Beauty Pageant News

The coveted crown is in sight. Your makeup is on point, your hair is tucked just right and your tan is the definition of sunkissed. All that remains is the question-and-answer segment and you’re set to rock it. This is your moment to shine on the stage, so much that a Hollywood producer would probably consider you for a role as the next Bond girl. But what if the questions weren’t exactly the kind you were expecting?

When beauty pageants rose to popularity during the women’s suffrage movement, they were hailed as feminist events. They provided women with an arena in which to celebrate their femininity and showcase their many contributions in a war-stricken America, where more and more women were stepping away from traditional household roles to work as semi-skilled operatives, teachers or saleswomen.

But since then, the world of beauty pageants has gone through a lot of changes, including a major controversy over the swimsuit competition and a sexual harassment scandal that shook the Miss USA organization. After delving into the Crystle Stewart saga and putting together this documentary, I’m curious to know what you think of beauty contests.

A new study has found that adolescent girls who were exposed to news coverage of their home-state beauty pageant were more likely to feel bad about their bodies than those who didn’t, particularly when the winner was a curvy woman. The researchers behind the study believe that this is a sign that news coverage of beauty pageants is continuing to contribute to a distorted body image in our youth.