- Children as young as a few months old compete and grow up in this judgmental and superficial culture. It has been brought to life in such shows at Painted Babies (1995) and most recently in the TLC hit TV shows Toddlers and Tiaras. Since, the children are children; it is not there decision to compete in these contests. It is their parents, who decide to sign up their children to compete for the chance of winning a bond, cash or some other type of prize.
-
There are many examples
of this unethical behavior on the TLC show Toddler’s and Tiara’s. One mother Melissa repeatedly used the word
“we” when talking about her daughter and even said that “I feel like we are the
same person. Like when she’s up there, it’s like I’m there”. The mother is not taking into account what
her daughter wants, at the end of the episode her 5 year old daughter Carly
told the cameraman that she did not want to do anymore pageants. This shows that the mother is using her
daughter to relive the days when she was a beauty pageant winner (Toddlers and
Tiaras Season 4 episode 14).
- Another ethical problem
is the way in which the mothers prepare their children for these pageants. It
teaches children as young as 3 or 4 years old, that they need to change
physically in order to win. Not to the
extreme of adult competitors, but changes that could cause a child to develop depression
and a twisted view of what beauty is.
Throughout the series of Toddlers and Tiaras mothers have taken their
daughters to get fake nails, change their natural hair colour, and even change
their skin tone with fake tans. Mothers
have also gone to extremes as the wax or shave uni-brows, and bleach the
child’s teeth. One mother was even
considering shaving her daughters back because she had some peach fuzz on her
back. Once the prep work is finished,
next come the fake hair pieces, fake teeth, called flippers and fake eyelashes
to complete the winning look. The
lessons that these moms are teaching their daughters is that, what they have
naturally is not going to win them the beauty pageant title (Toddlers &
Tiaras TV episodes).
- One of the most
controversial and unethical practices of child beauty pageants are outfits and
costumes. The most controversial costume
was on 3 year old Paisley, she was dressed as Julia Roberts prostitute
character from Pretty Woman (1990).
Another costume on 4 year old Maddy Jackson was a Dolly Parton costume
complete with fake breasts and butt pads Madonna has also been portrayed on the
pageant circuit, by 2 year old Mia who wore a gold mini-dress with cone
breasts. This dress was worn by Madonna
for her blonde ambition tour which she wore, while simulating sex and
masturbation. This type of sexualization of children
is unethical because the children are unaware of the meaning and don’t
understand the consequences, and yet they will be remembered and known for
these portrayals. The parents must be
aware that these costumes cause a stir within the media. Could they be choosing these costumes just
for the thrill?
- Another reason, that
parents put so much pressure on their children, is because of the amount of
money they put into them, it is almost like they want a return on their
investment. The average annual cost of beauty pageants is $30,000-$40,000(Parents want to win the prize money,
which can range from $500-$10,000.00 in cash or bond. It is wrong to use a
child for financial gain because as Kant would say it is using another person
for your own means.
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