Are Adult Beauty Pageants Exploitative?
Beauty pageants are a traditional contest that have been held globally for almost 100 years, with the first Miss America being held in 1921. It is a contest to measure women’s physical qualities and talents, with titles such as Miss America, Miss World, and Miss Universe. Although the point to holding such a contest is to promote positive body image, pro-activity in your community and an example of what a woman is supposed to be, I believe it is very demeaning and exploitative to women who do not meet the requirements to participate. These include a height and weight requirement, not have had any children or abortions, and must have a clean record and no prior arrests or convictions. I believe there are only a couple of positive aspects with the others being detrimental to women and society as a whole.
One positive side to beauty pageants is most require the contestant to be a voice of change. Some are required to do some form of humanitarian work or volunteering. This can be a good thing because it pushes women to do something proactive in their community which benefits the community as a whole. They also ask that you have personal goals and achievements, with no background in illegal activity and a clean record. Having a clean background illustrates that you’re a law abiding citizen that can be a productive member of society without intention to break the law.
As Grace Burgess explains in her TED Talk video, “You’ll see that I’m the spokesperson for the character education, I am the Goodwill Ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network across our state, etc.”
Another positive thing about beauty pageants is there is now a competition for women with learning physical disabilities. It empowers women who cannot participate in regular beauty contests to compete against each other, and to feel what it’s like to be society’s idea of a beauty queen. An event that began in 2007, this beauty pageant focuses on who they are rather than what they look like. Although it only allows for women with learning disabilities to compete, it gives these women self confidence and a chance to participate in a beauty competition like other women.
Although there are a couple of positive effects of having beauty pageants, I feel the negative one’s have a much greater impact. Most don’t allow you to have been married, bear children or have had any abortions. In life things do happen and as a woman you have the right to start a family without punishment or being precluded from a beauty contest. Kimberly A. Hamlin from the Washington Post writes, “For years the pageant barred women who had abortions, and it still mandates that entrants be single and childless. These policies do not reflect a concern about contestants marital or parental status. Rather they perpetuate the ruse of virginity and a one way definition of sexuality.”
Not only are they judging you on a physical aspect but they are judging you on a moral one as well by saying that you cannot bear children. They want you to give off the impression that you aren’t sexually active and that you are a virgin. As Courtney Martin from the New York Times explains, “They’re outdated and restrictive and perpetuate a damaging link between real world success and a woman’s capacity to cultivate a very specific, stereotypical definition of beauty.”
Action has already been taken for creating a fair competition such as not having a swimsuit competition that has been held for nearly 100 years. As quoted by Colin Dwyer in an NPR, “Miss America is waving goodbye to its swimsuit competition, scrapping one of it’s most iconic elements in an attempt to shift the annual ceremony’s emphasis from it’s longtime focus on contestant’s physical beauty.”
A solution would be to do away with height and weight requirements and make not being able to be married or bear children obsolete. We can vote on what the woman has achieved, what she plans to achieve, and what makes her a productive person of society. We should also allow for transgender women to have a chance at competing as well.
Beauty pageants are exploitative because they exploit the standard that judges and society have given to the definition of beauty. Women of any size, mothers and women who chose to have an abortion/adoption, and transgender women who identify themselves as female should be able to compete. Beauty can be seen in the struggle of a woman and the strength she has to overcome such obstacles. Women should be judged on what they contribute to society and how powerful her role is as a woman, not how well she can walk in high heels or how pretty she looks in makeup.