Lindsay Veilleux
Mr. Amidon
H. World Lit
** May 2014
Females who participate in pageants prance around the stage in very little clothing, exposing themselves to the public. Child participants are made up to look "physically mature and sexually inviting" (Tamer). Girls are forced into wearing anything from short and revealing dresses to skimp string bikinis (Browne). Young children get all dolled up applying make-up, using special hair products, and wearing the highest of heels. The clothing girls have to wear sexualizes them, and they go onstage in these clothes for everyone in the audience to see. Their bodies are almost completely exposed to anybody in the audience who wants to look or snap a picture due to the lack of clothing on them.
Child beauty pageants are dangerous because of how they specifically expose girls to pedophiles. Most pageants are open to the public, and anyone can freely watch the girls onstage.
Beauty Pageants Barnstar
English: Pageant Picture
John SleepingPedophiles don't have control over their desires when put in direct situations (Langevin and Lang). If a pedophile came into contact with a little girl at a pageant, he wouldn't be able to help himself; he would have to have her. According to Christine Tamer, the counterfeit attractiveness and sincere vulnerability of child beauty queens appeal to child molesters. Young girls cannot fight back too hard against a man paying them a compliment, so they would not think twice about talking to an adult at a pageant. Females tend to grow up with this notion as well. Pageants teach girls to be comfortable in front of complete strangers (Anastasia). This could harm girls in the future if they were approached in public by a friendly stranger. They would think nothing of being nice and chatting because of what pageantry had taught them. Because of how pageants expose...