Sex Sells

To emphasize the ethical issues with beauty pageants, John Oliver held a parody male
beauty pageant on his weekly comedy show, “Last Week Tonight.” He and another
contestant, Giuseppe, competed to be the host of the show; even though Oliver was
clearly the more qualified candidate, the judge, Kathy Griffin, declared Giuseppe
the winner because of his attractive appearance. Despite the absurd hilarity of the
skit, Oliver clearly illustrates that beauty pageants primarily serve to objectify women.

Recently, the Miss America Pageant underwent a complete rebranding as a result
of the #MeToo Movement. In 2017, the word “beauty” was removed from the
competition's title, and Miss America also eliminated the infamous bikini contest.
According to Miss America 2.0: The Inner Beauty Pageant, a New York Times
article, Miss America declares that ‘[it] is more than a title, it’s a movement of
empowering young women everywhere to achieve their dreams.’ In fact, the
company proudly claims to be “the largest provider of scholarship assistance to
young women in the United States.” But, the core principle of the competition
still remains: the sexual exploitation of women for profit. In 2017, the company
generated nearly ten million dollars in revenue.While the company officially
maintains that it provides 45 million dollars for scholarships annually, John Oliver
discovered the company only pays about 450 thousand dollars annually for scholarships.

The origins of American beauty pageants highlight their exploitative nature. Atlantic City,
NJ, now a well-known gambling hub, first established itself for hosting the First Miss
America Pageant in 1921. The pageant proved to be so profitable that city officials begged
the pageant directors to stay in Atlantic City. Before that, P.T. Barnum experimented with
beauty pageants in the 1850s, but he achieved limited success because of Victorian values
during the era.

Beauty pageants are a vestige of a bygone era where misogyny and the objectification of
women were commonplace. Some female advocates, such as 2018 Miss Universe Great
Britain Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, suggest that pageants empower women, but no empirical
evidence leads to this conclusion. In order to achieve social equality for women, female
beauty pageants must be ended.