. I looked for something from accredited agencies like the APA, on the issue. I found a study on the sexualization of children (link below), and it's effects. It focuses more on society, in general, but uses pageants as one example. It is a very good read, and I agree with it's conclusion, but it doesn't prove that pageants, in particular, are harmful. In fact, although I'm sure my research didn't even scratch the surface, I couldn't find anything to show that pageants themselves, are detrimental to children. It takes extraordinarily overwhelming evidence, that harm is being done, to justify infringing on a parents' right to make decisions for their children. At least for now, I don't believe we have such conclusive evidence. Most of us agree that your rights end, where mine begin, and vice versa. Most of us would agree with the premise of the debate, "Small children should not compete in pageants", however, we can only assert that right for ourselves, and those that we are responsible for. Any further than that, and we have imposed our beliefs onto someone else, violating their God-given right to free will. http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca... I thank Kayteecurt for hosting this debate, on a very difficult topic, and congratulate her on putting up a compelling argument.