There’s something creepy about Miss Teen contests. What is it that drives parents to subject their daughters to these contests? I’m treading a thin line here because we have a guest columnist at work at the moment who is a current provincial teen queen. Her latest column was about the contest in which she participated. It reads like a list of clichés related to the entertainment industry in Thailand.
After winning her provincial heat, the teen queen went on to the national final in Bangkok. She was told that to achieve success in the final, she had to look whiter, taller and thinner than she was. I can’t fault this girl, who, after spending her life in Europe working on her tan, wrote of her bewilderment at a nation of people obsessed with maintaining light complexions.
If a child can see how absurd this situation is, why do adults choose to perpetuate it? These teenage beauty contests are twisted in so many ways. They actively promote young girls wearing makeup, dressing like women and looking sexy. It’s wrong on so many levels to package a 14- or 15-year-old child as an adult and say that “beauty” is supposed to fall within a series of boundaries.
I cannot imagine what goes through parents’ minds when they see their little girls up on stage, effectively subjecting them to sexual desire. Girls in the West experiment with makeup and dressing to attract the opposite sex, so I wouldn’t say this is something unique to Thailand or Asia. Teenage magazines around the world peddle certain ideals, but in Thailand, everything is intensified to this one tall, thin, pale image.
I have a dislike for beauty contests in general, but teenage pageants are something else altogether.
I totally agree with this post. Kids, as innnocent as they are, should not be subjected to this sort of contest. It is ridiculously infra dig. Child beauty pageants are an example of the objectification of children by adults.
Reading this topic makes me think of the movie called Little Miss Sunshine. The final part of the film hilariously illustrates how silly and fatuous pageants are.
Interesting topic.
While I appreciate the beauty of Thai women, especially the tall, thin, light-skinned hot body types, I don't think they should be judged on that alone.
But, in the end, aren't we, both men and women, objectified for various reasons?
What really is the difference between being judged, categorized and exploited for physical beauty, athletics, artistic abilities, business and intellectual achievements?
What is the difference between pushing a teen to be physically attractive to win beauty pageants and pushing a teen to excel in sports or academic competitions?
Further, women and men, especially teens, have been objectified for their beauty and sexuality for thousands of years.
Why now is that considered bad and wrong?
"….after spending her life in Europe working on her tan…."
To me, that seems like an even more dangerous obsession (after witnessing my best friend die from melanoma at the age of 30).
Apart from that point, I basically agree with Matt & Sooksiam.
The Movie Little Miss Sunshine takes a rather sharp aim at these pageants, very very creepy indeed
Who are you to say that teen 'beauty queens' are all so wrong? It's only because of your Western conditioning that you believe that they are 'subject to 'sexual desires'.
The people who are twisted are those who who look at young teenage shows and think (like yourself) the word 'sex'. Get it into your brain that the rest of the world outside of your American naivety, accepts young women for their beauty and doesn't see them as pedophile targets.
What you consider 'bad and wrong' is only your own westernized conditioning. Don't come here and suddenly dictate to the Thais 'what you believe is right'.
Some of your stuff is so patronizing and condescending of Asians, and especially Thais that i don't know why the hell you wish to stay here.
If you are so sick of Asian ways, why not go back home?
All right Moss. Why are these teens made to wear makeup and dress as adults if it isn't to look sexy? They are dolled up to look attractive — not cute and not adorable — but attractive to members of the opposite sex. And what does that equate to? Sexual desire. Bingo.
We are not talking about yong women being accepted for their beauty. No Moss, we are talking about girls being made to look like fully grown women.
I'm not American. You pulled out the old, "Don't like it, go home" cliche and so I really don't care for your response. Are you saying it is right to order teenagers to be white, tall and thin? Oh, I'm a Westerner. I'm not allowed to have an opinion about the country in which I work and spend my money. How foolish of me.
Please tell me, oh wise Moss, how teenage beauty pageants benefit Thailand from a Thai perspective then? If I am too conditioned to be allowed to have an opinion then I may as well curl up and die.
When have I ever said I'm sick of Asian ways? Also, didn't you read the part in my article in which a teen queen herself said how absurd these contests are? That's from the horses mouth there.
They do these children beauty contests in the west to…not much different than some famous children singers or teenage film stars who act 22 when they are only 13. Let children be children, let them play outside, get dirty and wear ripped clothes if they so wish. They can be grown up for the rest of their lives !!
Moss,
You complete prick. These pageants are a worldwide freakshow, not just a Thai or Asian thing(think JonBenét Ramsey). If you took your head out of your backside for one minute, you would see that the opinion was of the pageants in general, not just Asian pageants. Moron
Here here Lillian! Let children be children, they grow up quick enough as it is. Nice blog btw.
Hey…
Me 17, and my girlfriend 15, were balling eaxh other's brains out in California in 1956. So, what's so new and so bad?