Are Beauty Pageants Bad for Women?

According to the Miss America organization, more than twelve thousand women compete in local and state beauty pageants ever year. Of these twelve thousand, only fifty two are chosen to compete in the Miss America competition. (“Key”) So what happens with the other eleven thousand nine-hundred forty-eight? Two contestants per state will get $1,000, and a few others may get other scholarships (“2008”). However, most of them will get absolutely nothing, except maybe the feeling that they aren’t good enough. What about the women who don’t even try to compete? Just seeing the competition can lower their self-esteem. Beauty pageants are bad for women because they place too much emphasis on looks and lower self-esteem for women.

Advocates of beauty pageants may say that the contests aren’t based solely on looks. They say that the pageant is broken up into various aspects that show off many characteristics that make a beautiful woman. However, when you take a closer look at the some of the rounds of a beauty pageant, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

The private interview and on-stage questions are designed to showcase the contestant’s intelligence. Some of the questions asked can showcase a small amount of smarts and world awareness, such as “What do you think about the growing number of foreign investments in the United States?” and “What would you like to see done to improve the public’s understanding of the importance of organ donation? Why?” (“Sample”) However, some of the most frequently used questions hardly seem to showcase anything more than good planning and self-knowledge. “Name 3 words that describe you and explain how.” “What is one feature you would change about yourself and why?” “What quality do you most like about yourself and why?” (Dohack) This barely seems to showcase intelligence anymore than it showcases smooth talking and good planning.

In the talent competition, the women are showing off their Artistic Expression (“FAQ” Miss America). According to Pageant-Tips.com, the first tip to doing well in the talent portion of the pageant is to “be an entertainer!” (“Beauty”) It suggests doing a dance or singing a song, which seem to be the most popular choices. How does this express artistic ability or uniqueness when most contestants do something similar? Also, being talented at singing or dancing, or just being able to do something with a smile on your face when you’re an attractive female can earn you decent points in this category. Does this really show artistic expression?

The evening wear portion of the competition showcases the contestant’s poise and presence (“FAQ” Miss America). The Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines poise as “ease and dignity of manner; self-assurance; composure.” How can walking across a stage in heels and an evening gown show dignity? Does that showcase a women’s manners? The only logical aspect this round can show is how well the contestant looks in a dress.

The most popular major aspect of the Miss America pageant is the swimsuit competition, also called Lifestyle and Fitness in Swimsuit (“FAQ” Miss America). This portion of the competition is designed to showcase the contestant’s fitness and requires them to walk across the stage in a bikini and high heels. How does walking around in a swimsuit showcase fitness? It only shows how thin that female is. However, can’t a person be thin but not be fit? Or vice versa?

These major aspects of the Miss America pageant, although designed to showcase different aspects of the individual, seem to only showcase looks. The intelligence portion can be passed with smooth talking and good planning, the talent portion can be won with a pretty smile, and the evening gown and swimsuit competitions don’t showcase anything other than how the contestant looks.

Along with the different rounds showcasing very little other than appearance, they are also scored and weighted in such a way that puts more emphasis on looks. In the preliminary competitions, the swimsuit and evening wear rounds make up a total of 35%, the talent competition makes up 35%, and the private interview and on-stage question forms the last 30% (“National”). While these are relatively even, the appearance and talent portion make up a majority of the points, while intelligence has the least amount of value. This is just in the preliminary competitions.

In the final rounds, the value is even less. The swimsuit and evening wear portions have a combined 40%, talent is reduced to 30%, the composite score from the first rounds make up 30%, and the on-stage question isn’t even included (“National”). How does that include intelligence as part of the scoring?

Once the contestants are narrowed down to the top five, the judges rank the women as they see fit (“National”). As humans, we can’t help but judge others based on appearance. So, without any general outline to weigh each portion, it just comes down to what the judges think. How can you know they’re judging on more than just looks?

Beauty pageants put a lot of emphasis on looks, as you can see. This can cause girls and young women to have lowered self-esteem. Obviously, not winning a beauty pageant can make a girl or young women feel like she’s not good enough, but the problem seems to start with child beauty pageants.

According to an article about children and beauty pageants posted on ABC’s news website, family therapist Terry Real feels that beauty pageants give children a sense of performance-based esteem. This tells the children that talent and beauty create their self-worth and this can be very dangerous. (Canning) These child beauty pageants are designed differently from the ones for older women and only have competitions based on looks. The judges look at the appearance, personal attire, and comfortable, natural overall appearance (Yates).

A study by the American Psychological Association about the sexualization of girls found that parents contribute to this sexualization and self-objectification when they enter their five-year-old daughters into beauty pageants. The study says that “In the world of child beauty pageants, 5-year-old girls wear fake teeth, hair extensions, and makeup and are encouraged to “flirt” onstage by batting their long, false eyelashes” (2). The study also found that with self-objectification, girls will take what people think about their looks and learn to treat themselves as objects to be judged by their outer beauty (18).

If little girls learn at young ages that their looks are more important, their self-image will be distorted, and their self-esteem may be shattered when they lose competitions. Also, most child pageant contestants continue competing for most of their lives. If they stay competing in a system that enforces looks and rewards being pretty, they’ll learn that their looks can get them what they want.

Aside from girls and women competing in the pageants, the girls just watching can be affected too. These pageants are trying to standardize beauty and result in brainwashing people into believing these standards (Rynski). Looking at the requirements for most pageants, you must be between 17 and 27, must be single, must never have been married, cannot be pregnant or ever given birth (“FAQ” Miss Universe). Is this telling us we are less attractive if we’ve given birth to a wonderful child? Are we less attractive if we’ve fallen in love and decided to get married? This doesn’t seem fair.

In conclusion, beauty pageants are bad for women because they place too much emphasis on looks and create problems with self-image and self esteem. The rounds involved in the competitions seemingly judge contestants solely on their looks, instead of what they’re supposedly designed to do. The way the rounds are scored and weighted also place a lot of emphasis on looks, instead of all of the aspects that should make up a pageant winner. If something isn’t done to change the way these pageants are judged and the way the women are looked at, those involved and those too afraid to get involved will continue to suffer self-image problems.