Plato said “We Behold Beauty in the Mind.” That is so true and many young girls today look at beauty pageants and try to live up to those standards. What will young girls try just to fit into that mold? How will they achieve this, starve, wear more make-up or even consider cosmetic surgery. Beauty, thinness and talent are all exploited in these events. What will girls do to become the next beauty queen, and at what cost?

There’s pressure everywhere these young girls turn to be more beautiful and thinner. In our society 15% of young women have some kind of disordered eating patterns. (Random House). Miss America 2008 is a recovering anorexic. She suffered as a teen and struggled through high school. Her platform issue is on eating disorders. 1% of female adolescence have anorexia. That means 1 out of every 100 young women between the ages of 10 and 20 are starving themselves to death. (Media, Eating Disorders and girls). Who is to blame? Beauty pageants are guilty because of what they promote. Striving to be a beauty queen is a danger to the physical and mental health of our young girls today.

9 out of 10 girls age 14 and 15 claim to have suffered depression with 6% saying life just is not worth living. Top sources of what produced this feeling was pressure to look good, that’s 94% of our girls trying to fit into the beauty queen image. (Virtual Library of Newspaper, Articles). Low self esteem is becoming a crises in this country. Not measuring up is a prblem and can lead to distructive behavior. 75% of girls with low self esteem reported engaging in negative and potentially harmful activities. This leads to disordered eating, drugs and even hurting themselves. (Low Self Esteem is at a Crises for girls). Beauty pageants are a source for girls to look to and compare themselves to. There are just yo many negative results that stem from pageants.

“Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder” (Margaret Wolfe Hungerford 1878 “The Duchess”). Teens behold what they think is beauty in their eyes, and where do they get information on what beauty is? Beauty pageants are one source they view and see what others see as beauty. Nicole Hunter wrote a paper on “The effects of Beauty Pageants” she was four when she competed in her first pageant. Now she does not know what it feels like to be pretty without firsy putting on make-up. When she would lose a pageant she would compare her self to the girl who did win. Which in turn would lead to poor self image and low self esteem. Beauty, talent and a knock out body add up to a beauty queen contestant. Not all of our teen girls can live up to these standards so what is left is a society of young girls obsessing with their looks. So mothers think twice before entering your daughters into beauty pageants.

Works Cited.

1. Low self esteem crisis levels for girls Jim Liebolt-Senior Editor for Homewood(source PRN News Wise)

2. Media,Eating Disorders and Girls Sandra Williams March 26, 2007

3. Nicole Hunter “Effects of Beauty Pageants” cause and effect paper linking beauty pageants to low self esteem, eating disorders. Copy write 2007 UN:LIZAC 1217 at writing.com

Random House Eating Disorders Statistics, BBCUK February 24, 2005 Bliss Magazine

4. Virtual library of newspaper articles “Girls teenage years a misery.

Hills