Column: Toddlers on parade doesn't teach self respect

By ChaToyya Sewell

Published Feb. 12, 2010

I am undecided on beauty pageants.

Do I think that it is reductive and boring to watch a parade of conventionally beautiful women? Yes. Did a 10-year-old me once try to persuade my mom to pay my entrance fees after being approached by a woman at a mall? Yes (thanks Mom for sending me to science camp instead).

I think pageants have the ability to be incredibly transgressing or incredibly creepy.

The aspect of judging women's beauty (even if listed among attributes) is always going to be politically fraught. But what if appreciating that beauty in itself is a political act, a declaration that some won't adhere to the limitations society places on women?

I can respect a pageant that exists as more of a resounding "fuck you" to established gender norms.

But then there is the creep factor. There is something incredibly icky about a pageant committee buying its contestant breast implants to make her more competitive.

Child pageants. I'll admit to a bizarre fascination with "Toddlers and Tiaras." Watching is almost like a feverish nightmare, where you watch the transformation from a child into a faux teeth-wearing member of dynasty.

To be fair, some of the children say they enjoy it, and some look like they do. But just because a child enjoys something doesn't make it appropriate.

When I was 4, I would have enjoyed eating Twix for lunch everyday and play-dough for dinner, but it's not like my parents let me.

I often wonder how these children will end up after years of hearing their beauty is their bargaining chip.

After years of hearing their beauty is also dependent on fake tans, flippers (those obnoxious looking fake teeth), hairspray and large quantities of makeup.

The parents often qualify their participation by claiming it's for the scholarships. Yes, scholarships are great, but they're offered for a lot of things. Shouldn't you groom your child to excel in something where the entrance fees aren't so incredibly high?

Sports are a good one; get the kid in sports early. For sure there are fees and equipment required in sports, but I doubt they ever rake up the $3,000 price tag that pageants often do. Academics are affordable. Try that. There are options.

It seems problematic these pageants are teaching such young children their profit lies in how beautiful they are. That grown adults are judging, critiquing how beautiful little girls are.

Crazy me.

I thought all little kids were cute, and isn't it a little early for them to be worrying about their facial symmetry, bodies and hair? I mean, can't the beauty paradigm wait until they at least reach adolescence?

In an age when 3-year-olds are discussing diets, is it really a good idea to push this mythology of beauty upon our children?

I can accept when grown women make a decision to profit and participate in beauty pageants. I might not condone it, but I can accept it. Feminism is all about women's choices, and I'm comfortable allowing Miss America hers. But being 4 years old isn't about making choices, it's about playing, learning, jumping and growing into the person you will eventually become. I would hope that's not stunted by pageant participation.