GUEST COLUMNIST: The tragedy of placing children in beauty pageants

The face was plastered all over the morning papers, nightly newscasts, and popular weekly magazines. It was a fresh, young face -- different from the faces we normally see in the news these days, such as President Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich and O.J. Simpson, whose stories are just tired and predictable. Yet suddenly, a new face appeared as if to fill this void. It was a pretty face, a seemingly innocent one with obvious natural beauty. The face, however, wasn't totally youthful in appearance -- the tiny lips were covered with lipstick, and the beautiful eyes were accentuated with eyeliner. So why was the presence of makeup on the face such an astonishing sight? The reason is the makeup rested on the face of a 6-year-old, the face of JonBenet Ramsey. Ramsey probably never thought she'd grace the cover of Newsweek as the tragic victim of a homicide. Rather, if everything had went according to plan, her coronation as Miss America would have inspired a media frenzy and ingrained the image of her face in all of our minds. Indeed, Ramsey enjoyed a remarkable early career as a pageant contestant; she was the winner of the Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl and the Tiny Miss Beauty contest, among others. Yet her meteoric rise to the apex of the relatively unknown subculture of child beauty pageants was cut short by a bizarre murder, which rocked the sleepy college town of Boulder, Colo. Everyone knows the details of the case -- two ransom notes, a mysterious 911 call, the parents as possible suspects. And, in all likelihood, the case will be solved within the next few weeks. But the fascination with Ramsey's murder will endure. Why? Her murder has shed light on the strange world of child beauty pageants -- a commonplace institution to some but a foreign one to most of us. In this world, little girls -- as young as eighteen months old -- saunter across stages in dresses worth up to $600. Competition is keen, and parents sometimes spend $7000 a year on pageantry expenses. While some will argue her murder had nothing to do with beauty pageants, we will be unable to divorce the two for a simple reason: the lasting images of Ramsey will be the pictures of her as a beauty pageant contestant. For example, there were seven photos of Ramsey in the Newsweek article detailing the case. Only in one picture was she not wearing makeup or expensive clothes, and not surprisingly, she looked completely different. Ramsey -- who was a child -- actually looked like a child in that picture. But more than likely, we won't remember that picture among the several cover shots. How could we not connect her murder to the world of child beauty pageants? Pageant advocates claim that "personality" and "natural beauty" are the most highly valued attributes, rather than whether a girl wears makeup or an expensive dress. In addition, they argue the competition isn't any less intense than Little League, and the contests actually promote self-esteem. In my opinion, however, the idea of children participating in beauty contests is disturbing for several reasons. First, as a camp counselor, I learned that young children have extremely malleable minds which are easily influenced by images emanating from popular culture. By encouraging them to look "sexy" by wearing makeup and seductively parading around a stage, overzealous parents are imparting unhealthy concepts of sexuality in the minds of their young daughters. Secondly, beauty contests differ greatly from Little League. Athletics are a measure of skill. Success often requires persistence, dedication and mental toughness, not just simple God-given talent. On the other hand, beauty pageant contestants are judged on purely aesthetic, inherited qualities. While makeup and ostentatious clothing may be shunned in some contests, "natural beauty" is not. Teaching children that appearance and appeasing others leads to success creates nothing more than hollow, superficial adults. Finally, placing young children in the limelight makes them extremely self-conscious, and adolescence accentuates this distortion of self-image. For children who have been taught that "looking good" is the most important attribute in life, the often unpleasant changes brought on by puberty -- such as acne and changes in body shape -- may damage their self-esteem more so than their peers. In studying child entertainers and models, psychologists have found they are prone to depression, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse during adolescence. It is no coincidence that, during their teenage years, former child stars Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family) and Drew Barrymore (E.T.) had serious drug problems and Tracey Gold (Growing Pains) battled bulimia. Maybe I'm naive, but why can't we just let children be children? Why prematurely expose them to negative images of human sexuality and falsely teach them appearance is what matters most in life? Ramsey may have been one of the exceptions; those who knew her claim she was well-adjusted and enjoyed the stage. Perhaps she would have become neither anorexic nor narcissistic. Sadly, though, we'll never know, because her short life in the spotlight was so abruptly taken away from us. Her legacy won't be as Miss America, but as the poster child for an institution which, in my opinion, robs children of their innocence. The image of her face should remind us all to protect our young from the corrupt elements of society -- at least until they are mature enough to rationally deal with them. Growing up is hard enough. Putting lipstick on 6-year-olds just artificially accelerates the process, which in turn makes the real task all the more difficult. So while the murder mystery itself will soon be solved, what will endure is twofold: the lingering questions about our society's morality, and the image of a young face covered with makeup -- the face of JonBenet Ramsey.

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