The Pageant Pipeline
Written for Magazine Journalism course at UC Santa Barbara
On April 23, 2022, Kailia Posey, most notable for her appearance in the hit TLC show “Toddlers & Tiaras”, posed on the steps of a cruise ship in a red set. She posted the photo to her Instagram with the caption “None of your concern:)”. Nine days later, Posey would be found dead at Birch Bay State Park. Less than a month after her sixteenth birthday and just days after her prom, Kailia Posey took her own life. She left a note for her mother and her best friend. Her mother, Marcy Gatterman, said that the note told her that “…she loved me and that she was sorry and that her big brother is her best friend forever.”
Posey started her pageant career at the early age of 3 years old. Her mother noted in the “Toddler & Tiaras” episode that, “She’s a pro when she hits that stage.” At the age of 5, she became an internet sensation after a clip of her showing her incredibly wide and bright smile in the Toddlers & Tiaras interview confessional was turned into a GIF. With wide eyes, a scrunched chin, and a mischievous grin, the GIF of Posey hit every social media platform with heavy force. Her pageant journey didn’t end with her fifteen minutes of fame on the show. She remained on the pageant team Cambrie’s Court, a group that Toddler & Tiara's fans and the pageant world know to be the best of the best, up until her death. Under the guidance of Cambrie Littlefield, Posey won numerous Ultimate Grand Supreme and Grand Supreme titles. Most recently and notably, she was 2nd runner-up at the Teen Miss Washington pageant. Kalia Posey dreamed of becoming a pilot and studying aviation. She will no longer get to do that. Is her history of pageantry to blame?
Posey is not the first pageant queen to commit suicide. In January of 2022, former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst jumped from the top of her 60-story apartment building. In 2010, former Miss Mauritius World and former Miss Mauritius Universe, Viveka Babajee also took her life. Miss India Universe 1997 Nafisa Joseph was found dead by suicide in July 2004. Csilla Molnar, Miss Hungary 2985, committed suicide just a year after being crowned with the title. This ongoing “trend” of beauty queens struggling with such immense mental health struggles that they believed death was a better option questions the structure and ethics behind pageantry.
The movement to abolish pageants is not necessarily a new idea. There has been strong momentum behind the ridding of child pageants as many view them as being done against the child’s will and for the parents’ benefit. Child and adult pageantry are two different discussions. In 2013, France banned all child pageants with participants under the age of 13 and voted to regulate pageants with individuals between the ages of 13 and 15 on the basis that they “hyper-sexualized” minors. The ban lead to an uprising on social media wondering if more countries should follow suit. The origination of child pageants started in 1906 when the Coney Island baby parade welcomed over 1200 participants and had 600 compete for the title “most beautiful baby.” From there, child pageants increased in size and “glitz.” Children as young as three-years-old sport spray tans, fake teeth known as “flippers”, dresses that can cost upwards of $4,000, perfectly tweezed eyebrows, colored contacts, and French manicure press-on nails. Pageant entry fees start at about $400 and prize money can rack up to $5,000 and beyond. It is fair to assume that the $5,000 is not going into the Hello Kitty wallet of the 3-year-old performing.
Child psychologist Martina M. Cartwright did a study on what these pageants and expectations teach young girls about their self-worth. She identifies what she calls “princess by proxy” which is a form of “achievement by proxy” that parents of child pageant queens obtain when their children perform in these manors and win. “Parents, coaches, or other adults experience pride and satisfaction through a child’s achievement,” Cartwright asserts. She further goes on to say that parents live through their children when they obtain fame, financial reward, and overall justification for their beauty. In addition to the possible exploitation by parents of pageant children, a common complaint about child pageant that Cartwright mentions is the sexually suggestive costumes and makeup that is put on minors in hopes of them winning. She questions what the judgment of young girls based on their looks does to their view of self-worth. Many of the acts that take the stage for the talent portion of the contest show young children in incredibly short shorts and glorified sports bras shaking their hips and butt. When a child does not receive the highest title, are they being taught that they are not beautiful enough or talented enough? Do they need a darker spray tan, a better color of eyes, or a smaller tummy?
PT Barnum is often credited for the first “adult” beauty pageant in 1854. It is important to note that he also invented the original circus which has been reformed in major ways since its original establishment due to the inclusion of unethical acts and abuse of animals. Barnum’s pageant was shut down due to public protest of the event. Some even trace the origins to ancient Greece and the Judgement of Paris. Paris was selected to decide who was the fairest of all the goddesses. This ultimately led to the Trojan War. Maybe, we should’ve learned from their mistakes. In 1921, Atlantic City put together the first Miss America Pageant to gain tourism. The contest advertised that the pageant would be a “beachfront bathing suit parade of thousands of the most beautiful girls in the land.” Only about 5 to 10 women participated in the event. The winner’s measurements are still public record but will not be shared here, because they are not important. From then on, the Miss America contest has happened every single year.
