A New View On Pageants

The first things my friend and I talked about were the basics; how she got involved in pageants, what the competitions are like from a fist-hand standpoint, etc. She basically did her first beauty pageant when she was eight just for the fun of it, kind of a “why not” type of thing. It was a really laid back competition and she ended up loving it because it was fun and it made her “feel like a princess”. She really didn’t care if she won or not, and her mother was completely laid back about it and didn’t care if she continued on with pageants or not.

After the first one, she wanted to do more and whenever there were pageants in the area her mother would let her know and she would decide if she wanted to do it or not. Most of the competitions she entered were pretty relaxed and had a mixture of girls like her who just entered for fun, and girls who were more serious about winning. She ended up doing about one pageant every two months until she was thirteen and kept the “if you had fun you won” attitude.
Next, we talked about what the atmosphere at the pageants was like overall. I asked her if there were a lot of stage moms or girls who sabotaged other girls for the crown like you see when pageants are portrayed in movies and on T.V. She said that she did so many pageants that there were girls who she competed with on a regular basis and actually became friendly with. She also said that the stage moms and hard-core pageant girls do exist but they are in no way the majority of people who entered the contests she went to.

I asked my friend what she thought of the public’s view of pageants and weather or not she thought it was accurate and her answer was interesting. She thought that the public view all wrong because it is taking the worst-case scenarios of something and using them as the only basis for what the entire world of pageants is about. It’s like judging a person you know nothing about just because of one bad thing you heard that they did. Yes there is an ugly side to pageants but there is also the side that my friend experienced, a fun way to make friends.

I was really surprised at what I learned from this conversation with my friend. I thought that it would give me a little more knowledge and information on the subject but it actually really changed my views on pageants. I personally wouldn’t find a pageant fun just because I don’t like people looking at me in bathing suits and talking in front of people I don’t know makes me really uncomfortable, but if that’s fun for you and makes you feel good about yourself then go for it.