Contestants vs the Public

Before watching the videos and reading the articles on pageants, I was actually a huge fan of the whole idea. I grew up obsessing over the show Toddlers and Tiaras and wanting to be one of the ten year old girls with fake teeth, hair, pounds of makeup, and what seemed like a luxury dress. The idea of the Miss America pageant to me has always been a grown up version of the show, a bunch of girls competing to see who is the most beautiful. However, reading the articles I think that viewers are blowing the whole idea way out of proportion. The new Miss America pageant will not include a bathing suit wear competition and contestants are not being forced to wear gowns. I think that this is a fair decision, but I'd have to disagree. Yes, these pageants do give off a certain sex appeal, perfect body, kind of thing, but I think it is also empowering for the women competing. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, a former miss universe winner from 2018, quotes that the bathing suit competition is "empowering". Really, the contestants have no problem with the bathing suit portion so what right do the public and people not even walking around wearing a bikini to say that they don't really feel empowered?

I am disagreeing with the purpose of the articles and videos, but that doesn't mean I support the Miss America development. First of all, they say that they are the world's largest provider of scholarships for women, which is true, but they also say that they have provided 45 million dollars. This number is not correct, the real number is less than 500,000 dollars. This lie appeared on a show for millions of viewers to laugh at. The messages included no other than Donald Trump quoting "you wouldn't have your job if you weren't beautiful". To add on, I agree with the video because the speaker talks about how the pageant gives these girls 20 seconds to answer the most ridiculous questions like "how should the United States respond to ISIS?"

Overall, I disagree with the public's view on the pageant industry but I do agree that the Miss America development itself has some things to tighten up and change.