Right: The murder of US child "beauty queen" JonBenet Ramsey on or around Christmas Day 1996 was a tragedy which brought children's beauty pageants much news media scrutiny. The often bizarre world of pageant contestants and their families was probed by journalists across the globe, to the detriment of the industry's public image.
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Background information
(The following information is an abbreviated version of the wikipedia entry titled 'Child beauty pageant'. The full text of this entry can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_beauty_pageant)
A child beauty pageant is a beauty contest featuring contestants including and younger than 18 years of age. Divisions include talent, interview, sportswear, casual wear, swim wear, western wear, theme wear, outfit of choice, decade wear, and evening wear, typically wearing makeup as well as elaborate hairstyles. The contestants wear custom fitted and designed outfits to present their routines on stage.
Beauty pageants began in the United States in 1921 when the owner of an Atlantic City hotel struck upon the idea to help boost tourism. However, the idea of child competitions had already circulated through 'Most Beautiful Child' contests held in major cities across the country. The Little Miss America pageant began in the 1960s at Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey. Originally, it was for teenagers from 13 to 17 years old, but by 1964 there were over 35,000 participants, which prompted an extension of age divisions. The modern child beauty pageant emerged in the late 1960s, held in Miami, Florida. Since then, the industry has grown to include nearly 25,000 pageants. It is an increasingly lucrative business, bringing in about a billion dollars a year.
The murder of JonBenet Ramsey, a child who had been a prominent competitor in child beauty pageants, in late 1996, turned a critical public spotlight onto these pageants. Critics began to question the ethics of parents who would present their child in such a way. In 2001, HBO aired its Emmy-winning documentary 'Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen', which attracted much attention.
Besides the laws that regulate child education, pageants are a relatively ungoverned area of child activity. Child contestants are not considered 'working', so pageants are exempt from American child labour laws. Pageants also have different rules, so it becomes hard to set a law that will cover every pageant. New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Arkansas, California, Vermont and Maine do not have any laws regulating pageants.
Besides travel and lodging expenses, pageants require an entry fee that usually ranges from fifty to several hundred dollars, depending on the type of competition being entered. Makeup and hair is typically done by a professional makeup artist. Spray tans and other accessories also must be paid for, as well as clothing and outfits. Dresses can cost anywhere from $200 to $6000, depending on the designer and the amount of adornment on the garment. Some parents hire pageant coaches to teach their child professionally choreographed routines. There have been cases of families going into debt or losing their homes because of overextending family resources to cover the costs that the pageants required.