Beneath the Crown of Patriarchy's Glamorous Tradition: Do Beauty Pageants Empower or Demoralize Women?

Shortly after the dazzling crown is fitted on the stiff swirl of tresses of the new Miss America, the national anthem for American beauties instantaneously shines over the speakers. “There she is, Miss America / There she is, your ideal,” the lyrics begin. By the time the lyrics advance to “With so many beauties / She’ll take the town by storm / With her All-American face and form,” the new American royalty will have had walked the majestic runway, waved to her loyal admirers, and wept beautiful tears of joy and disbelief. After the flash of light bulbs, the glitter of gowns, and the elegant anthem of feminine standards has ended, one must stop to wonder what exactly lyricist and composer Wayne Bernie defines as the American ideal. Is it the pageant winner’s fair complexion, her long thin limbs, or her slender facial features that make Miss America the prototype for women in this country? If the thousands of contestants must attain an All-American face and form, and the millions of viewers identify that this All-American standard is what is considered beautiful, surely these girls must face social, psychological, and psychiatric consequences.

The first Miss America Pageant, informally held on September 7, 1921, sprang from the commercial interests of several Atlantic City hotel owners who hoped to extend the summer resort season. (Martin and Watson 2) Since its birth, beauty pageants have capitalized into an empire that demands mass media attention and produces virtual celebrity debutantes. As of 2005, a reported 700,000 beauty pageants took place annually in the United States. An additional 3,000 pageants just for children under the age of 18 took place annual. 250,000 children participated in beauty pageants every year, and of these, 100,000 were under 12 years old. (“Beauty Pageants”) With so many pageants focused on the physical perfection of females, the relevancy of these contests is repeatedly questioned. Many scholars note that there is no male competition comparable to parading down a runway in a bathing suit. (“Beauty Pageants”) With its unrealistic ideals of beauty, promotion of physical perfection, and exclusivity towards those with financial advantages, the health, psychological, and financial costs of beauty pageants ultimately outweigh the benefits.

Although the Miss America Pageant has distributed over $60 million in academic scholarships to young women across the nation, the corporation continues to base 20% of the contestant’s score on how she looks wearing a bathing suit. (Before 2004, the swimsuit competition had previously only accounted for 10% of the contestant’s total score). In the September 1995 pageant, viewers were given the opportunity to vote on the importance of the swimsuit competition; 80% of viewers who phoned in solidified the swimsuit tradition. (Martin and Watson 9) Although forty-two of the fifty pageant contestants polled in 1995 exposed that they didn’t have a problem with the swimsuit competition, Rita Freeman, author of Beauty Bound, notes that, “The freedom to wear a mini-bikini or a skin-tight tank suit feels liberating only to someone with a skin-tight body.” (Martin and Watson 9) 

When the 1997 pageant introduced the acceptance of two-piece bathing suits into the competition, then CEO Leonard Horn faced accusations that the two-piece swimsuit inclusion was simply a ploy to boost television ratings. (Martin and Watson 9) Horn claimed that the decision was made to encourage individuality, but if this were the case, why have more than half of the Miss America winners since 1970 had a body mass index that the World Health Organization defines as undernourished? (“Beauty Pageants”) If the Miss America Pageant Winner is so individual, then why have only three out of the 34 winners from 1970 to 2002 weighed over 125 pounds? (“And the Winners Are…”) Furthermore, research shows that from the 1920s through the 1950s, the average weight of the Miss America winner was 123 pounds. From the 1960s through the new millennium, the average weight of the Miss America winner has dropped to 118 pounds. (“And the Winners Are…”)

The most disturbing aspect of these statistics is not simply the fact that the Body Mass Index defines half of Miss America winners as undernourished, or the fact that crown-holders on average have shed five pounds over the last 50 years, but the fact that these women are at serious risk of, or may have already developed, an eating disorder and a poor self-image. Professors at Coastal Carolina University, College of Education conducted a survey among 131 female beauty pageant contestants from over 43 states. Over one-fourth of the women reported having been told or perceived that they had an eating disorder. Almost half reported wanting to be thinner and more than half of the women were trying to lose weight. (K)

