Beauty Pageants And Self Esteem

Rahkale Banks

Ms. Letters

English

23 Feburary 18

Hooray for Pageants According to demographicpartitions.org, “a report released on Women’s News on January 24, 2016, 2.5 million girls participate in 100,000 beauty pageants each year in the US.” Pageants are seen as an event that breaks females self esteem along with other psychological things. Despite popular opinion, beauty pageants can be more than a popularity contest. They build self esteem, promote more than beauty and show women supporting each other and themself.

Unsurprising and expected, beauty pageants have always been a spectator event, Watching women march across a stage and feeling at their best. Since the main part of a pageant consist of appearances, it is said to tear down

Beauty pageants consist of more than appearances, but also other qualities of the women and the pageants themselves. To start, pageants have multiple layers to them but the beauty segment will most likely show on television. In actuality, “ The private interview is worth 25 percent of their preliminary score, while the swimsuit round is only worth 15 percent”(Kaplan). Just one of the segments that airs on television is worth a minimal amount of points in the pageant circuit. This particular pageant, started by Krista Medlock, a former pageant queen, focuses on only inner beauty. During the competition, “ Judges’ interviews will gauge the women’s intelligence and maturity”(Holland). In this pageant the contestants can wear what represents them and there is no swimsuit contest; to keep the beauty pageant aspect a beauty segment exist. On the outside, it may seem like Pageant contestants do not know much making them look like a pretty face with no brain. a reporter for a university newspaper, Amanda Kaplan wrote in her article, “ They need to know what is going on around the world and be able to represent the country with brains and integrity”(Kaplan). The Miss America beauty pageant requires their contestants to know about current events and be educated so they can win a potential scholarship, furthering their promotion of education more and

But one will see that these events can be quite friendly. Standing on a stage for hours can make anyone seem unhappy, but another story peeks through the behind the scenes curtain . Once again Li Lingbo tells us about her experiences as a contestant proving that, “... All the girls ( including [her]self ) help each other behind the scenes”(Lingbo). Competing in events like these can be stressful but everyone still tries to encourage each other keep everything positive. Most importantly, Not only do the ladies support each other but also support themselves. Looking back at the Miss America beauty pageant, “ the Miss America Organization ison of the world’s largest providers of scholarship assistance for young women”(Kaplan). Miss America helps young women pay for college and they are bettering themselves through the help of pageant life. In Krista Medlock’s pageant, There are multiple ways women can better themselves. Kristen Holland, the writer of this article, said, “ …The swimsuit parade is out. Motivational speaking is in”(Holland). When the competition gets to the speech, the women can take the things they heard and use them in their everyday life. The women who participate continuously better themselves and support each other through the platform of