June 30, 2020 ▸ Other, Psychology

Episode 494: Kiddie Pageants: Big Hair and Big Money

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we polish our tiaras and talk about child beauty pageants. They of course made national news with the tragic death of Jonbenet Ramsey in 1996. But after that, they stayed in the forefront of popular culture. HBO’s influential documentary called Living Dolls lead to the TV show Toddlers in Tiaras and the flaming turd filled train wreck that was Honey Boo Boo. Each year, over 250,000 children participate in America alone. From underage prostitutes to 8 year olds getting motel Botox, this one has it all.

You would think that beauty pageants for children came from the sick minds of the current generation, but there is in fact a long history. P.T. Barnum organized a kid’s beauty pageant in 1855 called the National Baby Show, and it gained 143 contestants and an audience of over 60,000. This spread to other similar ideas, mostly judging naked babies like cattle. By the 1920s, however, the modern adult beauty pageants was born in New Jersey (of course it was…). From there, the idea of a Little Miss America was spawned, and it hasn’t stopped since. While Jonbenet’s death may have put these horror shows on the map, they had been there all along.

There are different types of pageants; some are Natural, where rules are in place about amounts of makeup and outlandish outfits. Others are a Glitz, which are the ones you’re thinking about. Fake teeth, caked makeup, hair like a televangelist prostitute, horrible dances, all the worst of the worst. To get through a big pageant, it’s gonna cost a parent at least $5000, but some may spend as much as $70,000 by the time designer dresses, makeup, travel, and all the rest is calculate. But there are large purses to be won, so it keeps on keeping on.

Some say the pageants are a good thing. They breed self confidence and sportsmanship. Others argue they sexualize children and create problems ranging from body dismorphia to eating disorders and big time trust issues when every friend is a competitor likely to throw you under the bus. So, how many pageants are there a year? What types of events do they perform in order to win? How are more recent online pageants judged? What happened to the mom who was self injecting Botox in her own 8 year old daughter in the lobby of a hotel? Listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_beauty_pageant

https://www.thelist.com/136545/the-untold-truth-of-childhood-beauty-pageants/

https://www.bustle.com/articles/183975-whats-the-history-of-child-pageants

https://www.thecut.com/2012/11/child-pageant-star.html

https://www.moms.com/pageant-child-reasons-should-against/

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8128371