While browsing the National Geographic website I came across an
article that instantly grabbed my attention: Millions
of Young Girls Forced into Marriage. I had definitely heard of
child marriages before but never did it occur to me that this was happening to
'Millions' of girls. As I dove into the article I found even more
startling facts; "One
out of nine girls in developing countries will
be married by age 15". This
shows how huge this problem is. Parents often encourage
child marriage due to economic concerns. Many times a daughter is the
only form of "currency" a family has, or the only commodity a family
has left to trade. Not only are
these young girls forced to do something against their will but they are also
forced to engage in sexual relations with there spouse, "Girls ages
l0-14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women
aged 20-24 and girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die". These
statistics show the great danger that comes along with young pregnancies, and
therefore child marriages. After marriage these girls are expected to run
a household and raise children, therefore they are forced to grow up too fast.
In parallel,
some young girls in America are facing similar circumstances to these child brides:
the stars from 'Toddlers and Tiaras'. These young girls are heavily
encouraged and usually forced by their parents to participate in pageant shows
that require hours of pampering and are purely focused on outer beauty. These
toddlers get spray tans, fake nails, fake eyelashes, fake teeth, colored
contacts, and heaps of makeup are applied to their tiny faces on top of all
that they are dressed in inappropriate clothing.
As a viewer states "These poor girls
are being exploited before millions of national viewers at every level. At the
most tender of age, they are being told to show more skin, sashay seductively
and diet". Clearly this show is faced with controversy, but its
still a very popular TV show and has been on air for several years. Not
only does this send the wrong message for girls, but similarly to the girls
being forced in to marriage these young American girls are forced to shed their
innocence too early. They are unwillingly forced by they’re parents to
engage in an activity. In both cases it helps the parents economically,
in child weddings the parents no longer have to support their daughter and in
pageant shows the winner is rewarded with large amounts of cash. Both
child marriages and pageant shows force young girls to grow up too fast.
For in child marriages girls are forced to take care of a family and pageant
girls are forced to look a certain way and care about how they look, which
takes away the innocence of childhood. I believe pageants spoil the charm
and innocence that childhood so delicately holds.