According to a DailyMail article online, in the country of Venezuela in South America, many low income families are sending their daughters, as young as nine to beauty academies where they go through rigorous training to win beauty pageants with the hopes of becoming the next Miss Venezuela or Miss Universe to win money and make a better life for themselves and their families.
One
of the other points highlighted in this article is how parents and
teachers in the beauty academies encourage these girls to get plastic
surgery to fit certain ideal beauty
standards
because it increases their chances of winning. Parents will even go
into large amounts of debt just to pay for their daughter's plastic
surgery. So girls as young as 12 start going under the knife,
getting butt implants, or hormones injected so they grow taller, and
at 16 breast implants and in extreme cases getting a mesh cloth sewed
on their tongue so eating solid foods becomes painful.
The consequences of these practices are not only painful for these girls, but also dangerous, because many of them die from the surgeries and chemicals injected in them, but many families and teachers overlook this point because their focus is more towards winning pageants and making money. ''When you live in a country where a beautiful woman has greater career prospects than someone with a strong work ethic and first-class education, you are forced into the mindset that there is nothing more important than beauty.'' says Maria Trinidad, from the organization No to Biopolymers, Yes to Life, where she is dedicated to educating Venezuelan girls about the dangers of plastic surgery . Now, perhaps it is like this because there is the idea that it's much faster to make money by winning pageants instead of walking the process of getting an education, going to college, and getting a good job.
What we don't see within this is that only a small percentage of families will be able to have their daughters win these pageants, win the money, and indulge in the fame, yet what happens to the other daughters and families who were also involved? They lose, they don't get any money or win any prizes, so this is a problem because one family can enjoy the riches of their daughter's success but another can't, so how would we feel if we were on the losing end?
The consequences of these practices are not only painful for these girls, but also dangerous, because many of them die from the surgeries and chemicals injected in them, but many families and teachers overlook this point because their focus is more towards winning pageants and making money. ''When you live in a country where a beautiful woman has greater career prospects than someone with a strong work ethic and first-class education, you are forced into the mindset that there is nothing more important than beauty.'' says Maria Trinidad, from the organization No to Biopolymers, Yes to Life, where she is dedicated to educating Venezuelan girls about the dangers of plastic surgery . Now, perhaps it is like this because there is the idea that it's much faster to make money by winning pageants instead of walking the process of getting an education, going to college, and getting a good job.
What we don't see within this is that only a small percentage of families will be able to have their daughters win these pageants, win the money, and indulge in the fame, yet what happens to the other daughters and families who were also involved? They lose, they don't get any money or win any prizes, so this is a problem because one family can enjoy the riches of their daughter's success but another can't, so how would we feel if we were on the losing end?
It's
a natural human right for all to be able to have the means and
resources necessary to live a
comfortable life,
but currently many families do not even have the means to live that
kind of
life, which is why I suggest we consider implementing a Living Income Guaranteed, because within that families who are poor, who
have low-incomes, who are unable to sustain themselves and their
children, who had to resort to sending their daughters to beauty
pageants in the hopes of having a better life, will no longer need to
do this because they will be able to receive
an allowance on a monthly basis that will ensure that their basic
needs are met, that their survival in this world is no longer
something to worry or fear about, where then the focus doesn't have
to be on sending their daughters to win pageants but can instead be
directed towards allowing their daughters to go to school,
take art classes to develop
self expression, go to college, and who knows
what else
a
girl could do or become if the focus
in
their
life was no longer towards winning pageants
and
making money.
I suggest you take a moment or two to check out what the Living
Income Guaranteed has to offer. This system can really work if we
all allow it to manifest. Check out the proposal here.
More information:
Equal Life Foundation:
Video: Fundamental Human Rights
