Beauty pageant

Miss Venezuela 2007 winners, in the center Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe 2008

A beauty pageant or beauty contest is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants, although most contests have evolved to also incorporate personality traits, intelligence, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria. The term refers largely to contests for women such as the Big Four international beauty pageants.

The organizers of each pageant may determine the rules of the competition, including the age range of contestants. The rules may also require the contestants to be unmarried, and be "virtuous", "amateur", and available for promotions, besides other criteria. It may also set the clothing standards in which contestants will be judged, including the type of swimsuit.

Beauty pageants are generally multi-tiered, with local competitions feeding into the larger competitions. For example, the international pageants have hundreds or thousands of local competitions. Child beauty pageants mainly focus on beauty, gowns, sportswear modelling, talent, and personal interviews. Adult and teen pageants focus on makeup, hair and gowns, swimsuit modelling, and personal interviews. A winner of a beauty contest is often called a beauty queen. The rankings of the contestants are referred to as placements.

Possible awards of beauty contests include titles, tiaras or crowns, sashes, scepters, savings bonds, scholarships, and cash prizes. However, adult and teen pageants have been moving more towards judging speaking. Some pageants award college scholarships, to the winner or multiple runners-up.[1]

History

Early years

Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was crowned the 'Queen of Beauty' at the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, the first known beauty pageant
Woman receiving an award for winning a beauty pageant, 1922

European festivals dating to the medieval era provide the most direct lineage for beauty pageants. For example, English May Day celebrations always involved the selection of a May Queen. In the United States, the May Day tradition of selecting a woman to serve as a symbol of bounty and community ideals continued, as young beautiful women participated in public celebrations.[3]

A beauty pageant was held during the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, organized by Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, as part of a re-enactment of a medieval joust that was held in Scotland. The pageant was won by Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, the wife of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset, and sister of Caroline Norton, and she was proclaimed as the "Queen of Beauty".[4]

Entrepreneur Phineas Taylor Barnum staged the first modern American pageant in 1854, but his beauty contest was closed down after public protest.[5][6]

National pageants

Beauty contests became more popular in the 1880s. In 1888, the title of 'beauty queen' was awarded to an 18-year-old Creole contestant at a pageant in Spa, Belgium. All participants had to supply a photograph and a short description of themselves to be eligible to enter and a final selection of 21 was judged by a formal panel.[7] Such events were not regarded as respectable. Beauty contests came to be considered more respectable with the first modern "Miss America" contest held in 1921.[8]

The oldest pageant still in operation today is the Miss America pageant, which was organized in 1921 by a local businessman as a means to entice tourists to Atlantic City, New Jersey.[9] The pageant hosted the winners of local newspaper beauty contests in the "Inter-City Beauty" Contest, which was attended by over one hundred thousand people. Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C. was crowned Miss America 1921, having won both the popularity and beauty contests, and was awarded $100.[10]

International pageants

In May 1920, promoter C.E. Barfield of Galveston, Texas organized a new event known as "Splash Day" on the island. The event featured a "Bathing Girl Revue" competition as the centerpiece of its attractions.[11][12][13][14] The event was the kick-off of the summer tourist season in the city and was carried forward annually. The event quickly became known outside of Texas and, beginning in 1926, the world's first international contest was added, known as the International Pageant of Pulchritude.[13] This contest is said to have served as a model for modern pageants.[14][15][16] It featured contestants from England, Russia, Turkey, and many other nations and the title awarded at the time was known as "Miss Universe".[14][17] The event was discontinued in the United States in 1932 because of the Depression (the international competition was revived briefly in Belgium).

After World War II

Beauty contest in Montreal, 1948

The popularity of the Miss America pageant prompted other organizations to establish similar contests in the 1950s and beyond. Some were significant while others were trivial, such as the National Donut Queen contest. The Miss World contest started in 1951, Miss Universe started in 1952 as did Miss USA. Miss International started in 1960. The Miss Black America contest started in 1968[18] in response to the exclusion of African American women from the Miss America pageant. The Miss Universe Organization started the Miss Teen USA in 1983 for the 14-19 age group. Miss Earth started in 2001, which channels the beauty pageant entertainment industry as an effective tool to actively promote the preservation of the environment.[19][20] These contests continue to this day.

