THE REAL BEAUTY OF BEAUTY PAGEANTS
PREPARED BY GROUP (2):
SYLVIA BANUN MAJA (L)
CRYSTAL ANN MANJA
INTRODUCTION
A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, talent, character, and charitable involvement, through private interviews with judges and answers to public on-stage questions.
What will define our society today? It is our opinion that knowing who you are and what you stand for is far more valuable than what others choose to see. It is this knowing that will make you stand out far above the rest indeed. The legacy of beauty pageants will continue to move forward, it may slightly evolve, as it should. But we know we are not alone in the hope that those beautiful faces also embody a more beautiful heart dedicated to good, building a healthy impact for all mankind, and forward-focused growth.
INNER AND OUTER BEAUTY
For the younger competition and divisions, these women showcase not only physical beauty, but also demonstrated real dedication to talent development, along with embracing commitment. This deemed highly important to the judges. It surely does speak of great discipline and dedication to be able to divide your time and excel in many areas of life, including academics and family life.
It is not only this talent portion that is of great significance. The judge’s interview, typically held off stage, holds great weight in the overall score. These women are not “rated” on their beauty, which is just a bonus. However, what they are representing and who they are at the core is also of great worth. The judges most definitely have a hard role to play as they meet great women with principles and skill who are bringing their best to these competitions.
POSITIVE VIBES IN BEAUTY PAGEANTS
The focus of beauty pageants is on building self-esteem and self-confidence, making friendships, teaching good sportsmanship, poise and public speaking and showing the importance of being involved in your community and charity. Any girl is welcome to compete. Despite what other people have to say, beauty pageants have a positive impact on female adolescents. Beauty pageants first became popular in the 1800s. They were created to give teens a chance to dress up and compete, something they would do anyway around their house, while learning important life skills.
Beauty pageants have positive impacts on individuals. It encourages growth in confidence, outgoing personality, and a positive self-image. Participating in beauty pageants and having a strong self-image go together. Studies show that prior to beauty pageants, many contestants are often bullied. Beauty competitions are a way for them to improve their self-esteem. Beauty pageants allow them to overcome fear. The confidence and outgoing personalities they get from pageants help them on stage and also in their everyday lives. One can really become good at public speaking and performing in front of others. With practice, you will be able to keep your cool and express yourself freely. Public speaking is valuable training for future careers in music, broadcasting, or other jobs requiring speaking in front of large groups. Contestants will see their comfort level growing.
Beauty pageants can also help children succeed in their pageants and in life. Many parents see beauty pageants as a way for their child to learn how to present themselves in front of a crowd. Increase in one’s confidence can help in so many ways, like in school and in their future jobs. It can be an amazing experience for children. It allows them to be comfortable coming out of their shell and being in front of a crowd. Being in a pageant and performing can also carry over into many other activities, like dance, drama, music recitals, and future public speaking. Children are also able to learn the aspects of rules and fair play. Outgoing children are more likely to make friends and have a better awareness about one’s self-image and self-esteem.
The level of fitness and discipline that it often takes to participate in beauty pageants can help a person in the contest and in the future. When in a beauty pageants, your body needs to be in shape. Contestants will learn how to put in effort. Contestants will also learn a lot about patience. After putting in the time to get into shape, contestants will get a greater appreciation for the results they see and use this as an outlook to help in their future activities.
Winning and participating in pageants can lead to great prizes and opportunities. Although many beauty pageants don’t award money, they give awards such as college scholarships. There are opportunities to travel the world and represent the pageant. Contestants are able to make many connections, which is a great way to network. They also meet lifelong friends. Doing charity work and being the face of the pageants are other benefits. Some pageants give out cash prizes, making it helpful for contestants to fund their passion.
Beauty pageants in Sarawak mostly promote positivity to the community through the winner. The queen has many responsibilities. The queen is to act as the role model for everyone. The queen participates in community events, parades, and speaking to others at public events. This also has a positive effect on the participants. Participants gain friendships, selfconfidence, and scholarship money.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEAUTY PAGEANTS IN SOCIETY
Beauty pageants give girls additional skills that they can use in their life growing up. From competing it gives them more confidence, develops social skills, poise and personality. In beauty pageants there are many different values that women can learn from and use to better herself in her careers in the future. Beauty Contests Beauty Pageants are beneficial to society because they supply contestants with necessities such as communication and confidence, they foster goals, and teach discipline. Beauty has the power to spawn aspiration and passion, thus becoming the impetus to achieve our dreams. In our professional lives as fashion designers, we often deal with beauty as a physical manifestation. But beauty can also be an emotional, creative and deeply spiritual force.
Beauty pageants have an impact on women empowerment because they give a platform for the girls to be heard on different levels, and most importantly, it places them in leadership and mentorship roles. Beauty comes in many forms. Cultivating a beautiful heart and blessing those around you with love, charity and consideration is what really makes a true beauty queen.
PROS AND CONS OF BEAUTY PAGEANTS
The Process
Good : First things first, the process through which you become fit and worthy enough to enter a pageant is an absolutely rigorous one and teaches you a lot. As the contestants progress towards the pageant and the crown, the whole experience is mesmerizing and can be life changing.
Bad : The process demands very hard work; leave alone the physical demands, such a contest takes a toil on your mental state as well. That can be worse than the physical stress.
Self-Confidence
Good : Presenting yourself flawlessly and gracefully in front of the others, is a fantastic booster for your self-confidence. Furthermore, looking good is another asset and habit you get into through such a contest
Bad : It is possible that such contests may contribute to you becoming too superficial. You may give importance only to outer appearance rather than sensing the deeper meaning of a personality.
Lucrative
Good : A beauty pageant is not just about being rewarding for you as a person, but it is rewarding in the materialistic sense as well (who wouldn’t mind earning a few good bucks, eh!). Most of the time, pageant winners get cash prizes, a chance to travel, explore places, and earn scholarships too. This is in addition to the trophy or crown and ribbon.
Bad : Too much of traveling for the pageant results in financial and emotional stress on all family members. Earning a lot may contribute to increasing your ego as well, which is detrimental to your personality.
Achievements
Good : A pageant can help individuals become go-getters and achieve what they want. Consequently, those who win are brimming with confidence.
Bad : Those who are mentally not strong enough might not be able to bear the pain of losing and not achieving what they want. This can lead them to go in depression. Those who win might become snobbish and over-confident, paying no heed to others.
Intelligence
You will never know what the judges have on their mind. There are some beauty pageants where the judges do test the intelligence of the contestants and there are activities where they can display their intelligence.
Good : Your intelligence and congeniality is tested in these contests; there are various activities where contestants can display their intelligence.
Bad : Many claim that not all pageants have judges who test the intelligence quotient of the candidates; consequently, this makes them feel like decked-up dolls rather than smart human beings.
Fame
Good : The winner or the top 5 or 10 contestants have a great chance to be role models for the ‘mere mortals’. Be it social service or excelling in their careers and academics, this is what they put across for others to follow.
Bad : There are many who might misuse this platform for all the wrong reasons and for their vested interest, rather than doing something for others.
CONCLUSION
If you intend to participate in such a contest, that is great; avoid going overboard about it. There are some who can go to any extent to be the Miss. or Mr. Perfect and still lose everything. Moreover, the race to have that perfect body and face can result in eating disorders detrimental for an individual’s health. These points should be seriously considered by those wanting to enter a beauty pageant. An individual should have a very strong reason and self determination to sail through. Only then it is worth a shot. This is totally relevant to what Oscar Wilde had said about beauty – “No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.”