Racial Segregation in Beauty Pageant The United States of America supposedly encompasses resilience and advocates equality. Apparently, the United States of America abides for progress on racial discrimination and understands, accepts, and respects all races. But in reality we are not united with all races; thus we just make up America, not the United States of America. President Barack Obama affirms, “....there is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there's the United States of America” (Obama). In pursuance to evolve into the United States of America, as opposed to a disembodied one, we need to act like the unrestricted, free willing, and affirmative country that we say we are. Beauty pageant history, such as Miss America, testify the American ignorance of other races in our county. Racial segregation in the Miss America competition can be seen as early as 1945 when Bess Myerson was crowned. Being a Jewish Russian, Myerson’s ethnicity resulted in hurtful backlash the year she won the pageant. Many insisted for Myerson to transpose her name to one that by no means sounds Jewish. Myerson adamantly refused to do so, which resulted in more negative comments regarding her win. It was not until 1984 when America had a chance to resent their own pageantry winners again. Vanessa Williams was crowned as the first African American Miss America. Not surprisingly, America’s views still did not advance four decades later and Williams experienced controversy with death threats and hate mail. Now, into the 21st century, Nina Davuluri of Indian descent, otherwise known as Miss America 2014, is not treated any differently. To take home the crown in the Miss America competition, one basic rule states th... ... middle of paper ... ... believing in equality, but American citizens can still ashamedly see that we are not yet a modern country with modern beliefs. Miss America is a female body that is meant to represent the finest American values to project onto the hopes and dreams of the nation. Throughout the pageant’s history, that female body has typically been thin, attractive and almost always white. We should feel humiliated and remorse that our ideal Miss America is still a blue-eyed and blonde girl. We should feel embarrassed that we cannot accept a beautiful, smart woman, with inspiring goals who is breaking barriers to teach us about cultural competency. It is America’s blessing to have such a good-natured girl to represent America, even if we do not deserve it. If we cannot accept Nina as our next Miss America, then Nina deserves this platform to raise awareness for racial stereotyping.
Recent female contestants they will understand the dangers of pageants and become more aware of what they need to do to protect themselves. Some will not care and believe it will not happen to them, that they are the one who can survive in the game. Economic classes are spoken to; upper class all they see is the glitter and trophies so they go to the extreme to go for the prizes of thousands of dollars and don’t care about what they need to do in order to get it. “Parents, many of whom have only modest incomes, pay for high-glitz coaches ($50 to $100 an hour), high-glitz photographers ($300 per session, with $150 for retouching), high-glitz wig makers ($150 to $175 a pop), and high-glitz spray tanners ($25 per pageant)”(Hollandsworth). Middle class they don’t see it as you have to have money to do it they can do just as good as those who have lots of money and do it better. Fans who support the pageant will consider how they perceive the girl as the model and perform their talents on
Kennedy, David M., et. al. The American Pageant; A History of the American People. 14th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2006.
“I knew I would never be one of those girls, ever. It wasn't the blond, blue-eyed looks or the beautiful, leggy figure. It was who she was-an American-and were not.” (Alvarez 43) Apart from the contestants looks it was also because of how they are American while she wasn’t American. Reaching towards the end of the short story one of the girls starts to name off the things of how she wished she would look like instead. “Had we been able to see into the future, beyond our noses, which we thought weren't the right shape; beyond our curly hair, which we wanted to be straight and beyond the screen, which inspired us with a limited vision of what was considered beautiful in America.” (Alvarez 43) She starts to put herself down in a way towards how she looks like compared to the constant girls which would be the symbolism of
Even though women may experience actual benefits from this system, the core result is one where the feminine is tied to psychic alienation. The article entitled ‘No More Miss America’ picks up on many of the points illustrated in Bartky’s chapter. The article calls for the public to protest the pageant due to the myriad of ways that it reinforces the male idea/ideal of the feminine as being the only worthwhile view, or the one most deserving of reward. This conception furthers the kind of female experience of inferiority discussed by Bartky. “In this reputedly democratic society, where every little boy supposedly can grow up to be President, what can every little girl hope to grow to be? Miss America. That 's where it 's at. Real power to control our own lives is restricted to men, while women get patronizing pseudo-power, an ermine clock and a bunch of flowers; men are judged by their actions, women by appearance” (Chicago Women’s Liberation Union,
...as Miss USA and Miss Universe are competitions intended for mature, self-assured women who are capable of making their own decisions. Child beauty pageants, however, ruin childhoods and force them to grow up believing in their looks, rather than in themselves. It is no surprise, that emotional distress plagues the contestants that participate in beauty long after stepping off of the stage; subjecting young girls of any age to judgment and ridicule is not only humiliating but horrific to think that we are sitting back being entertained by their competitive nature. Rather than raising strong, confident girls who want to achieve the best in life; the parents and the hosts of these competitions provide a platform on which little girls are dressed up as skimpy Barbie dolls and paraded around, trying to achieve some form of perfection that shouldn’t exist in little girls.