Swimsuit competition

The requirement for contestants to wear a swimsuit was a controversial aspect of the various competitions. The controversy was heightened with the increasing popularity of the bikini after its introduction in 1946. The bikini was banned for the Miss America contest in 1947 because of Roman Catholic protesters.[21] When the Miss World contest started in 1951, there was an outcry when the winner was crowned in a bikini. Pope Pius XII condemned the crowning as sinful,[22][23] and countries with religious traditions threatened to withdraw delegates.[24] The bikini was banned for future and other contests. It was not until the late 1990s that they became permitted again,[9] but still generated controversy when finals were held in countries where bikinis (or swimsuits in general) were socially disapproved.[9][25] For example, in 2003, Vida Samadzai from Afghanistan caused an uproar in her native country when she participated in the Miss Earth contest in a bikini.[9] In 2013, the swimsuit round of the Miss World contest was dropped because of Islamist protests in Bali (Indonesia), where the contest took place.[25] In 2014, the Miss World contest eliminated the swimsuit competition from its pageant.[26]

In 2017, Carousel Productions was criticized of objectifying women during the Miss Earth 2017 competition. For the first time in the history of international pageants, delegates wore swimsuits during the event with their faces concealed by a veil in the Beauty of Figure and Form, a segment first introduced in the Miss Philippines Earth 2017 pageant.[27][28][29][30] It was one of the three preliminary judging segments of the pageant that include Poise and Beauty of Face and Environmental and Intelligence Competition.[31][27] The organizers defended the "beauty of figure and form" segment and released a statement that the said round was intended to promote strict impartiality during pre-judging by focusing on the contestants' curves, execution and not beautiful face.[32][28]

Major beauty pageants

The term "beauty pageant" refers largely to contests for women.[33][34][35] Major international contests for women include the yearly Miss World competition (founded by Eric Morley in 1951), Miss Universe (founded in 1952), Miss International (founded in 1960), and Miss Earth (founded in 2001 with environmental awareness as its concern).[36][37][38] These are considered the Big Four pageants, the four largest and most famous international beauty contests for single or unmarried women.[39][40]

Founded Pageant Organizer Location Bikini allowed Bikini regulation
1921Miss AmericaMiss America Organization[9]Atlantic City, New Jersey19971947: Bikinis were outlawed because of Roman Catholic protesters.[21]
1997: Contestants allowed to wear bikinis.[9]
2018: Swimsuit segment of the pageant was dropped.[41]
1951Miss WorldEric Morley,
Miss World Organization		London, England19511951: The first winner Kiki Håkansson from Sweden was crowned in a bikini. Countries with religious traditions threatened to withdraw delegates,[24] and Pope Pius XII condemned the crowning as sinful.[22][23]
1952: Swimsuits toned down to more modest designs.[9]
1996: Miss World contest was held in Bangalore, India, but the swimsuit round was shifted to Seychelles because of intense protests.[42]
2013: The swimsuit round was dropped because of Islamist protests in Bali, Indonesia, where the contest took place.[25]
2015: The Beach Fashion segment of the pageant was dropped.[43]
1952Miss UniverseWilliam Morris EndeavorNew York City19971952: Bikinis banned.
1997: Contestants allowed to wear bikinis.[9]
1960Miss InternationalInternational Cultural AssociationTokyo, Japan19601964: Bikinis made mandatory
1983Miss Teen USAWilliam Morris EndeavorNew York CityNot allowed1983: Bikinis banned.
1997: Contestants allowed to wear bikinis.[9]
2000: Tankinis were provided as an option for the first (and only) time.[9]
2016: Bikini competition was removed and replaced with athletic wear[44]
2001Miss EarthCarousel ProductionsQuezon City, Philippines20032003: Vida Samadzai from Afghanistan participating in a bikini caused an uproar in her native country.[9]
2017: The "Beauty of Form and Figure" preliminary judging in Miss Earth 2017 was introduced where the delegates walked in white two-piece bikinis but their faces were covered by a white veil to focus the judgment on the body figures on this portion.[45][46]

