BEAUTY PAGEANTS: ¿A CASE OF CHILD ABUSE?

Beauty pageants are a controversial issue from any point of view because of the great

investment they have, so young women have to spend to reach them, the expense that

represents, among others. Young girls have to go through excessive beauty treatments

like tanning, waxing and other cosmetic treatments which may help to enhance their

looks.

Those who are not in favor of young girls to be a part of beauty pageants maintain

that such events promote child abuse due to the large amount of time that girls must

invest to achieve beauty standards for an event, thereby preventing them from live a

normal life according to their age, in addition to promoting ideals of beauty permeated

largely by racism and in order to satisfy a rampant consumer market, thereby reducing

the role of women in today's society, returning it to a secondary role and as a market

object.

The erotization of women from an early age can cause various problems associated

with this fact, from generation of insecurity and low self-esteem in girls, to cases of

pedophilia, in which parents have direct responsibility since they are legally those who

have custody of children. (The Guardian, 2010). Many cases are related to the

exhibition of girls as an object of consumption and have been reported in several

countries, with the United States being the biggest promoter of these events, turning this

type of event into an industry that moves more than 5.2 billion dollars annually, creating

on the girls look for ideals of beauty oriented by standards that do not correspond to

their age, making them behave following patterns clearly corresponding to adults. (El

Universal, 2018). In Colombia, the event called "Miss Tanguita" was also held in the

town of Barbosa (Santander) in 2015, in which 8-year-old girls posed and modeled in a

swimsuit in front of hundreds of spectators, putting at risk these minors (BBC, 2015).
 This lifestyle, as some parents call it, can be classified as child abuse, largely because

of the time spent preparing those girls, with the goal of obtaining economic revenues

that end up in the pockets of parents. Additionally, the seclusion that girls can suffer

with respect to boys and girls of the same age, means that they cannot lead a normal

life, in accordance with the parameters established by experts in psychology and that

seek that girls can develop properly. (The Guardian, 2010). Multiple cases related to

child abuse have been reported, but one of the most mediatic was that of Eden Wood,

who retired at just 6 years old to write his memories, after winning more than 300

beauty contests, a fairly high number for a minor 6 years old. Her parents, without the

least bit of embarrassment, say she is ready to become a Hollywood brand. (El

Confidencial, 2011). The UN, through Unicef, has pronounced itself on the matter,

indicating that more than 1.1 million children and adolescents have been victims of

some type of sexual violence in their lives, in many cases product of the attraction for

this type of events. (El Universal, 2018)

Some people affirm this type of event stimulates the strengthening of girls' self-

esteem and personality, in addition to assert that participation in such events is the sole

responsibility of the parents, and not of society or government agencies, which should

be kept out of what parents decide for their children. (El Universal, 2018). Studies with

scientific support affirm that this type of stress negatively affects to children, largely

because an ideal of beauty is generated that can cause low self-esteem when not

fulfilling the imposed or presented expectations, and even generate episodes of

depressions in the infants. (The Guardian, 2010). It is also well known that the rights of

minors will always prevail over the rights of other people, among which are the
protection against the sexual exploitation of minors, as well as protection against other

forms of exploitation. (Unicef, 2018).

Children’s rights must be protected by all citizens, preventing any form of

exploitation, commodification and erotization of children and adolescents, in addition to

creating a healthy environment for their development, which allows them to grow

adequately in all its human dimensions.

Beauty contests should exclude girls, since this puts their physical, mental and

emotional integrity at risk, in addition to subjecting them to child exploitation,

generating insecurities that can later affect them in various aspects, creating ideals and

stereotypes that many Sometimes they are not possible to fulfill, and with all this, to

induce the minors to put in the first place the physical beauty before their intellectual

and emotional qualities, undervaluing the role of women in today's society.

References

BBC (2015). Miss Tanguita: el concurso con el que Colombia tardó más de 20 años

en indignarse. Disponible en www.bbc.com

El Confidencial (2011). La reina de la belleza infantil se jubila a los seis años para

escribir sus memorias. Disponible en www.elconfidencial.com

El Universal (2018). Concursos de belleza infantiles en América, entre la moda y la

prohibición. Disponible en www.eluniversal.com.co

The Guardian (2010). Living Dolls: inside the world of child beauty pageants.

Disponible en www.theguardian.com

Unicef (2018). Children have rights. Disponible en www.unicef.org