Right: Editor, writer Brendan O'Neill: "The great irony of the anti-pageant fury is that it is not the princess-obsessed mums who are sexualising these pink and fluffy girls, but the protesters".
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Arguments in favour of child beauty pageants
1. Most pageants do not sexualise children
Supporters of child beauty pageants argue that they are not an attempt to sexualise children. They claim that all the pageants involve is giving children an opportunity to dress up and have fun. Many pageants are careful about the sort of adornments that they will allow children to wear. For example, Beatriz Gill, a United States child pageant director and a former child participant, does not allow make-up or snug costumes in her pageants.
Jodie Fraser, whose 14-year-old daughter Rebecca travelled from Cootamundra in New South Wales for the Melbourne pageant, has stated, 'I don't know why people are so against it. There's so many things that people put their kids in.
My daughter has been dancing since she was four, wearing makeup and costumes and no one complained about that.
(Pageants are) about stage presence, it's about your overall confidence and feel, it doesn't have to be anything about how you look.'
It has further been claimed that to see child beauty pageants as sexualisation indicates that there is a problem with the observer.
Annette Hill, owner of the Texas parent company Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant, has stated, 'If you are looking at children in a sexual way, you should be ashamed of yourself and something is wrong with you. It's all about a beautiful dress, a beautiful child with lots of personality performing on stage.'
Brendan O'Neill in an opinion piece published by the ABC on August 4, 2011, stated, 'Indeed, the great irony of the anti-pageant fury is that it is not the princess-obsessed mums who are sexualising these pink and fluffy girls, but the protesters. ]
Where most normal people who look at a girl in a pink dress and over-the-top make-up simply see a child who likes dressing up ... the pageant-bashers see SEX, a little whore, a walking, talking temptation for the predatory paedophiles who apparently lurk in every street and alleyway in Australia.'
2. Beauty pageants develop children's confidence
Many parents are of the opinion that beauty pageants have several benefits such as an increase in confidence, a tendency toward being extroverted, and the opportunity to be better public speakers.
Mrs Phyllis Jones, whose daughter is a regular child beauty pageant competitor in the United States, has stated, 'I was trying to give Meaghan some exposure as far as public speaking. When she was young, she was really, really shy. I wanted her to develop her own type of personality.'
Mrs Jones added that her daughter participates in a wide array of activities, from cheerleading to gymnastics to dance. Mrs Jones stated, 'I just want to give Meaghan a choice of things she could do in life.'
Another mother commented on the effect that competing in a child beauty pageant had on her daughter, 'She learns skills such as going out in a crowd, not to be shy, and to be herself while people are watching and focusing on her.'
Parents also claim that contests help teach their children to deal with competition.
In an article published in the Harvard University Gazetteer on June 8, 2010, William J. Cromie wrote, 'Parents with higher incomes and education beyond high school often cite teaching a child how to deal with competition as a main reason for entering pageants. Many of them want their daughters to be doctors, dentists, or to have professional careers.'
The promoters of Australia's first Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant defended the practice saying that it taught the lesson of 'striving to be your very best'.
3. Child beauty pageants provide fun and camaraderie for participants
It has been claimed that child beauty pageants provide participants with an entertaining and challenging experience which is also an opportunity to form friendships with other children.
Contestant Allie Richardson, aged seven, made the following comment about her involvement in beauty pageants. 'I like doing the pageants because they're fun and I like making new friends. Sometimes I get to be in other pageants with my friends. And when my friends win, then I'm really happy for them.'
On the opinion site Squidoo, it has been claimed, 'The majority of child pageants and pageant parents work toward creating a sense of camaraderie among the contestants. The kids play together backstThe Age: and the parents often help each other. Some contestants have made lifelong friends at pageants. When parents have the right attitude, the children will, too.'
Squidoo has also included the following supportive observation about child beauty pageants, 'Pageants can be a lot of fun for kids. Most pageants sell foods that kids love, including pizza, hot dogs, popcorn, candy, and other snacks. Some of the larger pageants also provide backstage activities for the kids, and a few even have costumed characters interact with the younger girls.'
4. Parents can be trusted to look after their children's wellbeing
Supporters of child beauty pageants argue that government intrusion is not needed and that parents can be relied upon to act in the best interests of their children.
Though the children are too young to give informed consent to their participation in beauty contests, the same argument could be made in relation to the sports they play, the music lessons they receive and the medical treatments they receive. In such circumctances the state typically relies on parents to make appropriate decisions for their children.
New South Wales Minister for Community Services, Pru Goward, has stated that state intervention in parenting is appropriate only in cases of abuse and neglect.
Ms Goward argues, 'I do not believe the state has any business interfering in a voluntary activity such as this unless there were clear evidence that children involved were at risk of significant harm through neglect or abuse.
We all make choices as parents and in a free society we need to accept that the state cannot regulate to micromanage parental choices...
Parents well know that any contest - sporting, academic, or artistic - puts their child under pressure, and on each occasion the parent makes a judgment about whether the pressure and also the resultant self-consciousness are worth the price of success or failure.'
The Victorian Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development, Wendy Lovell, has stated, 'We should trust parents to make the right decision for their children.'
It has further been noted that the majority of children will not continue to take part in an activity that they do not enjoy. Thus, a combination of parental concern and the natural preferences of children are believed to be sufficient to ensure that they will not be coerced into activities that are either harmful to them or against their inclinations.
Mickie Wood, the mother of American child beauty pageant star, Eden Wood, has stated, 'These are people that don't know my child. If Eden doesn't want to do something, she will let you know it.'
5. Opponents of child beauty pageants are often reacting to extreme examples
It has been claimed that many of those who oppose child beauty pageants are basing their views on extreme examples. These pageants have been popularised in Australia by shows such as the United States reality series Toddlers & Tiaras which airs locally on pay TV.
Kristine Kyle, a Melbourne mother of four, is organising the current Australian child beauty pageant as a volunteer. Ms Kyle believes that much of the criticism levelled at child beauty pageants is ill-informed and based on programs such as Toddlers & Tiaras.
Ms Kyle has stated, 'We are asking people to educate themselves. Toddlers & Tiaras is a reality TV show. They have to make it dramatic so people will watch it. Our pageant is not going to be like that.' She argues that programs such as Toddlers & Tiaras exaggerate the clichs associated with beauty pageants - pushy parents, unctuous judges and young girls in exaggerated make-up and push-up bras. The majority of contests, she claims, are not like this.
Ms Kyle has further stated, 'The pageant in Melbourne will not be like that. It will have a distinctive Aussie flavour. I think if some of the people who are anti-pageants could see one before passing judgement, they would be surprised what a positive experience they actually are.'
Sally Belinda Broad, the director of Australian Kids Pageants, has claimed, 'Fake tan, prostheses, fake eyelashes, extreme makeup, false nails, that kind of thing is typically practised only by a minority in the US. Our events are "natural" Pageants where anything fake is disallowed and age appropriate appearance and performance is encouraged.'
It has further been suggested that there is an element of class prejudice in criticisms of child beauty pageants, with opponents condemning these events as one of the low-brow occupations of the ignorant and the ill-educated.
Brendan O'Neill in an opinion piece published by the ABC on August 4, 2011, stated, 'A lot of this is driven by naked, old-fashioned, bogan-bashing snobbery, a deep disdain for those suburban folk who have such inferior pastimes to the more decent sections of society.'