Child Beauty Pageants Should be made Illegal

1. Looks Is All That Is Important In LifeFirst off, I want to say that everything in society today focuses on the looks of an individual. MTV, ads, magazines, E!, TMZ are all things that add to what we call "pop culture". Now should 17 Magazine be banned for giving tips on how to make yourself look better? The answer simply is no and I'll tell you why. Can you please link studies that show how children in child pagents have a higher rate of anorexia etc? If not this argument is moot. As far as I can see you have merely presented your opinion on the matter and I see no reason to ban such pagents. A) Freedom to Parent Now the crux of my argument is this and it can be applied to most of your arguments. A parent has a right to parent their kid in anyway they see fit as long as it does not endanger the child. If we let the government ban child pagents then we are opening the door for them to pass legislation on how parents parent their kids. This falls under the Right to Privacy. Parents have a right to raise their kids in anyway they want. How is a pagent different from ballet for example? Where do you draw the line. As long as there is no child endangerment then this cannot be banned based on the basic principles of liberty. Now, if a child is found to be in a dangerous situation then that can be handled on a case by case basis but as of now there are no ground to ban such practices from happening. Now unless you, the one who hold the burden of proof, can make a case as to why this right to privacy and right to parent should be breached in favor of your OPINIONS then you have no case. 2. Unhealthy Competition Once again you present an objective opinion. What levels qualify as "unhealthy" is completely subjective. I for one have no problem with intense competition because I see it has a good way to get kids into that winning attitude you have to have in order to succeed in life while you think that's unhealthy. This is a completely objective topic that have no facts backing it up. Not all competitions have to be "mentally" or "physically" stimulating in order for it to be a competition. Beauty pagents are won based on looks, something that should be acknowledged. If someone has good looks and want to enter into a competition to compete with others of equal attractiveness then why shouldn't they be allowed to? Take dog breeding or gambling for example, neither one of these things are very stimulating mentally of physically and are based mainly on luck and circumstance. Are these "unhealthy"? Should they be banned? No. People have a right to enter into which ever type of competition they wish as long as it is not endangering anyone. It's their right and you have no say in how they do this. 3. Sexuality and Innocence First off I want to say that most people who watch child pagents are the parents of the children competing. Very few, if any, people wake up and go "I'm going to go see the child pagent today". It just doesn't happen. Now your statement about pagents promoting pedophilia is not only ignorant and offensive but it shows how little understanding you truly have of the sport. Child pagents stem from a willingness to compete from a young age, to grow something for later years (like Miss America) and in some areas such as the American Deep South is cultural. Men do not pay to go see little girls dance around in bikinis. Parents, or onlookers, go to watch a pagent and sit with the girls parents. Is Miss America a covert strip club too? Is my watching girls parade around the stage in bikinis if they're under 18 immoral as well? Should all pagents be illegal? No. This is their right to compete how they want. As for sexualizing kids, this does nothing more to sexualize them than having them play dress up. Is letting a young girl put lipstick and mommy's heels on and play dress up any better? Are pagents much different? As I said before, MTV and just about everything in pop culture sexualizes kids as well. You have to make a case as to why that is okay and pagents are not for your argument to be legitiment. At least kids in pagents are competing for something while most of pop culture is for entertainment only. Innocence again falls into the right to privacy and parental rights. Your definition of innocence and who and when it gets to be lost is merely an opinion. If I want to teach my kids about sex at age 5 and teach them about the Holocaust and rape at a young age who are you to say otherwise? This again falls into a person's right to parent however they see fit barring endangerment. You don't get to tell me if my kids get to have an innocent childhood. That is my decision and mine alone. A parent has a right to raise their kids in any way they wish barring endangerment. Many girls want to dress up and compete and it is their right to do so. If you cannot point to a definitive reason as to why the entire catagory of "pagent" endangers the participants then your argument cannot hold any water. Making pagents illegal would be a severe breach of rights.