Toddlers And Tiaras Research Paper

They want beauty; charm, money, and fame and they are only 5 years old. Toddlers and Tiaras exposes the competitive creation of pageant life. It follows different families throughout the country with their little girls, ranging from ages of 3 to 12 competing in beauty pageants in order to win the grand supreme title and 5,000 dollars in cash. The audience gets to whiteness the young competitors be transformed into life size barbie dolls by going behind the scenes and observing the orchestrated preparations. The judges evaluate based on facial beauty, modeling technique, poise personality, charm, confidence and sass. These girls are not being taught a natural childhood development. They are being taught the wrong lessons; therefore, they grow …show more content…
Their moms are their couches; they tell them how to act, how to dress, what their routine is, their make up, and when to practice. The mothers are the puppeteers and the children are the puppets. These toddlers love the pageants only because they are given no choice. In season 7 “Carolina Queens Pageant” episode, before her daughter was stepping on stage to do her routine, the mom told her six-year-old daughter, “I want you to flirt with the judges” (Toddlers and Tiaras). Another mom on the same episode told her daughter to “talk to the judges with your eyes.” These mothers are giving their daughters advice that shouldn’t be taught to a six-year-old girl. Intensifying their sexuality is supposed to draw the judges attention. What the judges look for in these pageant girls is their attitude, their confidence and their sass. One of the judges on the episode; “Carolina Queen pageant” said, “The contestants need to wow us in order for us to remember the routine. They need to be an icon, something we wont forget.” In other words, the winner is not suppose to be a typical six year old girl, they are suppose to be a precocious, abnormal, female child. According to Skip Hollandsworth article “Toddlers and Tiaras”, “pageant girls are being taught to see themselves as objects of others’ pleasure…pageant girls are definitely learning that if they act in a very sexualized way, they will get attention” (Hollandsworth). The girls trained pageant demeanor will teach them to continue to believe that their sexuality completely defines them as they mature. These pageants are making the girls focus completely on their appearance rather than who they may be as a whole

Show More

Related Documents: Toddlers And Tiaras Research Paper

The Negative Effects of Child Beauty Pageants Essay