Children's beauty pageants are not harmless fun A pair of fishnets, false eyelashes, fake tan, whitened teeth, thigh-high boots, a little tutu glittering custom, a suggestively choreographed dance routine, big tousled hair, a bedazzled push up bikini and an enthusiastic audience. Given this list of things, most minds would jump to the term "stripper" or "exotic dancer", but that is not what this list is about (Hollandsworth). This list could describe a little girl as young as four or five years old. This list could have been compiled to describe common contestants in children's beauty pageants. Child beauty pageants are becoming a new societal norm and are widely accepted. Beauty pageants for children are harmful to candidates, parents and society in their financial and social aspects. Children's beauty pageants follow much the same pattern as their more mature counterparts, but they do not traditionally hold swimsuit competitions (Hollandsworth). This is changing and some are adopting swimsuit sections (Information, Hill). Child beauty pageants are often organized by those who want their children to pursue acting or modeling and believe it will help them (Child Beauty Pageant Debate, Mickey Wood). The usual preparation for a children's beauty pageant involves spray tans, makeup and hair styling, and ornate costumes and dresses (Lorenzano). This will take hours from children and parents, as well as large sums of money (Sandberg). Children's beauty pageants that are widely represented in the media by shows like Toddlers and Tiaras are called luxury pageants (Children's Beauty Pageant Debate, Mickey Wood). In luxury pageants, custom makeup and costumes are not only encouraged but required (Sandberg). This essay will talk about luxury competitions, because they are the most common, the most publicized and the most controversial. An alternative to glitter pageants exists in the form of natural pageants which encourage minimal makeup and off-label clothing, but natural pageants are not common. One of the side effects they can cause is eating disorders (Hollandsworth). A study comparing women who had participated in child beauty pageants to women who did not see a significant increase in bulimia, but showed much higher rates of body dissatisfaction, impulse control and interpersonal distrust (Wonderlich). The rates were almost five times higher than those of women who did not compete, implying flaws in the competitions (Wonderlich). This may be because competitions support practices that may spoil children and teach them that certain behaviors are socially acceptable (Sandberg). Children who participated in competitions also outperformed their counterparts by almost 200% in terms of inefficiency (Wonderlich). This could have significant negative impacts on a child's future career and academic performance, and this could be because competitions send the message that appearances are more important than other achievements (Wonderlich). Participants were likely to outperform non-participants by almost 150% in terms of trust issues (Wonderlich). This could be because there is constant pressure from adults in their lives who they are supposed to trust to be).