Alina Rae Carranza, Miss Teen California USA 2019, started pageants when she was just 14 years old. She described her younger self as incredibly shy and a tomboy, but she loved the show Toddlers & Tiaras. The reason she started so late in the pageant game compared to other pageant girls was actually that her mother was very against it. Carranza’s mother had seen the negative stereotypes that were associated with pageant girls and didn’t want her daughter to fall into that box. To ease into the industry, she started in child modeling and from there went to audition for a pageant. After the audition, she remembers that the director told Carranza and her mother how influential and confidence-boosting pageants are for young women. The selling point for Carranza’s mother was the portion of pageants that deal with nonprofit organizations. “My cousin Natalia was about 6 years old going through a relapse with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant.” Carranza’s 14-year-old self-used her winnings to host bone marrow drives with Be the Match, a nonprofit that helps those in need of bone marrow transplants find their match. Carranza hoped her efforts would help her find a match for her cousin. Alina Rae Carranza could be considered a pageant success story. She’s worked closely with Best Buddies Organization, Be the Match, National Eating Disorder Association, and the Ronald McDonald House. She did over 700 hours of community service while serving as Miss Teen California USA. “Pageants offered me a voice within my community and did grant me confidence and support,” Carranza expressed. Since her start, Carranza has performed in about 10 pageants.
Carranza’s pageant experience has not been all sunshine and rainbows. After giving up the title of Miss Teen California USA, she recalls feeling like “[she] didn’t have a voice anymore and [she] wasn’t accepted.” The result of this lack of voice and acceptance turned into an eating disorder. Despite that pageants would likely be the accused perpetrator of her anorexia, she does not accredit all of her struggles to pageants. “I have always had issues with my body and appearance since a young age. Pageants offered me a voice, but in turn, I think that it places a lot of pressure on young girls to be “perfect” looking,” Carranza explained. She went on to say that, as she stopped doing pageants, she lost that external validation and felt that she didn’t know who she was outside of it. She did not let these battles stop her from continuing her pageant journey. After recovering from anorexia, she returned to the stage with a new platform. She now advocated for those who struggled with body image and eating disorders. “I visited over thirty schools across the state of California where I talked to students about the importance of treating yourself and your body with the respect and love it deserves,” she continued saying, “I was able to turn such a negative aspect in my life into something so much more impactful for other people.” Her plans for the future: becoming a dietitian for others struggling with food as well. She remembers pageants in a positive light giving her “so many incredible opportunities with so many amazing people.”
Alina Rae Carranza shows what pageants can be. When beauty contests decide to focus on philanthropic endeavors and bringing together communities of young women empowering each other, they lighten the blow of the other apparent ethical issues. The Miss America Competition turned 100 years old this year. The pageant no longer thinks of itself as a “beauty pageant” claiming that they do not base any of its judgings on beauty. Miss America's executive director noted to the New York Times that, “this is not a leg show and we don’t call the beauties bathing beauties anymore. The bathing part went out in 1945 when we started giving big scholarships.” Those scholarships are the leading motive behind most Miss America participants and pageant girls in general. Miss America 2022 won $100,000 in scholarship money and thousands of dollars in prizes. The Miss America Competition can now claim that it’s not a beauty pageant, it’s a scholarship contest!
All jokes aside, the question still stands: should these events still exist? Are the scholarships and immense philanthropic work enough to outweigh the very questionable foundation that the pageant world sits on? To get the two cents of the general public on the issue, I put out a Facebook 5. A particular responder was almost offended at my request for a comment stating, “This is America. Let people make their own choices with their children. It’s not anyone’s business.” Fair enough. Maybe refer back to the number of suicides in the pageant world and get back to me.
Pageant moms are almost as famous as the children themselves. I reached out to a few pageant moms for comment with very little response. Most mothers could sense that they were likely not going to be supported in the story and politely skipped the message. When pageant mothers can be seen on live television forcing Pixi Stix and Mountain Dew into their children’s bodies to keep their energy levels up after a nine-hour pageant day, it is understandable to see why they would not want to comment. Mothers on the show Toddlers & Tiara also can be seen teaching their six-year-old daughters the art of calorie counting. This is not to say that some children don’t enjoy it. Plenty of them genuinely do. One mother did respond to my reach-out to share her experience with a child who loved to be on stage and does pageants. She worked extra shifts to ensure she could give her daughter the best chance at every competition. “She was just so happy to smile in front of a crowd and get all dressed up. I was just along for the ride. It was her show,” she explained. In this example, a choice is made by the child. When a sixth-month-old takes the stage, it’s a little harder to justify. Miss Teen California USA 2019 Aline Rae Carranza said it best herself, “I think once a child or teen is mature enough to make the decision and commitment themselves, then it should be okay.”
Beauty pageants have managed to outlast the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. They aren’t going anywhere for a little while. In ever-changing America that we live in today, it’s hard to know the fate of beauty contests. Beauty is slowly losing its definition and with that so will beauty pageants. For now, we will have to keep the memories of Kailia, Cheslie, Viveka, Nafsia, and Csilla alive and hope that time will do them justice.