Durban - Television programmes like Toddlers And Tiaras and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo - showing the competitive, brutal, behind-the-scenes world of kiddies’ beauty pageants - are often held as the standard when it comes to contests like these.
But, said Angelique Wright of Trelique Modelling and Promotions Agency, this stereotype was unfair.
The agency represents more than 140 models between the ages of three and 27.
One of these girls is seven-year-old Zenande Mncwabe, who recently won the coveted Little Miss Universe 2016 title.
“We don’t allow girls under 12 to wear any make-up. When they are over 12, we still advise that they use minimal make-up and do not plaster their faces. Even in photography, we don’t believe it is healthy to over-edit their pictures. We want them to see that natural is beautiful,” she said.
The agency also enforced something of a dress code, in that dresses and skirts could not be too short or revealing.
“This is something that is supposed to build confidence and self-assurance. Have you seen a seven-year-old handle television and radio interviews so well? That is part of our training; it’s about personal development.”
Carolyn Botha of Pageants SA - an organisation that is trying to make pageants in the country fair and balanced - said there was no umbrella body overseeing pageants in South Africa.
“There are so many fly-by-night contest organisers who simply resist regulation, so we don’t have one set of rules governing all beauty pageants, particularly those involving children,” she said.
Sexualisation of children could only take place if children wore clothes that were not age-appropriate.
“But we have strict rules and regulations regarding clothing and anyone entering a Pageants SA pageant will never be allowed to sexualise their child at all.”
She pointed out that there was a “small percentage” of parents who pushed their children.
“However, the same can be said for most sports, dancing or gymnastics.
“I often speak directly with the parents if I see this happening and encourage them to rather allow the child to decide when and if she would like to enter any competition.”
Botha said she had seen young girls who were “extremely shy and withdrawn” become top pupils, with their school marks starting to improve greatly.
“I must say that most beauty queens and kings really excel at school, as they realise that as role models in their communities they need to lead by example. Their self-esteem is certainly boosted and contestants definitely start to come out of their shells”.
“I have seen this with a young girl named Katlego Ncala, who started entering my pageants about four years ago.
“She decided after seeing one of my posts on Facebook that she wanted to enter pageants. She started taking modelling lessons with me.
“She had a stutter and was really not very confident but had an awesome spirit to do well and achieve. She went on to win Miss Teen Africa after two years of training.
“Her stutter is gone, her parents are more than proud and she is an awesome role model to other young girls her age.”
But clinical psychologist Diante Fuchs said that beauty pageants focused on just that - beauty.
“There are talent aspects and a few questions to answer, but let’s face it: the focus is on how beautiful the contestants are. (In some cases) young children are required to wear revealing clothing accompanied by thigh-high stockings and are plastered with make-up, none of which is appropriate for children. Wearing high heels and a revealing bikini with make-up and skin shimmer is quite a different story.
“Essentially, we are expecting young children to dress like adults and that effectively sexualises them.
“An average looking girl is not going to win a pageant over a big-eyed, long legged beauty, simply because she was able to answer the questions better.”
Fuchs said there could also be pressure from mothers to continue - even after the children had lost interest.
“There is, of course, pride in having a daughter who would do well enough in these contests to go through to a Miss World pageant, so it is somewhat understandable that mothers may get over-involved and pressure their daughters into continuing, but it has a high risk of doing more harm than good.”
Fuchs said many would say that being in a pageant would make for secure and confident young girls and women. “In many ways, being continually praised for your good looks will bolster self-esteem, or at least so one would think. However, the downside is that pageants are, at the heart, critical of your looks. They focus on perfection (or who is the closest to attaining it), which is highly likely to magnify your flaws. Young girls become hypersensitive to their looks and often feel they don’t quite make the grade”.
“This sort of critical self-view does nothing to foster healthy self-esteem. Self-esteem is, at the end of the day, about self-acceptance and confidence regardless of your looks and abilities. It is about feeling good about yourself just the way you are.”
Girls younger than 16 should not be participating in beauty contests.
Some mothers could be very critical of other competitors in front of their charges.
“If this is the case then it surely does nothing for the relationship between the girls in the contest, or the relationships those girls may have with their peers at school.
“Mothers and grandmothers are modelling critical behaviour, which their daughters will carry with them in their dealings with peers in general.
“In effect they are teaching their daughters to be judgemental of others rather than accepting.”
The Mercury