Criticism

The panel of judges for the 1973 Miss Amsterdam pageant

Critics of beauty pageants argue that such contests reinforce the idea that girls and women should be valued primarily for their physical appearance, and that this puts tremendous pressure on women to conform to conventional beauty standards by spending time and money on fashion, cosmetics, hair styling, and even cosmetic surgery. They claim that this pursuit of physical beauty even encourages some women to go on a diet to the point of harming themselves.[47][48][49]

The London Feminist Network argues that rather than being empowering, beauty pageants do exactly the opposite because they deny the full humanity of women by placing them as the subject of objectification; they reinforce the idea that a woman's only purpose is to look attractive.[50]

Another criticism that is placed on beauty pageants is in the way beauty is quantifiably scored as highlighted by the "Myth of the Perfect 10".[51] Beauty becomes a numerical coefficient in ranking contestants, and this type of scoring still remains followed as a system even in nationwide beauty pageants such as Miss America.[52]

Researchers suggest that these events strengthen skills, such as interpersonal communications, self-assurance, and public speaking, which prove to be useful in future career paths.[53]

References

  1. ↑ Miss Teenage California scholarship awards, from the pageant website Archived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Universal Newsreel (1935). "Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant". Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  3. ↑ "Miss America: People & Events: Origins of the Beauty Pageant". Pbs.org. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Beauty Pageants: Then vs Now. 80Twelve. 15 April 2016 – via YouTube.
  5. ↑ Colin Blakemore and Sheila Jennett, ed. (2006). The Oxford companion to the body (1. publ. ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-852403-X.
  6. ↑ "It's Not a Beauty Pageant. It's a Scholarship Competition!". The LOC.GOV Wise Guide. Library of Congress. August 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  7. ↑ "Beauty Pageants History: The Beginning and Beyond". Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  8. ↑ 80Twelve (15 April 2016). "Beauty Pageants: Then vs Now - 80Twelve" – via YouTube.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "History". Pageant Almanac. Pageant Almanac. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Miss America". In Encyclopedia of New Jersey. 2004. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  11. ↑ Stein, Elissa (2006). Beauty Queen: Here She Comes... Chronicle Books. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8118-4864-0.
    "Revues and other Vanities: The Commodification of Fantasy in the 1920s". Assumption College. Retrieved 2 October 2009.
  12. ↑ "The Sloane Collection, no. 4 – Galveston Bathing Girl Revue, 1925". Story Sloane, III Collection. Texas Archive of the Moving Image. 1925. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  13. 1 2 "Miss United States Began In Galveston". The Islander Magazine. 2006.
  14. 1 2 3 Cherry, Bill (25 October 2004). "Miss America was once Pageant of Pulchritude". Galveston Daily News. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009.
  15. ↑ Brown, Bridget (17 May 2009). "Isle bathing beauty tradition reborn". Galveston Daily News. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  16. ↑ Savage, Candace (1998). Beauty queens: a playful history. Abbeville. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-55054-618-7.
  17. ↑ "The Billboard". 25 September 1948: 49.
  18. ↑ "The Ritz-Carlton Hotel - Atlantic City" (PDF). Historical Timeline. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  19. ↑ Warner, Claire (6 December 2015). "What Is The Miss Earth Pageant? Angelia Ong Isn't The Only Winner You Need To Know". Bustle. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  20. ↑ Schuck, Lorraine (October 12, 2006). "About Miss Earth Beauty Pageant". Miss Earth official website, Carousel Productions, Inc. Archived from the original on February 24, 2008. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
  21. 1 2 "We're all intellectuals". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. November 6, 2008.
  22. 1 2 Various, Selvedge: The Fabric of Your Life, page 39, Selvedge Ltd., 2005
  23. 1 2 Maass, Harold (June 7, 2013). "The controversial bikini ban at the Miss World beauty pageant". Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  24. 1 2 Han Shin, Beauty with a Purpose, page 193, iUniverse, 2004, ISBN 0-595-30926-7
