Beauty Pageant Origin and Femininity

Beauty pageants have been the subject of protest since 1968. Whether it’s the rhinestones on your head or a sultry dance move, a pageant is about more than a girl wearing a crown — it’s a window into an entire culture’s hierarchy of values and definitions of femininity.

The modern beauty contest originated in the freewheeling boardwalk theater of Atlantic City during Prohibition era heyday and was first presented as a “bathing suit beauty review.” Contestants were scored on their sculpted physiques and cosmetic beautification techniques. Later talent and interviews were added. Then came a series of social upheavals that forced the pageant to recast itself. The Depression ushered in a more conservative understanding of proper feminine behavior. The ideal of the frugal homemaker replaced that of the flapper. Pageant organizers hired Lenora Slaughter to spruce up the pageant, adding scholarship competitions, creating the coronation ceremony, and instituting beauty schools. She steered the pageant into a model of middle-class advancement and made it respectable enough for sponsors to invest in.

Slaughter’s efforts paved the way for beauty pageants to become a staple of American entertainment. However, she did not sever the pageant’s connection with white supremacy. In fact, until 1940 Miss America required all contestants to be “of good health and of the white race.” Eventually black contestants were allowed to compete as well. But even after pageants shifted from judging bodies and talent to focusing on inner beauty, many feminists continued to criticize the competition for its objectification of women.