Do Beauty Pageants Degrade Women?

In the media today, there is much debate over beauty pageants and whether or not they debase women. Today we will be taking a closer look on differing opinions as to if beauty pageants ultimately are degrading or not to the women participating and women in general.

The history of beauty pageants dates back all the way to the 1880’s, but even then were seen as being disrespectful towards women. It was not until the 1920’s when beauty pageants gained their popularity and we began seeing national events centered on them, such as the Miss America pageant.

There are many different directions the debate against beauty pageants goes. Some say it gives a stereotypical definition of what beauty should be, some say it puts total focus on exterior beauty rather then beauty from within. Others even say that beauty pageants should be eliminated all together. One New York Times journalist even said they "should die" for all of these reasons above, but also for the fact that they are essentially just being a money maker.

There is also a huge debate centered on children entering into beauty pageants. Some saying they are dressed and act too "sexy" for their young ages. Also many people argue that having children compete based primarily on looks has tremendous negative impact on body image, can cause eating disorders and mental health problems in general as children age growing up in this field. Click here to read more about child psychology relating to beauty pageants.

On the contrary, there are many people out there defending the positive outcomes beauty pageants have on women's lives. The debate is that beauty pageants are not the stereotypical image they are given and make strong women. Those in support say that there are many wonderful opportunities presented by beauty pageants and they are much more then what the public says. They give many wonderful scholarship opportunities, teach confidence, grace, have talent opportunities and allow participants to practice speaking in front of large groups about a variety of intellectual topics they must be knowledgeable about.

There are many positives of beauty pageants for the women who partake in them, especially with future professional careers. Not only do they provide many scholarship opportunities, like discussed before, but they are a great resume builder. Beauty queens represent different communities, small or large, and must be able to stand as a role model for that area. They are also able to give back to the community with multiple community service events and opportunities.

Like anything, there are very extreme sides to the debate on whether beauty pageants debase women or not. There are valid points for both sides of the argument and ultimately comes down to opinion.

Image retrieved from: https://www.soompi.com/2015/12/21/the-new-miss-universe-was-a-huge-super-junior-fan-and-a-siwon-stan/