Discussion for article #240470
Good girl!! The right answer and unafraid to say so.
But honestly, can we do away with these stupid beauty contests.
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The one from Mississippi got it right?!?!?!?!
I give up for today.
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X2!!!1
i agree (see TPM? lower case letters so you cannot scold me about being more descriptive)!!
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Seems like the pageants have developed since the last time I paid attention. They’re coming out with modern political and legal questions for the contestants? What next, are they going to ask the Oregon/Washington/Colorado candidate if marijuana is legal in the US?
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Well now, I’m certainly not going to form my opinion on “trickle-down” economics or the “Many Worlds Formulation” of Quantum Mechanics until Miss Kansas and Miss Oklahoma, respectively, weigh in.
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Haha…I’m eagerly awaiting Miss Louisiana’s insights on string theory and the butterfly effect…
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still looking… nope, sorry, no fucks to give about what Miss America contestants OR winners think about anything whatsoever… pretty sure I never had any ever, either… at least it’s not another goddamn story about Sarah Palin’s latest brainfart.
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Beauty Pageants; fraternities; sororities: why are these things still things?
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If women willingly enter into pageants, enjoy their time in the process, and get something out of it either personally, professionally, or academically (lest we forget, these are largely scholarship pageants), I have no problem with it.
A woman’s right to wear a swimsuit and a woman’s right to wear a hijab are the same right, regardless of whether those of us with male body parts understand and agree.
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I know that many regard beauty pageants as sexist anachronisms and the contestants as vapid airheads, but that’s not always the case.
At a previous job, our broadcast contractor also produced the Miss Florida USA pageant. Once, when we hosted a special appearance by the then-current Miss Florida USA, I got to know her. At the time she was a third-year medical student, and as an undergrad she was a magna cum laude graduate, a champion equestrienne, and an accomplished pianist.
After she got her MD degree, she completed an obstetrics residency and a fellowship in maternal and child health. She worked for a time with a nonprofit lobbying state legislators on health policy.
I lost touch with her about ten years ago, but it was obvious that she was an over-achiever and very accomplished. She was also beautiful, articulate and very poised.
I have also met some contestants that fit the usual stereotype: aspiring models, students preparing for broadcast careers and other areas best described as “arm candy.”
Pageants hearken back to a different age, true, but they still appeal to some because of cultural factors, and I understand in Latin America these pageants are followed earnestly like we do the Super Bowl.
Anyway, my two cents.
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Well get used to it because it isn’t going to change any time soon,
And always a good two cents. And, I am sure there are bright girls and talented girls, but the whole idea seems to me very dated and worn. Those are my two cents 
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Thanks, and I agree, to a lot of people these pageants are a throwback to a different time.
I knew someone who did some PR work for the local pageant. He said the female editors of local TV stations and newspapers were hostile to his attempts to garner publicity.
The guys – you guessed it – took the exact opposite position.
Some things never change.
At least do away with the fiction that the contestants’ expert opinions really matter.
they are outdated and serve only to perpetuate some rather antiquated notions about gender roles… but sure, if there is an audience for it and willing participants, it’s a free country etc etc.
And yes, in other countries they are still rather popular. I just don’t get it.
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I agree, and I’ve heard that the audiences for these shows have diminished over the years.
And many other countries still have patriarchial views about women and their role in society.
No, but its about the same level.
The discernment for a beauty pageant includes asking questions like this?? Good grief, what’s next, are we going to ask Miss Alabama to rewrite the U.S. Constitution??? Insanity!!
My humble opinion: have beauty pageants if people want that, but separate them from Miss ____ competitions. And there doesn’t seem to be any reason to have a swimsuit portion for a Miss ______ competition. That does seem anachronistic to me. Maybe decades/centuries ago, all that mattered for the female representative of a state/county/city/country was how she looked. But these days I think we’re well past that. I can just browse the internet for pictures if all I care about is visually appealing women.