How Do You Celebrate Beauty?

This has never stuck out to me before this class, but, when watching the Miss America clips
on John Oliver, I couldn't help but compare the women on stage to the dogs in dog shows.
How they do tricks, how their teeth, ears, and bodies are checked and measured, how they
walk in lines, one by one, in the beginning. It really feels like these women are looked at
as objects in these shows. I don’t have a particular problem with beauty pageants, however,
but I noticed this new perspective of mine in regards to their nature, a perspective that I did
not have before this class. The breakdowns they had of women “5 points for the construction
of the head” is just like how they evaluate dogs, and worse, woodwork in woodworking
contests. Watching that clip, of the women being measured, reminds of the show Marvelous
Mrs. Maisel, which is set in the 50’s. In that show, Midge Maisel, the main character, would
measure ankles, so make sure they were the same, as well as her thighs. She would go to
bed with makeup on and take it off when her husband went to bed only to put it back on
again before awoke. She even powdered bra marks on her back so her husband wouldn’t
see. Those sort of expectations and standards for women back in the 50's align with the
concept of beauty pageants which is why the argument that pageants like Miss America
are outdated are still valid. Since, today, women leave their homes without makeup on
which is even considered a goal for many others to have such confidence in their natural
appearance. Which brings me to another point, how the crowned “Miss America '' is said
to be the standard  for beauty across the country. That determined standard is unachievable
for so many women, however, whether they don’t have the time to dedicate their lives to
the gym or have a different body type, skin color, or genetics. This unreachable goal of
reaching that narrowed down definition of beauty inevitably causes many women to lose
confidence in their appearances and themselves. Today however, with the body positivity
movement that pushes back on the lean and thin beauty standard that is so heavily
promoted by the pageant and model industry, the definition of beauty is being widened
through the cultural perspective. The new emphasis on beauty is health. Healthy body,
healthy hair, healthy skin. With this movement, however, what I have noticed is that the
line of health is being blurred as people begin to mistake a body resulting from an
unhealthy lifestyle with a natural body type. For example, this movement has been
encouraging women to accept and love their bodies for how they really are, however,
many in this moment are inadvertently encouraging women who are unhealthily
overweight to accept their bodies and not strive for a change when a change is what
they need for their health. I do wanna say, however, that I am a strong supporter of this
body positive movement but with every positive there comes a negative. As I, personally,
have tried to be healthier and feel better, I’ve gotten comments like “Is that all your eating”
or “have you eaten today.” Although I know they’re coming from a good place, it makes
me feel like the only way for me to avoid these concerns is to fill my plate and finish it,
even if that’s not what my body needs. Sometimes, in the dining hall at school, back
when we went to school, I would feel judged if I had a salad on my plate instead of
chicken fingers. People are bound to have insecurities about things like this,  their bodies,
their food, and I’m not saying that it’s a good thing but even with the body positivity
movement and the emphasis on the curvy figure today, I have wished for a different
body. I have felt too skinny for the moment, too large for the pageant and modeling
look, and not muscular enough for what I felt like was the gov’s standard of beauty.

 I think beauty pageants were meant for women who feel accomplished in their hard
work in the gym and their “diets'' and are proud of their bodies to show them off. It's
hard work to obtain and maintain a certain weight in muscle and itt should not go
unrewarded, whether in being in a pageant or in self confidence. Especially with the
scholarships and rewards given out for the winner, the commitments are not for no
reason. I do however disagree with the argument that pageants “represent something
real and true about American womanhood” as written in the Miss America 2 article,
since clearly pageants only highlight participant's appearances, knowledge on current
events (which is a segment) and “talent” (which still confuses me.)  The Miss America 2
article also comments on how pagents cannot be used as a movement that empowers
women to set their goals when saying “Miss America, the show that equates the
fulfillment of dreams with the ability to fill out a bikini top.” I disagree, however, these
women have to compete and win multiple pages and want to get to that level which
takes commitment and perseverance. This goal is as hard to reach as any other and
as competitive as some fields of work, the only difference is the work these women put
is judged by through their appearances versus how much product they sell, for example. 

In the article Beauty Pageant Origins and Culture, the World's Book of Female Beauty
is explained to have started by a photographer who took pictures of women and had
heir attractiveness voted on. This just reminded me of how in Ancient Greece, both
the mal and female body was carved and appreciated for its visual beauty, and I felt
like this book attempted to do the same though can be viewed as malicious.