Beauty pageants do more good than harm

Beauty pageants are harmful for a number of reasons. The first reason is that it dehumanizes women. The other debater already admitted that women participating in beauty pageants turn themselves into sex objects. He then argues that its okay because its their choice to turn themselves into objects. Even if its their choice, its still harmful for a couple of reasons. The first is that just because they have a right to participate in beauty pageants does not mean that their participation causes more good than harm. I have the right to slowly drink myself to death, to hit myself in the head with a hammer, and any number of other self-destructive activities that would certainly cause more harm than good, despite my choosing to participate in those activities. Just because they choose to turn themselves into objects does not mean its a good thing they did. Secondly, beauty pageant contestants don't just turn themselves into sexual objects, they turn all women into sexual objects. Beauty pageants contestants actively participate in and perpetuate in a system that turns women into objects to be rated and then possessed. Even if the contestants are okay with being objects, they will not be the only ones treated as such. Beauty pageant contestants actively and explicitly support a societal norm, a way of viewing women, that extends beyond them and to women in general. So even if its their choice to turn themselves into dehumanized sex objects, they turn all other women into them too. Moreover, beauty Pageants also destroy girl's self-esteem and contribute to the increasing rate of eating disorders and suicide among young women. Beauty pageants play a uniquely powerful role in defining what is attractive in our society by explicitly ranking the physical attractiveness of women from all around the country in a supposed objective manner. This standard of beauty is how many women define their attractiveness and worth as an individual. If they meet society's standard for beauty then they are automatically beautiful and worth more. If they fail to live up to that arbitrary standard then they are ugly and worthless. The problem is that 99% of women cannot physically live up to the standard of beauty that pageants perpetuate. So when everyone else who is not beautiful enough to participate in the pageants realize they cannot ever meet that standard of beauty they have one of two options: either become terribly depressed that you cannot ever meet society's standard for self-worth or become self-destructive. When just about every young girl in this nation is held to a standard of beauty that they cannot possibly hope to match, the inevitable outcome is that those girls become self-destructive and either become bulimic or anorexic or even attempt to kill themselves. The other debater argues that "But even getting judged by your beauty is not so bad. Anyone can be beautiful if they make some effort. Some will always be more beautiful than others, and if some people hate themselves because they are not the most beautiful, then they have a personality disorder which should be treated by a psychologist. " The problem with this argument is that not "everyone" can be beautiful because beauty standards perpetuate a very specific, very high standard of beauty. Very few people can meet this standard and so not everyone is beautiful because of beauty pageants. He is also right that people who hate themselves because they are not the most beautiful person out there have a psychological problem that they should get help with, but those psychological disorders are caused, in part, by beauty pageants. The purpose of beauty pageants is to pick out the most beautiful women and everyone else is deemed the loser. The message of beauty pageants is if you are not the most beautiful person then you are worthless, are a loser. Finally, the other debater argues "Women especially can use their power as women to get time, money, and energy from men, and this compensates for the lack of chance women have in society. Until women get more respect for their other cards (ability, consideration, etc), then they should at least use their looks and the weakness of men with money to get ahead." The problem with this argument is that beauty pageants actively prevent this from happening. Beauty pageant contestants refuse to use or be judged by anything other than their looks. There are many places and ways and opportunities for women to get ahead by using their intelligence and skill and to be treated as equal human beings. Contestants refuse to participate in those opportunities and instead perpetuate sexist stereotypes, destroying what hope other women have of not being an object.