Since Australians Jennifer Hawkins and Lauryn Eagle were crowned Miss Universe and Miss Teen International respectively, there has been a dramatic increase in interest in beauty pageants in this country. These wins have also sparked a debate as to whether beauty pageants are just harmless reminders of old- fashioned values or a throwback to the days when women were respected for how good they looked.
Opponents argue that beauty pageants, whether its Miss Universe or Miss Teen International, are demeaning to women and out of sync with the times. They say they are nothing more than symbols of decline.
In the past few decades Australia has taken more than a few faltering steps toward treating women with dignity and respect. Young women are being brought up knowing that they can do anything, as shown by inspiring role models in medicine such as 2003 Australian of the Year Professor Fiona Stanley.
In the 1960s and 70s, one of the first acts of the feminist movement was to picket beauty pageants on the premise that the industry promoted the view that it was acceptable to judge women on their appearance. Today many young Australian women are still profoundly uncomfortable with their body image, feeling under all kinds of pressures because they are judged by how they look.
Almost all of the pageant victors are wafer thin, reinforcing the message that thin equals beautiful. This ignores the fact that men and women come in all sizes and shapes. In a country where up to 60% of young women are on a diet at any one time and 70 % of school girls say they want to lose weight, despite the fact that most have a normal BMI, such messages are profoundly hazardous to the mental health of young Australians.
The concept of love your own body and be yourself, gets defeated by the beauty pageant competitions which might have been relevant in the olden times; moreover, we as a society have to move forward against all these conservative mindsets which create norms which are unfair and against gender equality.
There has been a growing interest in Australian females about beauty pageants since the crowing of Jennifer Hawkins and Lauryn Eagle. It sparked a debate about how women should strive to look good. In 1960s, the feminist movement accepted to judge women on their appearance, but, many women feel uncomfortable with this notion. All pageant winners appear very thin and it reinforces a wrong message. Australia wants women to be treated with dignity and respect.
Even though Australia has taken action towards treating women with dignity and honour in the past decades regardless of their appearance; however, the young Australians are still under immense pressure by being judged on their looks.
The beauty pageants weather its Miss universe or Miss teen international are demeaning to women and out of sync with the times as many young women are still profoundly uncomfortable with their body image, feeling under all kinds of pressure because they are judged by hoe they look.
Beauty pageants are harmless reminders of old fashioned values or a throwback to the days when women were respected for how they looked; whereas, opponents argue that beauty pageants are demeaning to women and out of sync with the times.
Australia which has taken very less steps toward treating women with dignity and respect is focusing more in beauty pageants; furthermore, many of the pageant winners bolster the message that thin means beautiful.
Almost all of the beauty pageant’s victors are wafer-thin, reinforcing the message that thin equals beautiful, whereas the industry promoted the view that it was acceptable to judge women on their appearance, which Australia has taken more than a few faltering steps toward treating women with dignity and respect.