Child Beauty Pageants: A Glamorized Form of Child Abuse
A little girl, four-year-old Karley, stands in the middle of her kitchen. She has been placed atop scattered newspapers on the floor and is dressed in a bikini. She screams out in terror as her mommy approaches her with a spray can. There is no escape for Karley now. The moment she dreads most has arrived. The cold mist from the spray can hits her bare shoulders as Karley squirms, cries, and stomps her feet. Her little body shakes as if she has been electrocuted by the cold wet liquid. "Look at your white legs!" Karley’s mom scolds, while covering her daughter from head to toe with fake tanner. (O’Neill) This is just the first of many of the unpleasant body transformations that will follow throughout the rest of this four year old’s day, and unfortunately, many more days to follow.
Some 3 million kids - most of them girls - between the ages of 6 months and 16 years compete in American pageants each year. (O’Neill) These children are subjected to unnatural body transformations that are entirely inappropriate for their age. From the application of thick, bright colored and uncomfortable stage make-up, acrylic fake fingernails, fake eyelashes and uncomfortable costumes, to the insertion of veneers to hide a child’s naturally missing front teeth, these young girls go through a grueling process of becoming what they are told makes them impeccable, perfect and beautiful.

The damage being done to these children