Child Beauty Pageants: A Disturbed Childhood
"I don't even know what it is to feel attractive without make-up on my face. Perhaps it's because I have worn make-up on my face since the age of four. This was when I competed in my first beauty pageant. When children enter beauty pageants at too young of an age, they can develop poor self-image, low self-esteem and even eating disorders." (Nicole Hunter) words expressed by former Child Beauty Pageant (CBP).
Taking the previous quote as a starting point, aren't children supposed to play, learn and amuse themselves with toys, friends and family? To be specific health is a set of physical, mental and social-well being factors. As this is being said it is sad to see that the responsible adults behind those kids are cutting them off from a healthy childhood, a child shouldn't go through the awful experience of a fake world, where they don't feel happy with their image and constantly being told to give it their all and basically their all was not enough?
The truth behind this deplorable business is, primarily; mothers pressurizing and exploiting their children to work on their appearance, secondly pageants destroying children's mental health (Pinsof).
The first mistakes upon this issue are mothers. Child abuse can be defined in many different ways, but according to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act, child abuse is defined as, "the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation of a child under circumstances which indicate the child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened." Most of the stage moms reaffirm that they were there upon their little girls' request, but how is a three year old or a child that has no self subconscious of what is right or wrong due to...