Young Writers Society

Every year at my school there is a fairly interesting debate session, but this year I find the topic somewhat disappointing and not as interesting, but either way, I thought it'd be nice to see what you all think. As the topic title says, "Beauty contests are harmful". Do you agree?

Well, I haven't much to say at the moment, but would the entire debate not revolve around the definition of 'harmful'?

I believe that beauty contests are harmful. When we see another person we've never met before, our first instinct is to judge them by what they look like and what they're wearing. Though often we don't mean to we often give label people based on psychical appearance. It's just my personal opinion but I believe that this is the message that beauty contests are all about. That physical beauty is more important than inner beauty.

Also, can beauty contests give girls unrealistic expectations about body image and it teaches them that a person's self worth relies solely on what they look like. As far as girls having unrealistic expectations about body image, they sometimes go to extremes to look or be "perfect" like starving themselves to be skinny.

Lastly I think that beauty contests causes girls to give up important values like integrity for beauty. Sometimes girls get so caught up in trying to win beauty contests and being "perfect" that they are forcing themselves to be what someone else wants them to be, what the world thinks they should be. They can lose themselves and their morals/values in the process. To sum it up beauty contests do more harm than help.

Meh, this is one of those common debate topics everyone gushes over.
I quite enjoy beauty contests. Just as athletes strive for physiological perfection, participants in a beauty contest strive for perfection in the realm of physical beauty. Are you going to say that their goals are less valid just because you think they are shallow? You may think inner beauty is more important but not everyone agrees, even if they don't admit it.
As for presenting a false sense of body image, that is true enough. Humans never stop yearning to be perfect. But is it a beauty contest's fault that some girl starves herself to look good? Nope, the girl is stupid for not realizing the reality.
It's like saying "Exams are harmful, they create a unrealistic expectations of intelligence because not everyone is as smart."
Anyway, you are free to dislike it, but pageants are free to carry on if they wish.

I believe that for young children, beauty contests are harmful...emotionally. I mean it's wrong to have children have those kinds of feelings about their body image and stuff at their age. For a winner, it's not as damaging because of the boost of confidence (but still, there is always that pressure to always be "perfect"), but for the losers it's quite disappointing and can be potentially harmful in the long run. Beauty contests for little children should be cancelled. However, for teenagers and above, I don't think they're that big of a deal because I believe someone at that age has matured a little bit more to understand rejection and competition better.