Why the Outdated Pageant Needs to Evolve

When I was about twelve or thirteen years old, I had this phase that was characterized by a captivation for big sparkly dresses, makeup, and the need to have a perfect body. I was caught up in the warped concept of what one is supposed to look like to be perceived as a “beautiful woman.” I would click through the TV channels and immediately stop when I saw programs like Miss Universe or the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. At such a young age, I was very naive and easily influenced by the media that surrounded me. I started to believe that the girls in bikinis on stage were showing me exactly what I was supposed to look like and that my appearance could never compete with theirs. Countless young girls dwell on the notion that their legs will never be long enough, or that they need to eat less to have the perfect stomach. This is the reality for many adolescent girls nowadays. I, along with many other people, have my own insecurities. I have learned that the beauty standards portrayed on TV are quite unrealistic, but I would be lying if I said that these beauty standards don’t have an impact on my self esteem. Young girls and women all over the world would agree.

I struggled to wrap my head around what Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, Great Britain's Miss Universe winner, meant when she expressed in her interview that she views the beauty pageants as “empowering.” Are they empowering to each and every one of the viewers? Or are they empowering for the contestants themselves, who are brave enough to step on stage and wear that bikini? From my personal experience, the bikini competition serves as a message for countless women that their own bodies aren’t good enough to be showcased nonetheless to compete against those of other women. This is a toxic message and a self destructive way for women to think. I do understand that Dee-Ann was trying to explain that all women are beautiful in their own way and should strive to accept and love who they are, even their imperfections. She was trying to communicate that we should all try to become confident in our own skin and that  “you don't have to have a bikini body, all you have to have is a body and put on a bikini.” Is this the reality though? There are so many people out there who judge women solely for their outward appearance, which can be extremely suffocating and difficult to just ignore. 

In the Miss America 2.0 article, the announcement that the Miss America pageant will end its swimsuit competition immediately caught my attention. The organization also wants to allow contestants to choose clothing that they feel confident in and that expresses who they are as a person. Gretchen Carson, former Fox News host, the Miss America for 1989, and now the head of the board of trustees for the Miss America Organization remarks, “We are no longer a pageant. We are a competition.” By eliminating the systematic idea of what the contestants’ outward appearances should look like and what they should wear, the organization hopes to shift to a more inclusive, diverse, and empowering competition. I feel that this a step in the right direction and that focusing on who the contestant truly is as a person is much more valuable; however, taking into account the society that we live in today, I am unsure of how this change will impact the Miss America Organization. I believe that many people, including myself, will view this change in a positive light, but I also fear that thousands will no longer watch the competitions because they only had an interest in the physical appearances of the women. I fully support this change and feel that the ideals that were expressed in pageants in the past were unrealistic. Shifting to a competition where self expression and inclusion are prioritized will have a much more positive impact on viewers. 

The following article, “Beauty Pageants, Like the Miss America Contest, Should Die,” goes more in depth about how these oudated pageants establish an unrealistic standard of beauty and how damaging they can be to the self esteem of young girls and women who may be watching.  (https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/09/12/is-the-miss-america-pageant-bad-for-women/beauty-pageants-like-the-miss-america-contest-should-die)