As Miss America’s were dropping pounds, its television broadcast was dropping viewers. The pageant that brought in over 85 million television viewers in 1960 was viewed by less than 10 million people in 2004. ("Miss America ratings drop, despite gimmicks.") As a result, ABC dropped the pageant from airing on its network. Perhaps feminist criticism inspired this decline in viewers: data shows that the talent show and interviews, which were urged by critics, were the least popular portions of the pageant. The swimsuit competition, however, was still most popular among pageant fans. The beauty pageant has grown into a profitable business that threatens not only the dignity and morals of young women, but also their health and self-esteem in exchange for higher ratings and sponsorship revenue. It is unfortunate that if a woman wants to earn a scholarship to further her education, she must submit to unrealistic ideals of beauty until she is thin enough, blonde enough, and possibly even surgically proportionate enough. After all, Miss America is competing with national broadcasting corporations and advertisers worth billions of dollars.

In an effort to promote a profitable pageant image, the Miss America pageant recruited twenty-nine year-old Lenora Slaughter in the summer of 1935. Slaughter created a moral clause that all contests had to sign before entering the pageant. The set of rules stated that a contestant could never have been married, been pregnant, borne a child, and had to be in “good health and of the white race.” (Martin and Watson 5) Clearly, this pageant’s image of physical perfection did not include women who were anything other than white-skinned. It can also be implied because of its placement on the moral clause that non-whites were immoral. This ban on women of color was not lifted until 1970. That year, Miss Iowa, Cheryl Brown, became the first black woman to enter the national competition. It wasn’t until the 1967 pageant that Miss Delaware, Deborah Lipford, became the first black woman to place in the top ten. (Martin and Watson 11)

The September 1983 pageant marked the first time that two black women, Suzette Charles and Vanessa Williams, emerged as first runner-up and Miss America 1984. (Martin and Watson 11) Despite her new title, Williams’ green eyes, sunny brown hair, and Western features caused the Congress of Racial Equality to issue a statement claiming that she was still not “in essence black” and thus, did not represent a victory for the black community. (Martin and Watson 12) When the media discovered nude photographs of Williams, her crown was revoked, and although it was repositioned on the head of Suzette Charles, the controversy was still labeled a “racist conspiracy” to strip African Americans of their achievements. (Martin and Watson 12) Though several other women of color have since won the coveted title, it is likely that they were judged by “white” standards of physical perfection, which include thinner, less pronounced features; longer, silkier hair; and a lighter, milkier shade of skin.

Donelle R. Ruwe, Professor of English at Fitchburg State College and Miss Meridian 1985 reflects that “the pageant seems to be an obvious site at which young girls are trained in the pathology of looking pretty and competing against their sisters in order to play patriarchy’s game.” (Martin and Watson 148) Patriarchy’s game, Ruwe defines, has psychologically imposed on women “the violence of liposuction and plastic surgery, anorexia, insecurity, anxiety, lowered self-esteem, the time lost in primping instead of productive labor.” (Martin and Watson 148)

Darcy Martin and Elwood Watson, authors of There She Is, Miss America: The Politics of Sex, Beauty, and Race in America’s Most Famous Pageant, comment: “Pageants unquestionably objectify the female body, drawing attention to contestants’ breasts, the smallness of their waists, the length of their legs, and appearance of their hair. It can be argued,” they continue, “that [pageants] deny a participant’s humanity on a fundamental level, basing her worth solely on her physical appearance.” (Martin and Watson 2)

This worth placed upon physical appearance by beauty pageants subjects not only young women, but children, who are trained from infancy how to walk, talk, and most importantly, look like a princess. Harvard University sociologist Hilary Levey observes that, “sometimes you have parents carrying babies who can’t walk onto the stage.” (Cromie) Six year-old JonBenet Ramsey personified the American pageant child: ostentatious, big-haired, extravagantly dressed, and with a face powdered and painted like that of a Las Vegas showgirl. When JonBenet was murdered in 1996, the media blamed her parents, who were criticized for pushing their daughter to compete in child beauty pageants. (“JonBenet Ramsey Case Still Unsolved After 2 Years.”)

