Sunday, November 7, 2010

Is it wrong to emphasize beauty in society in contests?



Beauty pageants in general may cause these sorts of issues such as poor self-image, low self-esteem and even eating disorders. They are especially prevalent in children who begin to compete at an age when they are not emotionally ready to handle all of the things that come with the territory. A beauty pageant is very competitive and often sparks jealousy among the other contestants. An older contestant may realize that this jealousy is simply sparked out of their opponents’ desire to win. A four-year-old probably just thinks the other kids don’t like her. This may make this child start to not like themselves. This is also true if a child doesn’t win a pageant. Children are taught it’s important to do your best. What if you give your best and you lose? Does this mean that you are just not good enough? What if pageant after pageant you compete and give one hundred percent of yourself but still turn out to be the loser? As to the female, beauty contests encourage them to get the plastic surgeries and go on a diet to be looked attractive as the girls on the beauty contests. As you cna guess from the pictures above, in the end, the beauty contests could lead the female to the extremely disasterous results such as anorexia, addiction to being on a diet and getting plastic surgeries. Thus, the beauty contests influence our society greatly, and that's why we would like to investigate this topic more deeply.


it has been a controversial topic. Check this website.
we are not sure that which is right or not.

Here are some opinions about it.

1. the good points of being judged by beauty

Human beings are social animals, and we must judge one another immediately the first time by our outer appearance, since the outer appearance is easy to know quickly. The need to be judged and understood quickly by your appearance has increased as modern society developed and we started meeting more and more people and becoming busier and busier.

The result is not just that beautiful people with better DNA get better treatment. Just looking good does not make you successful; you are only judged AT FIRST by your appearance, and after that, the content of what you say and do is more important.

But even getting judged by your beauty is not so bad. Anyone can be beautiful if they make some effort. Some will always be more beautiful than others, and if some people hate themselves because they are not the most beautiful, then they have a personality disorder which should be treated by a psychologist.

But if beauty pageants promote judgment and competition of beauty, then GOOD, because we need at least SOME of that. If we have it, then all people can improve their beauty, and get a better first reaction from others.
The way to do this, is thinking about make-up and fashion, and cool gestures. This is fun, since it is an art. What is wrong with making this wolrd more beautiful to the eye? It is also useful; King Louis the XVI's favorite courtesan was described by all who knew her as having an ugly face, but she was very charming thanks to her developing her own style, manners, and unique fashion.
So, why shouldn't women enjoy the freedom to choose to judged as a sex object if that is what she wants?
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2. Beauty pageants are harmful for a number of reasons.

The first reason is that it dehumanizes women. The other debater already admitted that women participating in beauty pageants turn themselves into sex objects. He then argues that its okay because its their choice to turn themselves into objects. Even if its their choice, its still harmful for a couple of reasons. The first is that just because they have a right to participate in beauty pageants does not mean that their participation causes more good than harm. I have the right to slowly drink myself to death, to hit myself in the head with a hammer, and any number of other self-destructive activities that would certainly cause more harm than good, despite my choosing to participate in those activities. Just because they choose to turn themselves into objects does not mean its a good thing they did.
Secondly, beauty pageant contestants don't just turn themselves into sexual objects, they turn all women into sexual objects. Beauty pageants contestants actively participate in and perpetuate in a system that turns women into objects to be rated and then possessed. Even if the contestants are okay with being objects, they will not be the only ones treated as such. Beauty pageant contestants actively and explicitly support a societal norm, a way of viewing women, that extends beyond them and to women in general. So even if its their choice to turn themselves into dehumanized sex objects, they turn all other women into them too.

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