In light of the current controversy swirling around the Miss USA competition on Sunday night, and Miss Utah’s unfortunate answer to her final question, I would like to offer a few thoughts.
As
background, I competed and won the Miss America competition (a different
organization than Miss USA) in 2008. Just for clarity’s sake, the two
organizations are completely different in form and function. Miss America is a
scholarship program that is the world’s largest provider of scholarships to
women in the world, making available $45 million each year to contestants. I was
able to complete my B.A. in Political Science at Emory University this past May,
largely due to the over $60,000 in scholarships that I won competing in the
program. Miss America also has a talent competition and contestants must choose
and develop a “personal platform,” or issue that they advocate for during their
year of service. The Miss USA pageant is part of the Miss Universe
Organization, owned by Donald Trump, and has only a swim and eveningwear
competition, as well as informal interviews prior to the competition. Great
women have competed in both programs, and I am not writing to impugn or defend
either organization.
However,
the media has once again latched on to a recent pageant “gaffe” that occurred
during the oft-feared final question portion of the Miss USA Pageant on Sunday.
The contestant representing the state of Utah gave an embarrassingly stilted
and uncomfortable “answer” (if it could be called that) to a question regarding
the gender income gap and “what that says about society.” You can Google the
clip on YouTube, I will not repeat her answer here.
In
the young woman’s defense, I am sure she was probably incredibly nervous. I
have been there, in the final stages of competition, and it is, in many ways,
more nerve-wracking than walking onstage in a swimsuit. Being forced to think
quickly on your feet is no easy task, especially when asked to solve issues or
offer insight on problems that our own Congress cannot agree on, much less
solve. But this whole issue of pageant gaffes has once again raised the
question: Are pageants relevant?
I
had the honor of speaking on a panel on a segment on HuffPost Live this morning
with Abby Huntsman, several former Miss America contestants and a former Miss
USA on this very issue:
I
have thought carefully about this and have decided, despite some negative
aspects of pageantry (the swimsuit competition, some overt sexuality), the
competitions themselves can a valuable avenue for pursuing success for young women,
and continue to be incredibly relevant today.
The Miss America contest began as a bathing beauty competition in
Atlantic City, NJ in 1921, and has remained popular until the present day
precisely because it has evolved with the times. It has added the talent
competition, the eveningwear competition, then the personal platform and
interview competition, and now incorporates elements of reality television in
an effort to showcase the contestants as actual people rather than Barbie
dolls.
I
have found too, from my own experience, that the program is relevant because of
the rising costs of education. College tuition, even at public universities, is
sky-rocketing. Options in higher education are dwindling due to the rising
costs of school, books, room and board, and the burden of crushing student loan
debt years after graduation is very real. Young women need the scholarships the
Miss America Organization offers now, more than ever. And you don’t need to win
the pageant in order to earn scholarships – almost every contestant that
competes, at every level, usually receives some amount of scholarship for her
education.
Above
the evolution of the competition and the awarding of scholarships, there are
the qualities that competing in pageants instill in young women. I know many
girls personally that competed in local and state pageants knowing they may not
win, but wanted to push themselves outside their comfort zone. They did, and
earned an incredible amount of confidence, even though they never wore a crown.
Competing in a pageant is a way for a young woman to build an advocacy platform
around an issue she cares about. It forces her into public speaking situations,
where she must use her voice, develop her opinions and defend them. It places
her in a position of leadership, and as a role model, so she learns that her
decisions affect not just herself, but others as well. It helps her to develop
a thick skin against criticism early, so that later in life, in any career
path, she will have learned to be strong in her convictions. Pageants are
certainly not the only way to build up these skills, but they are an excellent
choice should a young woman decide to pursue success in this avenue. The goal
of pageants is to honor and lift up well-rounded young women, not perfect
women. They seek to reward beauty AND brains. They help women, at a vulnerable
and impressionable age, to develop a sense of self and a confidence that their
own, unique voice, really matters.
Pageants
are a means, not an end. They help to teach young women the confidence and
discipline to go after what they want, and provide them the speaking,
networking, and social opportunities to build a foundation of a great career in
whatever path they choose. Many see pageants as setting women back – I believe,
for I have experienced, that they help empower women forward. Currently, two
former Miss Americas, Ericka Harold and Heather French Henry, are seriously
considering launching campaigns for seats in the U.S. Congress. We have former
contestants in top positions in every field – law, medicine, business,
philanthropy, entertainment, news, and motherhood. That, to me, says that
pageants are a vehicle for success, not an obstacle. It is my goal to continue
to encourage young women to use every avenue they can, including pageants, to
help them discover their own talents and abilities, and develop their own drive
to succeed. The Miss America Organization helped to instill those things in me,
and paid for my education. For these things, I am incredibly grateful.
Are
pageants for every young woman? No. Do I love and support the swimsuit
competition as relevant to the job of a Miss America or Miss USA? No. But I
believe overwhelmingly that the good outweighs the bad in competing in
pageants, and one contestant’s unfortunate gaffe does not negate the truth that
the large majority of women who compete go on to be fabulously successful in
whatever they choose to do. And that, is a message worth some publicity.
