Beauty pageants are contests based on mainly the physical qualities of the contestants. The contestants get their hair and makeup done as well as buying expensive clothing. The judges then decide who is the best.

Despite the new additions to the pageants such as intellect, talent, gracefulness and public speaking, it is still terrible to have these type of competitions. Some people believe beauty pageants can boost the contestants confidence because they’re going in front of a lot of people and judges, but I disagree.

If children at a young age are being ranked on things such as beauty and don’t win the competition, that can have a negative effect on them. Being told they’re not pretty or smart enough at a young age can stick and drop their self confidence.

Beauty competitions can cause children to feel the need to be prettier and skinnier than everyone else. If the contestants aren’t qualified enough, they don’t win an award and go home empty-handed.

Another issue with pageants is that the judges choose contestants based on what society believes is attractive. For example, in Miss America contests, all the women are skinny and beautiful. The majority of the women who win are blonde, blue-eyed white women. One of the contestants admitted publicly to being anorexic.

“When you win a beauty pageant,” said President Trump to PEOPLE magazine in 1997, “people don’t think you’re going to go from 118 to 160 in less than a year, and you really have an obligation to stay in perfect physical shape.” Many women complained about his controversial comment.

Women think that unless they are skinny, they can’t win. The women felt they must lose weight and be skinnier than everyone else in order to win. This effects them ruining their physical and mental health.

“For someone who’s severely struggling from an eating disorder, your mind doesn’t act normal.You really see yourself as horribly disgusting,” said former Miss America winner Kristen Haglund to CNN.

Instead of holding these competitions and comparing girls to each other, society should teach them at a young age that no one is better than the other. Young girls should be taught to uplift other females and treat everyone as equals.