Beauty Queens Are Doing It All

The pageant scene has a reputation. It is considered by outsiders as a meat market, where women are valued for nothing more than their beauty and their body. It's true that this was once the case; the first recorded beauty contestants were just that, and the first true pageant that the modern culture grew from was the same. But the first true pageant, Miss America, was in 1921 things have changed.

The nature of pageants mean that women's beauty will always be a large factor, but to reduce modern pageant to simply that would be to misunderstand the competitors and who they need to be. The competition demands the women competing be smart, kind, charitable. They must have grace, stage presence, complete control of their bodies, and be able to follow stage formation to a tea. 

A large part of how contestants are judged is on an interview. They talk about their career, or their charity work, or even their beliefs about the world. The expectations are smart answers, given articulately.

The problem with this is none of the interviews are the focus for outside viewers. Pageantry gets its reputation in part because it sells itself on the same values it has had since 1921. Before entering the world, anyone could be forgiven for not seeing the women who compete as complex, smart, and interesting people.

Meeting the women who compete is what illuminates the scene as at least a little feminist. The group of women at any given pageant will support each other unconditionally, they are the epitome of girls supporting girls. They can spot a newbie anywhere and will go out of their way to make her feel supported. A perfect example of kindness in the pageant scene is a former beauty queen we met. Since retiring from the scene she has become a mental health advocate, she creates a safe space just like she did during her years competing. When she competed she was a winner of the Miss Congeniality title.

The women who compete are also educated, with careers across all sectors from veterinary medicine to acting. One of the competitors we met studied biomedical sciences, she used her platform to encourage young girls to get into science. The pageant scene can provide women with a larger platform to expand their activism. 

This is also a problem with the scene, like with the interviews, activism is not at the forefront of the scene. While it plays a part in the competitors ranking, it isn't made clear to the outside world.

If the outside world could see the women competing as whole people they might rethink their view on pageants. See their brains. See their empathy. See their charitability. See them as the women they are. The pageants themselves are preventing their reputation from evolving into something more respectable.