  25. 1 2 3 Nidhi Tewari, "Miss Universe 2013: Winning Beauty To Wear Million Dollar Diamond-Studded Swimsuit", International Business Times, November 5, 2013
  26. ↑ Lange, Maggie (18 December 2014). "Miss World Pageant Axes Swimsuit Portion". New York Magazine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  27. 1 2 Dela Cruz, Lito (19 October 2017). "Miss Earth organizers slammed over controversial preliminary round". Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  28. 1 2 Requintina, Robert R. (25 June 2017). "Veiled faces and 2-piece swimsuits in Miss Philippines Earth pageant". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  29. ↑ Tuazon, Nikko (24 June 2017). "Miss Philippines Earth 2017 organizers defend controversial preliminary event". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  30. ↑ News, Manila (20 October 2017). "Miss Earth pageant covers contestants' faces as they walk down in swimsuits". Coconuts Media. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  31. ↑ Adina, Armin (15 July 2017). "Miss PH-Earth winners 'unveiled' tonight". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  32. ↑ News, Rappler (25 June 2017). "Miss PH Earth organizers on veil issue: Women not objectified". Rappler. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  33. ↑ "Miss Earth 2004 beauty pageant". China Daily. Reuters. 2004-10-25. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  34. ↑ "Brazil's Miss World finalist has her hands and feet amputated". English.pravda.ru. 22 January 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  35. ↑ Enriquez, Amee (2 February 2014). "Philippines: How to make a beauty queen". BBC News. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  36. ↑ "Mexicana Anagabriela Espinoza gana concurso de belleza en China". Terra Networks. Mexico. EFE. 28 November 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  37. ↑ Sibbett, Rebecca (15 February 2008). "Edinburgh students launch beauty pageant". The Edinburgh Journal. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  38. ↑ Fischer, Bernd (20 August 2012). "Beauty pageants: the bad and the beautiful". Perdeby. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  39. ↑ "Beauty with scandals". The Standard. 14 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  40. ↑ "24歲前田智子當選為「2011日本小姐」" [24-year-old former Tian Zhizi elected as "Miss Japan 2011"]. Business Times (in Chinese). 4 July 2011. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  41. ↑ "Goodbye, Swimsuit Competition. Hello, 'Miss America 2.0.'".
  42. ↑ "Miss Greece now Miss World, despite pageant protests". CNN. November 23, 1996. Archived from the original on December 17, 2003.
  43. ↑ Sanghani, Radhika (19 December 2014). "Miss World ditches 'sexist bikini round' after 63 years" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  44. ↑ Murray, Rheana (29 June 2016). "Miss Teen USA pageant drops swimsuit competition in favor of athleisure". today.com. Today.
  45. ↑ News, Blasting. "Miss Earth organizers slammed over controversial preliminary round". Blasting News. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  46. ↑ "Miss Earth pageant covers contestants' faces as they walk down in swimsuits | Coconuts Manila". Coconuts. 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  47. ↑ "Beauty and body image in the media". Media Awareness Network. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  48. ↑ "Reigning Miss Universe Suspected of Having Cosmetic Surgery". Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  49. ↑ "Plastic Surgery: Bollywood, Miss Universe, and the Indian Girl Next Door" (PDF). Gujarati Magazine (Sandesh). Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  50. ↑ "Why OBJECT to Beauty Pageants?". object.org.uk. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  51. ↑ Riverol, A.R. (1983). "Myth, America and Other Misses: A Second Look at the American Beauty Contests". ETC: A Review of General Semantics.
  52. ↑ "Miss America : National Judging Process". www.missamerica.org. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
  53. ↑ Hinojosa, Magda; Carle, Jill (16 February 2016). "From Miss World to World Leader: Beauty Queens, Paths to Power, and Political Representations". Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. 37 (1): 24-26. doi:10.1080/1554477X.2016.1116298. Retrieved 2 October 2018.

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