Beauty Pegents...ugh

Pardon me on this next post. I'm going to use Merchants of Cool as a reason for me to tell you how much I dislike beauty pageants.

The whole idea of a beauty pageant is sexist and stupid. Women voluntarily parade themselves around a stage in expensive dresses, swimsuits and executing "talents" to prove what exactly. These girls are making women into a sex symbol that has no other purpose then to flaunt her body around.

Why for a woman to be beautiful they have to wear skinny bikinis that cover the least amount of skin possible? Actually most of these swimsuits have no purpose. They are really more for show. They can't function in actual physical activity because it would fall down. But many girls wear them anyway because they show off their body and is what all the celebrities are wearing.

These girls do bad things to their body to make themselves skinny. The positive spin on what they do is go on a diet. But we all know that's a lie. The reality is that they starve themselves so that they can fit this definition of beautiful with the curvy body that has not an inch of fat. Also the scary fact is that they purge before every pageant. Yes you read that correctly purging aka throwing up the contents of their stomach. This seems scary an image of 100 girls huddled around trash cans throwing up but hey everyone's doing it so why shouldn't I (common rationalizations).

Pageants also are harmful to a girls self esteem. If she loses she feels insecure about herself and her body even though she is most likely beautiful. So maybe she doesn't fit the mold of a socially accepted beautiful person. Maybe her boobs are a little smaller or her hips a little wider but it doesn't mean she isn't beautiful. In my mind it actually means quite the opposite. I think you are more beautiful because of the aspects of you that stand out and are different then everybody else.

The media sets up this perfect ideal body that all women must fit for them to be accepted. Nobody's body is perfect. Everyone has little flaws in themselves. Because of the media's and beauty pageants idealistic woman, every girl focuses on their flaws and not the good things about their body. Being a girl I have an insight into the minds of my fellow peers. It seems like to be a girl you have to hate your body and love somebody else's body over yours. You complain your boobs are too big or too small and want the opposite. You complain your fat when really you are skinny. Everyone has to find something about their body to complain about or else you are weird. This idea you have to hate your body even shows up in the media. I'm sure most of have seen this clip from Mean Girls because who hasn't. (Actually lots of people. I didn't first see this movie until this year. Is that bad? Don't judge me.)

Besides if we are beyond help at least we need to save the younger generation. Shows like Toddlers in Tiaras are not a good sign for the future. These stuck up little beauty queens are between the ages of four to six. The way that they act and treat the people around them is not OK for that age or any age at that matter. Also then our little girls think it is OK to act like Honey Boo Boo the most annoying person in reality television. (Well everyone in reality television is equally annoying but for my purposes Honey Boo Boo is the most annoying.) She only got discovered because she went on Toddlers in Tiaras and people thought she was funny so some company gave her a TV show to be crazy and act completely stupid.