When
Does Reality TV Go Too Far?
When
a Five-Year-Old is Doused in Mascara and Told if She Eats too Much She’ll Get
Fat
For
those of you who haven't heard of the phenomenon that is Toddlers and Tiaras,
I'll clue you in. Toddlers and Tiaras is one of TLC's many reality shows, and
each episode follows three different girls and their mothers. We get to have a
behind-the-scenes look at the pageants these young children endure and see the
terrors they have to go through in order to look "cute," or "sassy,"
or whatever the judges want. The show is extremely controversial, as it
should be. Sometimes the girls want to be in the shows, and sometimes they
don't. I know a lot of people who say that, "If they want to do
them, they should be able to" but I disagree. I believe that girls should
be able to run, climb trees, and play to their hearts content, but beauty
pageants prevent girls from being children. In
the words of Albert Einstein, "If you judge a fish by its ability to climb
a tree, it is going to spend it's whole life believing it's stupid." In
the same sense, if you raise girls to believe that the only way to be good
enough is to win a beauty pageant, they will grow up believing that they aren't
good enough, because the standard for beauty is unrealistic, unnatural, and
changes every minute. You could say that, if they win, they won't feel that
way, but there will always be times when they lose, and even if they don't
lose, someone still
loses. By judging girls on their outer beauty or even just saying it's okay if
it's their choice to be judged that way, you are contributing to the sexism and
oppression that females face in our culture. Child beauty pageants pit
girls against girls, and if that's wrong, then why is it okay if it's in the
name of entertainment? Women shouldn't be competing to be the prettiest by
society's unnatural and unrealistic standards, and neither should their
daughters. How did our society come to believe that it is somehow okay to
judge a toddler on her appearance? If you want women to be respected and valued
members of society, how is that ever going to happen if we can't even provide
respect and value for our young daughters?
I believe that all people are beautiful, because they are capable of love. Every person should be a valued and respected member of society, regardless of what our media say about physical appearance. The media tell us to change the way we naturally look in order to obtain some kind of beauty we didn't have before, and that's wrong. You were made beautifully, naturally, and wonderfully unique, and that should be celebrated, not ridiculed and judged. By telling girls they aren't pretty enough, we are setting them up for emotional and or physical failure. 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight, and anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents. If half of the tweens in this country see themselves as overweight, how do we help them with their self-esteem by judging them from their earliest years on how well they match society's standards of beauty? TLC shouldn't be turning this kind of child exploitation into entertainment, and so I refuse to watch Toddlers and Tiaras, Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo, and every other show on TLC.
I believe that all people are beautiful, because they are capable of love. Every person should be a valued and respected member of society, regardless of what our media say about physical appearance. The media tell us to change the way we naturally look in order to obtain some kind of beauty we didn't have before, and that's wrong. You were made beautifully, naturally, and wonderfully unique, and that should be celebrated, not ridiculed and judged. By telling girls they aren't pretty enough, we are setting them up for emotional and or physical failure. 50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight, and anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents. If half of the tweens in this country see themselves as overweight, how do we help them with their self-esteem by judging them from their earliest years on how well they match society's standards of beauty? TLC shouldn't be turning this kind of child exploitation into entertainment, and so I refuse to watch Toddlers and Tiaras, Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo, and every other show on TLC.
