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The Forum > Article Comments > ‘Pull the Pin’ on children’s beauty pageants > Comments

‘Pull the Pin’ on children’s beauty pageants : Comments

By Catherine Manning, published 23/8/2011

The beauty myth and children: making beauty a sexualised competition is unhealthy for children and society.

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'I can't see any positive coming from putting a child in a beauty competition that tells them they don't (or do) cut it in the looks department - either for the individual child or society in general.'

'don't cut it in the looks department'? From one competition with a handful of people. Is it necessary for every little girl to think they are THE prettiest girl on the earth?

As I said,

'from a random referee, not much more than being penalised for a high tackle that was around the shoulder, or being given out Caught Behind when you KNOW you didn't knick it. Such an injustice is part of life. Sometimes you don't get picked for the rep team, even when you think you're good enough and other's agree. This is part of sport and good lessons for LIFE!'

That you think this should be so traumatic, for a girl to think that 3 other girls are prettier than them IN THE OPINION of a few judges that are STRANGERS, only highlights my point above. That portrays a very skewed and 'unhealthy' attitude to beauty. This isn't 'society', this is internal to the individual.

Society doesn't put such a premimum on looks YOU apparently do. Just as a parent can console a young boy who doesn't 'make it' in an athletic persuit based on a judgement of his abilities, so too in a beauty contest.

You have conceded 10% is about solely looks, and that there are other skills and benefits. What if the judge says that they need a bigger or faster player to play in the rep team? What's the big difference.

Man, it's any parents job to de-brief their kids and help them deal with a necessary character building part of life such as this.
Posted by Houellebecq, Monday, 29 August 2011 9:54:09 AM
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Sheesh Houellebecq! You’ve gone from saying it's a parent's right to impose beauty competitions on their child, to them being ‘a NECESSARY character building part of life’?! Necessary for whom? What part of the character does it ‘build’? “Here you go kid, you’re not pretty enough – life sux like that – you might as well get used to it.”

You contradict yourself – in one breath you’re bagging out feminists who (according to you) want to dispel the princess myth, but in the next breath you want kids to know they’re not pretty enough to be the princess! Why should kids be judged by any adult beauty ideal (narrow or otherwise)?

An individual parent’s right to enter their own child in such a competition becomes public interest when the nature of that competition causes harm and affects others. That harm might not be as obvious to some because it’s not visable like, for example, a black eye, but emotional harm can have lifelong impacts. As I said, I work with teen girls who feel life is one big beauty pageant and they don’t like it. Why are you so resistant to investigating the need for regulation of beauty contests for children? No-one’s asking you to relinquish your ‘perve of the K-mart catalogues’, or to resist your ‘manly desire’ for appreciating a beautiful woman when you see one. I think your irrational fear of feminism (equality) is hindering your ability to recognise that beauty competition may not be in the best interests of the child. Teaching kids to ‘roll with the punches’ is one thing, teaching them to conform to an adult contrived beauty standard and then be judged by that, is another.
(continued below)...
Posted by Catherine M, Monday, 29 August 2011 6:17:06 PM
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My position hasn’t softened at all. Whether it’s 10% (in some cases) or 100% (Most Beautiful/Most Photogenic/Brightest Eyes, etc), ‘Pull the Pin on BEAUTY pageants for children’ is just that. If there wasn’t a ‘beauty’ section it wouldn’t be called a ‘beauty pageant’ now would it?! It’s not Pull the Pin on talent pageants! BTW, my wordy response would have been even wordier had I not had to edit to fit, and it’s not a ‘prickly tone’! I just find it tiresome when people try to categorise others rather than dealing with the issue. I considered not responding to your personal questions but thought you’d then draw your own (probably wrong) conclusions! Happy to agree to disagree with you.

@Debbie: thank you – and ditto! Appreciate you sharing your name too. We are all just ‘people’ and part of the same community. All the best to you and your daughter.
Posted by Catherine M, Monday, 29 August 2011 6:17:58 PM
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'You’ve gone from saying it's a parent's right to impose beauty competitions on their child'

Yes it is

'to them being ‘a NECESSARY character building part of life’'

Um, I said failing, or not always coming first, is part of life. Competing is part of life, and why is it taboo to compete with looks but not in other natural attributes?

'Why should kids be judged by any adult beauty ideal (narrow or otherwise)? '

What's adult about it? Beauty is beauty. Athleticism is athleticism. Coordination is coordination. Intellect is intellect. Sports involve subjective rules and judgement by adults.

Do you propose banning the HSC because pushy parents may lead to suicidal teens. Are adult coaches not to select representitive teams. Should we ban any sport where there are judges like Surfing and Diving or dancing/Ice skating?

By making beauty out to be so important, *you're* enforcing on children for the first time the political adult concept that beauty could be central to their worth; Something powerful or shameful, something adults are being dishonest about.

'Why are you so resistant to investigating the need for regulation of beauty contests for children?'

You just said you wanted 100% of them nipped in the bud, not regulated. You keep vacillating to creep out of each corner. It's regulation and 10% sometimes, it's nip it in the bud and 100% other times.

'. I think your irrational fear of feminism (equality) is hindering your ability to recognise that beauty competition may not be in the best interests of the child.'

Um, no. I believe parents know their children and each child is different and who are YOU to judge. I don't see all this agonising about scarring kids who fail to come first at sport or school.

I'm all for equality, just anti victim-feminism. Feminism and equality have little to do with each other.

Why should your political beliefs rob others of something they enjoy, and why are your parenting beliefs to be applied to other people's children?
Posted by Houellebecq, Monday, 29 August 2011 9:31:14 PM
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“Here you go kid, you’re not pretty enough – life sux like that – you might as well get used to it.”

As I said,no parent would be so tactless.

What is the difference between that and...

“Here you go kid, you’re not intelligent/coordinated/athletic enough – life sux like that – you might as well get used to it.”

Nope, in the end, you have not argued effectively why beauty should be treated differently. All one can assume is your ideology says men should be judged on traditional things men have been valued for, but it's emotionally traumatic for women to enter into any form of competition like this.

It's actually very anti-feminist. Girls can do anything it seems, except handle failure in their chosen pursuit. Boys can be judged on macho pursuits like weightlifting and fail, but women are not able to handle being judged on their looks.
Posted by Houellebecq, Monday, 29 August 2011 9:46:43 PM
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Houellebecq:"women are not able to handle being judged"

Got it in one, although it seems to be a diease afflicting only a relatively small portion of the populace. Funnily, mostly the ones with crook heads...
Posted by Antiseptic, Tuesday, 30 August 2011 4:51:08 AM
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