Beauty Pageants Cause More Harm Than Good

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International Baccalaureate Languages

BEAUTY PAGEANTS DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD

by

Felicia Latour

Word Count: 1 000 Words

Assignment presented to

Mr. V. Rodriguez to fulfill the

requirements of 12th Grade IB English EAE 4UT
 
 
 


 
College catholique Franco-Ouest

Thursday, December 17th 2009

Confucius once said: “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” Since the beginning of time, humans have always been judging others based on appearance. Despite the fact that we have accepted this human flaw, never until the invention of a beauty pageant have we willingly embraced it. Exclusively used for entertainment value, beauty pageants cause more harm than good due to their superficial nature. The male chauvinistic attitude behind beauty pageants makes objects of women and ultimately degrades them. These competitions are largely responsible for unnecessary spending as well as the promotion of false standards of beauty leading to serious issues in women linked to low self-esteem.

First of all, doesn’t the mere idea of awarding a woman a coveted title based on appearance seem superficial? Many defendants of such contests try to compare the pageants to the awarding of an athlete during a sports competition. This defense is erroneous because there is a certain amount of skill and talent involved in most if not all sporting events. There is no such thing as a “talent” for being beautiful, therefore it seems illogical to objectively determine the “most beautiful” based on something given to us at birth. More beauty pageant enthusiasts claim that such events are beneficial to women as they encourage the idea of empowerment and self-confidence. As for the supposed “empowerment” that is provided to contestants of a beauty pageant, one cannot see how the losing women, that is to say ninety nine percent of contestants, can feel better about themselves after being told they do not deserve a title of beauty. If the idea behind the “empowerment” factor is that we are showcasing a woman’s success, this does nothing to advance the idea of woman’s liberation as we are simply promoting the idea that the most important quality in a woman is good physical appearance. Pageants provide an excuse for society to degrade women into mere objects that can be perceived as nothing more than bodies, not people. This desensitized outlook is so outdated that it could even justify prostitution, domestic abuse and rape. By putting women in a position where they are evaluated based on beauty, society begins to believe that women are truly disposable objects, there to be critiqued without worry of hurt feelings because it is supposedly acceptable. From this, one can conclude that the judging of women’s beauty in such pageants demeans women.

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The most popular beauty contest in the world, the Miss Universe Pageant, has been running annually since 1952, attracts around three billion viewers worldwide and awards a coveted prize of a two-year scholarship worth more than one hundred thousand dollars. As noble as the cash prize may appear, we must wonder how much money is invested by contestants of any beauty contest to provide for all their beauty needs such as cosmetic supplies, clothes, coaches, personal trainers, doctors, special food, etc… Furthermore, it is not only women that spend enormous amounts of money on the contests; governments and companies also ...

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Beauty Pageants Cause More Harm Than Good
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