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American women take part in over 3,000 beauty pageants every year. Hundreds of thousands of girls compete for cash, trophies, rhinestone crowns and titles, but despite dreams of glamor and glitter, there are many realities about the sacrifices involved in being a beauty queen.

Plus size pageants (usually for women size 14 and over, and covers several age ranges) are no different; women competing in these pageants work just as hard to live up to a specific ideal of contemporary feminine behavior and beauty, outside of going against the grain of a standard of beauty' forced upon them by Hollywood, the media, and traditional pageants.

But why are there plus-size pageants when obesity is such a problem in America? These not-so-traditional pageant queens are not here to make a statement, but to make a difference. Pageants-whether they are the run of the mill pageants or the plus size ones- are more than just with a crown on your head; it's about helping people and being contributors to society.

Tiaras, sashes, flashy pins, and recognition are nice, but they're not impetus for stepping out onto the runway in a plus-size beauty competition. The recognition gives women competing in plus size pageant the opportunity to show women of size that they too can do whatever they want to do, whether it's pageantry or a career direction that had been previously closed off to them.

These pageants also set a prime example to women that you don't have to be a size 3 to be beautiful; you can be size 14, 24, or larger It's all in how full figured women take care and present themselves.

Not only do wardrobes and props add up to thousands of dollars, but, to become a pageant queen, the ordinary plus sized woman, like other pageant contestants, must endure specific transformation rituals. Not only are the women taught to stand and to walk anew, they are expected to be always smiling, pleasing to others, quiet, polite and genteel.

When it comes to entering, competing in, and ultimately winning plus size pageants, there is one tip that rises above the others- self-confidence. Self confidence is the most important quality that you must possess if you want to be successful, whether it would be in pageants, careers, or life in general.

But it is more than just being a pretty face, having a talent for eating fire, or how a delegate wears a gown or swimsuit. Contrary to the beliefs of some, today's pageant queens are intelligent, educated, community service oriented career women that have seen pageant

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