Empowering Women? More Like Empowering Sexist Billionaires.

In recent years, as feminist movements challenge gender norms around the world, beauty pageants are once again put under the spotlight. As British-American comedian John Oliver pointed out in his 2014 show, Miss America branded itself as the largest women’s scholarship provider, regardless of the validity of this claim; the Atlantic article “Miss America 2.0: The Inner Beauty Pageant?”, printed in 2018, also discussed its MeToo era makeover, as the program announced that contestants would not be judged by their appearance. Evidently, beauty contests have been trying to label themselves as educational programs that empower young women, in response to its progressive critics. 

But it shouldn’t be a stretch to see the obvious irony in Miss America’s rebranding efforts. When Donald J. Trump, the former owner of Miss Universe, appeared on Howard Stern’s radio show in 2005, Stern and Robin Quivers asked Trump if he’d ever had sex with a contestant. CNN reported (https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/trump-on-howard-stern/): 

"It could be a conflict of interest," Trump said. "But, you know, it's the kind of thing you worry about later, you tend to think about the conflict a little bit later on." . . . "Well, what you could also say is that, as the owner of the pageant, it's your obligation to do that," Trump said, before discussing how he got away with going backstage when the contestants were naked.

The now-president continued: 

"I actually went on the 'Today Show' with Katie Couric a while ago, six years ago, and we had a woman running the pageant who was really into the whole thing of education and everything and I said, 'Look, if you're looking for a rocket scientist, don't turn in tonight. But if you're looking for a really beautiful woman, you should watch.'" 

His blatant objectification of female participants gave me chills, but it only exemplifies the broader nature of such beauty contests. Trump’s ownership of Miss Universe for nearly two decades seemed to have, rather than empowering the young contestants based upon their inner beauty, given him the power over them. Modern-day televised beauty pageants are a product of patriarchal norms—that the value of women is based upon men’s sexual ideals. Beauty pageants have, over time, shaped the societal expectations of young women by diminishing them as sexualized objects—or, in a world where a billionaire can assume his power over their bodies, commodities. 

Miss America may not want to be a beauty contest anymore, but its legacy lives on. 
There are many ways to empower and celebrate young women. But media organizations that have, for decades, empowered misogynist billionaires are certainly not among them. Beauty pageants are shackled by their roots.