William Pinsof, President of he Family Institute at Northwestern University, draws parallels between child beauty pageants and plastic Barbie dolls. “Being a little Barbie doll says your body has to be a certain way and your hair has to be a certain way,” he ascertains. “In girls particularly, this can unleash a whole complex of destructive self-experiences that can lead to eating disorders and all kinds of body distortions in terms of body images.” (Nussbaum)

Although parents who put their children in pageants such as Universal Royalty assert that these contests promote healthy competition and teach poise and confidence, it is hard to ignore the fact that these competitions are largely based on the child’s appearance. How healthy is it to teach a child that she is worthy only because of her looks?  One must consider the thousands of children who compete in pageants and never even place in the top ten. These children may perceive themselves as failures, and this notion will undoubtedly be detrimental to the development of her self-esteem.

Beauty pageants like Miss America are extremely lucrative franchises that yield great profits from advertising, private investments, and packaged product tie-ins. (“Beauty Pageants”) In 1996, Real estate tycoon Donald Trump, along with National Broadcast Company, attempted to revamp the struggling beauty pageant franchise by buying out the Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss World pageants. (Ten years later, Miss USA 2006 Tara Connor was accused of underage drinking, drug use, and sexual misconduct. Trump’s decision to send Connor to rehab ultimately re-ignited public interest in beauty pageants.) (Lauer)

In contrast to mogul-owned nationally syndicated pageants, beauty pageants at the local, regional, and state level are often funded by community members, neighborhood businesses, and most often, the participants themselves. (“Beauty Pageants”) The financial burden placed upon beauty pageant contestants undeniably creates an economic divide between the affluent and the underprivileged—the eligible and the non-eligible. Hilary Levey, a sociologist at Harvard University and former beauty pageant judge, found that parents will spend between $100 and $200 on pageant clothing, and sometimes will invest as much as $1,000 on a girl’s gown. (Cromie) By interviewing 41 mothers at a children’s beauty pageant, Levey found that on average, each mother entered her child in five pageants a year. The entry fee for pageants can range from $100-200, and mothers will usually buy a new set of costumes for each pageant. (Cromie) "I know people who have spent so much on pageants, they lost their trailers,” revealed one mother to Levey. (Cromie)

Supporters of beauty pageants may argue that money is a fundamental factor in a person’s participation in almost any activity outside of school, including beauty pageants, sports, or art courses. Although some sports teams, art classes, or other competitions for children may require the purchasing of uniforms or equipment, beauty pageants demand a material wealth of hair and make-up products, personal trainers and etiquette coaches, and elaborate evening gowns and formal wear unlike any other competition for children or adults. Associated Content, an online journaling website, published an article from a pageant mom who writes tips to other pageant moms. Tip number 1 is to hire a beauty pageant coach. “I noticed that most of the girls who have won beauty pageants have coaches. These coaches charge approximately $100 an hour to guide beauty pageant hopefuls to the crown.” (Dreahwrites)

Having the money to be coached by a professional in the beauty field automatically puts one contestant at an unfair disadvantage over another. In an interview with highly successful pageant coach Chet Welch, journalist Virginia Kopas Joe found that, “Most girls use the $500 they win from local pageants to help pay for extra training.” (Joe) If women must spend hundreds of dollars simply to compete in a pageant, and then feel obligated to spend the money they might earn on more pageant training, it certainly does appear that pageants create a vicious cycle of dependency and an unhealthy addiction to unimportant titles and crowns which further enforce gender roles and stereotypes.

How can beauty pageants truly advance the status of women worldwide if they continue to judge women based on their bodies, if they continue to shame women who do not fit the white beauty standard, if they continue to rob young women by baiting them with scholarships, and then shackling them with entry fees? Beauty pageants were conceived out of commercial interests and still remain deeply rooted in economic motives in which the only expense is the dignity of contestants. It is unfortunate that women in America take action together in political offices, compromise together in the corporate boardroom, and philosophize together as scholars and activists, yet still must compete against each other in high-heels and masking-taped strapless bras while a panel of judges, often male, rate each woman on her sex appeal. Women have simply achieved too much to degrade themselves in contests that hold them prisoner to patriarchal chains of societal regression.

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