“She represents the type of womanhood America needs, strong, red-blooded, able to shoulder the responsibilities of homemaking and motherhood. It is in her type that the hope of the country rests” (Martin & Watson, 2004, p.3). This was Samuel Gompers sharing his thoughts about the very first “Miss America”, Margaret Gorman. The Miss America Pageant was established in the most fitting of all decades: the 1920s. During a time when women were just starting to experience newfound independence and rights, the Miss America Pageant strengthened the idea that women had more freedom to express themselves. The competition began as a simple tourist attraction, but the fact that the Miss America Pageant survived throughout the decades exemplifies that the competition was so much more.
Craig, Maxine Leeds. Ain't I a Beauty Queen?: Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.
Bailey, Thomas A., David M Kennedy, and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant: A History of the American People. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Beauty pageants were started many years ago but became more prominent in the society in 1921, when a hotel owner started a contest to keep tourists in town past Labor Day. The winner of this contest would be called Miss America. Miss America pageants have been a yearly event ever since then, except during the Great Depression. Then, in 1960, pageants were getting so popular that a Little Miss America was started for parents who wanted their children in beauty pageants (Nussbaum).
... beauty pageants." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada] 9 Mar. 2012: L4. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Beauty pageants are no help to the cause either. Miss America has become a job for women that represent their country from the way their face looks, rather than their ideas and vocal capabilities. We have become a nation centered around beauty and appearance and this annual television show has followed in this trend’s wake.
Pageant Queens gear their act toward winning titles and prizes in drag pageants that rival Miss
Why is that reality TV shows instead of encouraging, end up discouraging someone? The whole purpose of being a part of a TV show is try to win because you feel confident in what you are competing for. However in shows such as Americas Next Top Model the judges seek for the contestants flaws and point them out. According to Jennifer Pozner’s “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, Cha Cha Divas” reality shows contradict themselves. Pozner points out that a contestant was asked what she felt she was more of, Korean or American. She said she had never really thought of it, she didn’t really know which one she considered herself more of. Why does she have to choose between either? Wasn’t she supposed to be unique? Feel confident in her own skin? Well AMNTM decided they were going to emphasize on this topic and attack her on it. We are told that we need to love ourselves, be strong, and be confident yet women are being criticized on screen. To what extent is reality TV going to be so hypercritical and contradict its slogan?
According to Angie Lynch, “I have no desire to have my daughters ' looks judged against other people 's daughters ' looks. Being ranked from best to worst in a public forum is not how I want my children to develop their self-esteem.” I personally will never allow my children to participate in beauty pageants because of all the negativity along with it. I was hurt just from the one pageant that I did compete in as a child. I cannot imagine what another child may feel after competing multiple times and still never
Can anyone actually justify judging someone by their physical appearance? Although parents enjoy seeing their little girls in the spotlight all dolled up, most children don’t enjoy the pageant experience as much as the parents, and this vicarious living is dangerous, and the pageants have the capability of exploiting the children. Beauty pageants have a background of treating women disrespectfully and as if they are not equal. Women’s bodies are seen as objects of beauty, as if we are just here to parade around for others. Today’s pageants are still set up in the same direction, even for the youngest contestants.