Little ones
I don't like them. I feel the pressure on little girls to compete against other little girls (my dress is prettier than yours or I'm prettier than she is, THE JUDGES SAID SO!) is really destructive. It could really warp their attitudes and set up a situation where this competitiveness towards women continues through life. However, LOTS of things parents promote can do as much.
The age of the participant is what gets to me the most. Those little ones, dressed up, made up, prancing around... For every little girl that carries the crown, there are 10 others crying and feeling like they don't measure up. My stomach is churning just thinking of their little broken hearts.
My sister was in pageants-my niece as well. It was totally their choice and both were HS age. We had a pagaent on campus and my sorority asked me to participate and I did- for them- it was one of the dumbest things I've ever done!!!(No I didn't win not even CLOSE, but ended up dating the announcer for a short while
In my life I may have watched 2 or 3 Miss America Pageants. I know this is wrong, but I stereotype participants and yet none of the 3 of us would fit that stereotype-but we weren't
"lifers", we were flukes...
Bottom line-IMHO-
Little girls should not have to worry about how "pretty" or "talented" they are. They should be as free from that kind of pressure for as long as possible. It comes soon enough.