Pageants are a fun activity for young girls.

I look forward to a great debate; and please excuse any improper formats used in my case, as this will be my first debate on this site. I will begin by going over my opponent's contentions before listing my own. As my opponent did not offer any definitions, I would like to do so in order to set the parameters for this round. - A "pageant" - or a beauty contest - is a competition in which the entrants, usually women, are judged as to physical beauty and sometimes personality and talent, with the winners awarded prizes or titles. - A "young girl" ought to be defined as a child or minor that is eligible to participate in children's beauty contests. Hence, I believe that in this round, we will be addressing the matter of pageants specifically for children. (C-1) "Pageants can be a fun activity for young girls to gain confidence, meet new friends, and better their lives. " Rebuttal: These young girls gain confidence only when they put on their fake, pretentious masquerade. If the purpose of such contests is for them to gain confidence, it will actually be doing the opposite. In reality, these young girls will be unable to wear their ostentatious masks to cover up their insecurities. Moreover, it could be delusional for these women, as Thomas Gats expresses: ". .. for contest winners, their 'success' often gives them the illusion that al they need to do afterward is to maintain and improve their physical beauty, and as a result many no longer strive for any further education or other ways of personal development. " This augments the amount of dependence and pressure onto females that they need physical beauty over everything else, including more important aspects: intellect, personality, and so on. Rebuttal: (C-2) "Pageants provide scholarships, money, and sometimes modelling and acting agents show up at these events. " Rebuttal: The chances of winning such prizes is very slim, as hundreds of thousands of American girls take part in over 3,000 beauty pageants each year. Charles Dunn, publisher of the Pageantry Magazine, quotes: "children's pageants draw 150,000 to 250,000 participants annually. " To be the part of the select few that manage to win these contests is extremely difficult. Furthermore, the cost to enter a beauty contest makes this contention rather ironic. The participation fee itself can cost more than $500, such as in the Universal Royalty pageant, the country's largest child beauty pageant. The training necessary to prepare the candidates comes with a very hefty price tag. In fact, Jennifer M. Hill, a former beauty pageant, says that a week of training for young girls looking to enter a beauty contest is $5000. Jamie Swenson, another successful pageant, says that some state Miss pageant systems can spend up to $100,000 on one girl to get ready for a national contest - most of the money go to "wardrobe consultants, physical fitness trainers, speech coaches, voice coaches, etiquette lessons, salon services, talent coaches, resume writing, tanning, evening gown, rehearsal attire, bathing suits, opening-number outfit, interview suit, talent costume, accessories, and many, many more things. " To aspire to win such contests are similar to trying to win the lotto - just much more expensive. (C-3) "Beauty pageants not only focus on facial beauty but poise, personality, and public speaking. " Rebuttal: However, it is an undeniable fact that facial beauty is the predominant factor in these contests. As I have stated, the majority of the astronomical amount of money poured into preparing the participants goes into glorifying beauty/appearance as much as possible - such as by flamboyant hairdressing and extensive makeups. This alone is enough to exemplify the dominant role facial beauty plays in pageants. I will go on further to address the problem with judging a female largely based on physique and facial looks in my own contentions. My Contentions for Negation: *NOTE: Most of my contentions were elucidated via my rebuttals; I will try to use as concise language I can to avoid a quagmire of words* C-1: Pageants aggravates the commonplace perspective that women are mere pleasure to look at - "objects" from the male sex, promoting sexism and the degradation of females. -> As the foremost factor in judging *beauty* contests are *beauty* (I have given some examples as to why this is, such as the tremendous amount of money and time spent into solely improving "appearance"), physique is prioritized before anything else. C-2: Pageant candidates are losing confidence and making their outlook of life bleak. -> These participants are not actually escaping the problem of lack of confidence by putting on a flamboyant guise. It is only a temporary sanctuary from the reality, where they cannot be decorated into pretty little dolls everyday. C-3: Beauty pageants are much too expensive, and the chances of acquiring victory and possible model agents/sponsors is very slim. -> As I have said above, cost for these contests can be very costly. Training for the proper physique (posture, walking, smiling, etc. ) can cost $5000; in some extreme cases, $100K. All the money required for the many multifarious preparations accumulate to a grandiose amount; yet, chances of winning out of the tens of thousands contestants remains extremely unlikely. Some parents, desperate to reach the win, may spend even more cash to increase the chances. For the preceding reasons, I urge a strong negative ballot on the resolved. Sources: . http://dictionary.reference.com... (DEFINITION) . http://www.associatedcontent.com... . http://www.bankrate.com... . http://www.minorcon.org... . http://libertocracy.com...