Importance Of Glitz Pageants

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Fancy outfits, loads of make-up, big hair and overly involved mothers, these are some of the sights you would find in a glitz pageant. Glitz pageants are defined as a different type of pageant that use makeup, spray tanning and a great deal of glitter, jewels on the dresses. They use “cupcake dresses”, which are short dresses made of several layers of fabric with several embellishments. These are usually custom-made.(Winning through Pageantry). These types of pageants are featured on the show Toddlers and Tiaras. They show what happens in the preparation for a pageant. They show their practice sessions, rooms, transformation. They interview the kids to know their opinions and their personality. I believe that glitz pageants should be banned.…show more content…
This might not be seen pretty easily, but when you look at it closely you will see that it actually sexualizes girls. These come in the form of costumes and movement. One instance is when a 3 year old dressed up as Julia Roberts. Some people would ask “what’s wrong about that”? What they don’t know is that the 3 year old dressed up as Julia Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman, where her role was a prostitute. Paisley came to the stage wearing black knee-high PVC boots, a blond bob wig and a white tank top connected to a blue skirt with a silver hoop. (Dumas) Yet another pageant girl, Maddy Verst , came up onstage as Dolly Parton. She wore a long fuchsia pink dress that came with fake breasts and padded shorts to resemble her buttocks. According to her mother, she wore that same outfit when she was in pageants. (TLC). The meaning of her costume was to represent the state of Tennessee in the US. (Murphy) I believe that having a child dress up in a suggestive outfit does not correctly represent the state. It is pretty offensive for the state to be represented by a woman who is mostly known for her fake implants. Maddy’s father was outraged and sued the child’s mother for allowing the child to dress that provocatively. He also filed a case to have sole custody of the child. (Murphy) One picture of a pageant girl, made Dr Phillip Brock state that the photo does not show an “actual five-year-old”. Her picture may be viewed as sexual and may be…show more content…
Watching Toddlers and Tiaras for a few minutes, you can see the personalities of the child contestants.Some are quiet, nice and cooperative. However, the kids they focus on the most are the rich, bratty and the stubborn. That’s not all that can take place, according to the chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Dr.Phillip Brock, that pageants convey the adult standards of beauty. These pageants show these kids how they look like compared to their perceived beauty. Participating in pageants may send messages about being desirable & their self-worth. It also plays a part in their physical and psychological development. Pageants impact their identity and body perception. Dr. Brock theorizes that glitz pageants may cause anxiety and depression.(Park) Psychologist, Carleton Kendrick said that parents making kids compete against each other just to see who is more beautiful causes kids to grow up thinking that they have to behave and look a certain way for people to give them prizes or recognition. The kids being filmed in Toddler and Tiaras also get no help. The constant exposure to the cameras may cause them to also be more conscious. They are looked upon as regular pageant girls, they are already considered TV stars. Knox college in Illinois,conducted a study that asks girls ages 6-9 which person they want to look like. They showed the girls two dolls. one doll had a very tight and rather revealing outfit, while the

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