Omelczuk

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Nicolette Omelczuk

Professor Fielding

Writing 103

21 February 2017

Effects of Beauty Pageants on Children

The popular reality show Toddlers and Tiaras has glamourized child beauty pageants and

sparked a global phenomenon. Not only are parents putting their children in these pageants;

theyre going to extreme measures to perfect their image on stage. This includes, but is not

limited to, fake teeth, hair pieces, spray tans, acrylic nails, dramatic makeup and extremely

expensive dresses and costumes. The article Child Beauty Pageants Give Children Unrealistic

Expectations from the Green Haven Press by Martina M. Cartwright and the PSA image

explore the effects of these pageants on these young, easily influenced children. This rhetorical

analysis examines the article and the PSA images to further display the negativity that comes

from these pageants.

This article focuses on the reality of child beauty pageants and how they affect children.

Many times, because of the competitive nature of the pageants, these children end up thinking

that their appearance is the most important thing in life. They struggle with self-identity and self-

esteem because of how the pageants objectify the body. School also ends up coming second to

these pageants which effects their education and levels of competence. This can eventually lead

to things life depression and eating disorders later on in life. The author suggests that a balance

of activities is important to make sure a child is well-rounded.

Many rhetorical appeals are used in the article to support the claims made about children

in these pageants. A more obvious appeal used throughout is ethos. The article states, Martina

M. Cartwright is a registered dietitian who holds a PhD in nutritional science and

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biomolecular chemistry,(Cartwright 1). One can assume that her work is credible due to

the fact that she has a PhD in a topic that can be closely related to things like eating

disorders and body image. Her other work was also published in The Journal of the

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry(Cartwright 1). She furthers her

credibility by offering proof that she is experienced with examining the thoughts and

behaviors of children.

Cartwright also utilizes logos to justify her reasoning with facts and logical appeals.

She writes that, a small study published in 2005 showed that former childhood beauty

pageant contestants had higher rates of body dissatisfaction.(Cartwright 6). This proves

that the pageants teach girls to self-hate. Because they have been objectified and had this

idea of perfection beaten into them, they are constantly unhappy with themselves.

Cartwright also conveys a rational argument by providing an alternative to these pageants

that the kids are often forced into. She suggests that, The key is to provide performing

children with a balance of activities that involve more than fancy costumes, make-up and

the world of make-believe,(Cartwright 9). Her intent is to prove that adding additional

activities is a great way to essentially raise a happy, well rounded child instead of one

focused solely on their appearance.

The strongest rhetorical appeal used in the article would have to be pathos.

Cartwright tries to get the reader to sympathize with the children that are put into these

pageants and grow up unhappy with themselves. She directly states, Child performers

may believe that parental and/or adult love or approval are anchored to how perfectly they

look or how well they ignite the stage with their presence,(Cartwright 5). Any person can

look back at their childhood and relate to the feeling of happiness they felt when they

achieved approval from their parents. At the same time, it evokes a feeling of sadness for

these children that are only performing in these pageants to satisfy their parents. Not only
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are these children developing eating disorders and unhealthy habits, but they are putting

their performances before their education. Perhaps the most powerful quote in the whole

article comes from the section where Cartwright explains the long-term impact of these

pageants on girls. She says, "Looks are fleeting, brains are forever,"(Cartwright 9). This

gives the reader a sense of empowerment. These young girls should focus on their education

because that is the thing that is going to get them places.

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The PSA shows a typical pageant headshot photo of a little girl. The girl is wearing a full

face of makeup and her appearance has obviously been photo-shopped. There are arrows

pointing to different parts of her face showing some of her features that are obviously fake like

her hair extensions, pearly teeth, nails, and eyelashes. There is a bolded title of LITTLE MISS

PERFECT with a blurb across the bottom explaining the negative side of pageants that pleads

for parents to consider the consequences of these pageants before they make their kids participate

in them. There are also two logos of non-profits that sponsor the ad including Beauty Redefined

and The Body Positive.

In order to fully capture the attention of the public this PSA also includes abundant

examples of rhetorical appeals. To build a sense of credibility and trustworthiness using ethos the

author has paired up with two non-profits to sponsor the PSA. These non-profits organizations

are The Body Positive and Beauty Redefined and both of their goals are to try and spread the

word about body image and body positivity. Because the PSA is backed by two leading non-

profits a viewer is more likely to trust and agree with the information they are looking at.

Another example of ethos is how the image used is an actual headshot from a girl that

participated in a pageant. This furthers the argument that these little girls are being edited and

photo shopped and dolled up with excessive makeup for these pageants.

Logos is another important rhetorical appeal that appears in this PSA. Having a picture

grasps a viewers attention, but having dialogue that explains the picture makes the PSA that

much more understandable. The blurb under the title of the PSA reads, "Former child beauty

pageant participants are more likely to suffer from eating disorders and often have higher than

normal rates of body dissatisfaction. This is a statistic that proves that these beauty pageant
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children are unhappy with themselves at young ages and as time goes on these feelings can

develop even more negatively.

The most dominant rhetorical appeal displayed throughout the PSA would have to be

pathos. Pathos is all about emotion and the feelings that overcome you when looking at or

reading something. One of the first things a viewer sees when looking at the PSA is the bolded

title "LITTLE MISS PERFECT". This is an example of pathos because it evokes a feeling of

empathy for the little girl that is expected to be perfect and graceful at all times. Another

example is the arrows that point out the fake features of the girl in the photograph. This makes a

viewer feel shocked because you see the innocent little girl but at the same time these fake

features that were edited and make her look much different than she actually does. Finally, the

last example of pathos is the quote from the PSA, Consider the consequences before you decide

your childs fate. This gives a sense of urgency because the author is pleading with parents to

keep their children out of these pageants in order to prevent the negative consequences of them.

All of these examples play with the emotions of a viewer in order to convince them of the

objectifying and awful sides of child beauty pageants.

By using ethos and logos, the authors of both the PSA and the verbal argument try to

convince viewers/readers that their arguments are credible and logical. By using pathos, they try

to convince parents that it is not ethical to put their daughters in these pageants through an

emotional approach. The PSA is similar to the verbal argument in the sense that both use stats

that state that former child beauty pageant participants are more likely to suffer from eating

disorders and often have higher than normal rates of body dissatisfaction. It slightly different

from the verbal argument because it has a visual approach rather than a verbal one. The PSA is

more powerful because of the visual approach. People would rather look at a picture than read a
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long article. The PSA is also straight and to the point which makes it more appealing to a viewer.

Both sources have great use of appeals that strengthen the argument that child beauty pageants

are doing more harm than good in this country.

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Works Cited

Cartwright, Martina M. "Child Beauty Pageants Give Children Unrealistic Expectations." Beauty

Pageants, edited by Tamara L. Roleff, Greenhaven Press, 2014. At Issue. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010601221/OVICuj1019

Accessed 24 Feb. 2017. Originally published as "Child Beauty Pageants: What Are We

Teaching Our Girls?" Psychology Today, 12 Aug. 2011.

"Love your Body. Live your Life." The Body Positive. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

"Redefining the meaning and value of beauty in our lives." BEAUTY REDEFINED. N.p., n.d.

Web. 24 Feb. 2017.