Opinion: Miss America should’ve known better
Taylor Deaton, Assistant Editor
The views and opinions expressed on in this article are solely those of the original author. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Vision NGU or North Greenville University.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
It’s time to remove the stigma centered around the physical standards of a woman’s body.
On Sept. 7, 1921; Margaret Gorman walked across the stage in the “Inter-City Beauty” contest and won the first ever Miss America pageant. According to the history of Miss America, the pageant was “judged on 50 percent audience applause and 50 percent judge’s decision.”
On Jun. 5, 2018; the Miss America Organization announced that they would be eliminating the swimsuit contest from their pageant. Their reasoning behind this being, “shifting the focus from the contestant’s bodies to their brains.
Just to repeat that, this organization is trying to “shift the focus from the contestant’s bodies to their brains.” What an angering statement. The Miss America Organization decided to end a portion of their competition, essentially due to the realization over a lack of respect for their contestant’s bodies.
For many, it is relieving that the Miss America Organization is finally eliminating the swimsuit portion of their pageant; a competition in which many women felt uncomfortable participating. Some boundaries should not be crossed when it comes to pageantry, and a woman taking any extra measure simply because she feels physically unworthy of being a contestant the way she is is not okay.
Imagine standing in almost nothing in front of an audience. Judges observing every, single, aspect of your body. That is what these women endured. They had it drilled into their brains that, in order to win this pageant, it doesn’t matter what platform they stand on or what beliefs they have; it only matters what they look like in a bathing suit.
For those who are confident and don’t mind being observed by so many wandering eyes, this is not a problem at all. As women, we should always feel confident in ourselves and who we are, because every woman deserves to feel confident in her skin. It becomes a problem for those who feel embarrassment in doing this competition.
The removal of this outwardly-judging competition also brings up a bigger issue.
Cara Mund, Miss America 2018, wrote a letter on Aug. 16 detailing her time as Miss America. In Mund’s letter, she stated the following:
“I strongly believe that my voice is not heard nor wanted by our current leadership; nor do they have any interest in knowing who I am and how my experiences relate to positioning the organization for the future.”
It’s very disheartening to know that a former Miss America was treated this way by her organization; an organization that is now claiming to change everything about their ideals.
In their brand new mission statement, the Miss America Organization stated that “[What will never change is their] great history of empowering women and the extraordinary group of smart, talented individuals vying for the job”. If this is the case, why is it that Cara Mund’s CEO “systematically silenced [her], reduced [her], marginalized [her], and essentially erased [her] in [her] role as Miss America”?
The Miss America Organization is not completely monstrous, and that isn’t what is being stated in this piece. If the organization was run by those who actually are in favor of empowering women and not silencing them, there wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.
The future Miss America does not want to spend her entire year in the position waltzing around in a bathing suit. She envisions changing the world and showing off her ideas for the future.
Taking the swimsuit competition out of Miss America did some good for the organization, but it should have been done much sooner, and not in a way that clearly stated they were judging their contestants based on their bodies.
