Why the Internet is Wrong About Children's Beauty Pageants (from someone who actually did them)

Online, I constantly see videos discussing children's beauty pageants. These videos often talk about how girls are being forced into these organizations and exploited, with the show Toddlers & Tiaras taking the shock value of the things mothers make their young daughters do to take home the crown. And, looking at the content of these videos, I absolutely agree that they are exploitative. Wait, huh? You thought I would disagree? ohh, the title!

Yeah, so there are actually two different kinds of beauty pageants, and the latter is one that never gets talked about online. All the horror stories of fake tans, fake teeth, and just a whole lot of fake everything come from what are generally called glitz pageants. The pageant Sunburst is a great example of this. But I'm writing to talk about a much lesser known group of organizations that are the literal polar opposite of glitz, called natural pageants, which are what I began competing in at the age of five.

The first really important distinction is the rules surrounding makeup, hair, and general onstage presence. The first pageant I ever did was called Cinderella, and in their rulebook, plain as day, is this paragraph-

"Artificial hair and false eyelashes are not allowed in the 3-12 age divisions, unless it is the result of a medical necessity... The use of cosmetics is allowed (for all ages). however, makeup MUST be appropriate for the participant's age category. PLEASE NOTE: (girls 6 and under) MAY NOT wear makeup for Interview! Heavier makeup may be worn under strong stage lights. Garment removal is not allowed on stage in modeling."

So, these rules basically take everything someone might know from watching every season of Toddlers & Tiaras and defenestrates it. To add to this idea from my own memory of competing, you could not tell I wore any makeup onstage until I was 11, and even then, it was a tasteful amount of blush and eyeshadow that I remember liking when my mom turned the mirror to show me. It didn't really get to the point of what I'd call 'stage makeup' until I was 14.

The situation with outfits is similar- I (nor any other girl competing that I ever saw) wore crop tops, miniskirts, or strange costumes. We wore ballgowns, cute sailor dresses, and other adorable dresses that were absolutely age-appropriate. The only case I saw where an outfit was remotely close to what glitz girls wear would maybe be when a girl's talent was a contemporary dance, in which she would wear a leotard and dance shoes.

There's also an assumption that beauty pageants put girls against each other. I personally find this to be completely false. I've made great friends from pageants, most of whom were technically my 'competition' when we first met. Now, I'll admit that some 'pageant moms' were certainly more competitive than others, but the girls themselves were always excited, friendly, and ready to goof off backstage with their fellow delegates.

But, why say all this? What's the point in making the distinction if glitz pageants are still active and exploiting young girls? Well, whenever I tell people I started pageants when I was five, my mother would get glares from other parents. They would take what they knew from TLC and YouTube video essays and assume that she had also been using me for money or fame.

But I loved pageants. They taught me how to talk onstage in front of hundreds of people, taught me how to be confident in an interview room, how to feel confident in yourself, and like, 100 other small lessons I would have never learned had I not competed. So, the next time you see a video essay talking about children's beauty pageants and how awful they are, please know that that's not the only kind of pageant.


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Author's note- I won't say pageants r all sunshine and rainbows and I'll probably make a whole other post talking about a few of the negatives too. In the meantime, I've got some movie recommendations for you!

Miss. Congeniality - quintessential pageant movie. all pageant girls know and love it.
Little Miss Sunshine - a movie about a children's pageant, amongst other things. I think it really portrays a little girl doing her first pageant well, both the good parts and the bad.
Dumplin' - a little campy, but as a mid-sized girl in pageantry I related to this movie HEAVILY. again, a great example of the good and bad parts of pageantry.

anyways thx 4 reading!!
-C1oudvoyager