By: Kathleen Wilson
Founded in 1921, the Miss America Beauty Pageant was originally intended to attract more businessmen to the Atlantic City Boardwalk. As the pageant developed in the coming years, rule number seven was soon instituted, stating, “contestants must be of good health and of the white race.” Much like the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, pageant participants were required to provide documentation of their ancestry before parading around on stage, where they would be judged for their beauty and physical appeal. Since its inception almost a century ago, the Miss America Beauty Pageant has changed drastically, placing more of an emphasis on service and scholarship rather than just judging women for their beauty. However, as the 2015 Pageant occurs this weekend, we must ask ourselves: is Miss America favorable for women, or is it an institution that harms them?
In 1989, the Miss America Organization instituted the pageant platform concept, requiring that each pageant contestant develop a policy platform centered on a social issue. Past platform issues have ranged from domestic violence prevention to literacy programs, to homelessness relief, to women’s representation in STEM fields. During her year of reign as Miss America, the winner of the pageant travels nearly 20,000 miles a month, visiting a new city each day. This travel gives her the opportunity to speak with stakeholders, the media, and thousands of people, educating them about her platform and encouraging them to help make social change.
Caressa Cameron, Miss America 2010, serves as a symbol of success for the pageant platform requirement. Her platform, Real Talk: AIDS in America, brought national attention to AIDS prevention. During her year as Miss America, she spoke to over 10,000 students across Virginia, helped implement AIDS-targeted education in public schools, and helped institute an oral HIV antibody test in Virginia. Cameron received nearly $90,000 in scholarship money from the Miss America Organization, which she used to complete her degree in broadcast communications. The support of the Miss America Organization empowered Cameron to garner support for an issue she felt passionate about, financed her studies, and launched her into a career of advocating for greater AIDS awareness.
The Miss America Pageant’s support for social justice and scholarship creates a sense of female empowerment that masks the underlying flawed nature of the competition. Above all, the pageant still espouses the notion that a woman’s value lies in her physical appearance. 20 percent of a contestant’s score is based on her evening wear; another 20 percent on her lifestyle and fitness in swimsuit component. While the evening gown portion of the competition supposedly serves to capture a contestant’s beauty and grace, the process of strutting across stage, nearly naked, merely places a contestant’s body on display for all to admire or scrutinize.
Miss America contestants, though beautiful, do not represent the diversity of sizes, shapes, ethnicities, and lives of American woman. Weighing an average of 121 pounds, Miss America weigh only 70 percent of the average American woman. Furthermore, though the infamous rule seven was repealed in 1950, winners of the Miss America pageant are majority white. Since competing in pageants is a costly endeavor, contestants usually come from wealthy backgrounds, making them even less representative of American women.
Aside from evening wear and swimsuit components, the talent portion of the competition comprises 30 percent of a contestant’s score. Much like a Victorian woman was expected to spend her days engaged in “womanly pursuits” such as reading, sewing, and entertaining, Miss America contestants are implicitly expected to pursue “feminine” talents, the most common of which are singing and dancing. Where are the black-belts in karate, the tennis players, or the track stars? Where are the talents that remind us women do not have to be dainty and delicate, that they can be strong and fierce? Where is the Miss America that shows us beauty is not necessarily a size-zero body, chemically-treated hair, and perfectly toned muscles?
The feminist conundrum remains: how can we support a beauty pageant that claims to value scholarship and service while also lauding a woman’s beauty above all else? If you choose to watch the pageant, remember: a woman’s beauty is not skin-deep, her talents not one-dimensional. When watching the Miss America Beauty Pageant, try to see beauty in a candidate’s intelligence, humor, wit, and passion for social change, not just in her physical appearance.
