Beauty contest

A beauty contest, or beauty pageant, is a competition based mainly on the physical beauty of its contestants, although such contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria. The phrase almost invariably refers only to contests for women; similar events for men are called by other names and are more likely to be "body building" contests. Winners of beauty contests are often called beauty queens.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Purpose 1.2 Discrimination against women 1.3 Pageantry growing up 1.4 International Pageant of Pulchritude 1.5 Miss America and beyond 1.6 Around the globe 2 Selecting a "beauty queen" 3 Criticism 4 Winners of notable international pageants 5 See also 6 References 7 Notes 8 External links

History

Choosing symbolic kings and queens for May Day and other festivities is an ancient custom in Europe in which beautiful young women symbolized their nations' virtues and other abstract ideas. At the Eglinton Tournament of 1839 - a re-enactment of a medieval joust and revel held in Scotland in which many distinguished guests took part and which gained much public attention at the time - a Queen of Beauty was chosen, Georgiana Sheridan, the wife of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset and sister of noted author Caroline Norton.

The first modern American pageant was staged by P. T. Barnum in 1854, but his beauty contest was closed down by public protest. He previously held dog, baby, and bird beauty contests. He substituted daguerreotypes for judging, a practice quickly adopted by newspapers. Newspapers held photo beauty contests for many decades: In 1880, the first “Bathing Beauty Pageant" took place as part of a summer festival to promote business in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Contests became a regular part of summer beach life, with the most elaborate contests taking place in Atlantic City, New Jersey (“Fall Frolic”) and Galveston, Texas ("Splash Day"), where the events attracted women from many cities and towns.^[1]

Purpose

Back when beauty pageants first started, they were viewed as “trivial events whose interpretation required no scholarly effort.” Miss America, the first pageant of its kind, has made an effort to ensure that it does not appear as a "stereotypical" pageant. The competition emphasizes the different aspects of women and highlights their personal successes. They strive to give these women the opportunity to rise to the top. Pageant participants return to their hometowns and promote community involvement.

As of recently, anyone of any race or color can enter in them. Of course, they do have some racial specific pageants, such as Miss Black America, or Miss Indian America, Miss Deccan but generally, all of the contestants come from different backgrounds. Multiculturalism is a widely viewed aspect in pageants.

Another goal of pageants is promoting self-esteem of the contestants. Girls that compete feel a sense of belonging with the other contestants, and the larger pageant community. The pageant offers “not just a place, but a particular way and stringently limited terms with which to negotiate a sense of self.”

The skills learned in pageants have been said to last for a lifetime. Contestants gain the ability to speak in public, and a sense of confidence in themselves. Winners of these pageants have said that feel they have a sense of accomplishment.

Discrimination against women

According to a feminist writing of history, women were obligated to take the man’s place in society during the war period. They had to do all of the work that the men left behind. The women quickly had to learn how to take care of themselves, and be more individual. The women grew to be very helpful in leading the beginnings of the Roaring Twenties.

In 1921, Atlantic City hoteliers decided to take advantage of the women’s newfound role in society. They created a bathing suit beauty contest as a marketing tool to get vacationers to stay past Labor Day weekend. The grand prize were photo entries to the local Eastern newspapers, not to mention the recognition they received for their beauty.

This beauty contest boomed. More contestants kept entering, elevating it from a contest to a pageant. There soon was a contestant from every state, including the Washington D.C. area, where the first winner of the Miss America title represented. The pageant adopted more and more rules, introducing the evening gown competition and the talent competition. Not only did the contestants have to be beautiful, but they also had to be smart and talented.

The popularity of beauty contests waned during World War II. Some pageants then implemented a scholarship reward to keep the contestants interested. The scholarship money could be used to attend school or to start a career.

Pageantry growing up

More and more pageants were created because some pageant directors concluded that pageants turned girls into women. They aligned themselves with many clubs to raise money for charities. This was done to gain public approval and to dispel the reputation of being “just another beauty pageant.” They now refer to those “clubs” that each contestant supports as “platforms.”

By the 1960s, pageantry took off. Women were becoming more and more educated, and more viewed in the public eye. Six more pageants became established; Miss USA, Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss Teenage American Pageant, Miss National Teen-ager, and the Miss Teen All America Pageant. The winners of these pageants became role models for little girls and teens. The key role in being a queen was to understand and support topical issues. The winners especially were the women who the girls looked up to the most. They needed to be someone who girls could connect with and apply their lives to. They are now considered an "exemplar of cultural flow."

International Pageant of Pulchritude

In May 1920 promoter C.E. Barfield of Galveston 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.^[1][2][3] 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."^[2] This contest is said to have served as a model for modern pageants.^[3][4][5] It featured contestants from England, Russia, Turkey, and many other nations and the title awarded at the time was known as "Miss Universe."^[3][6] The event was discontinued in the United States in 1932 because of the Depression (the international competition was revived briefly in Belgium).

Miss America and beyond

The modern beauty pageant's origin is traceable to the Miss America Pageant, which was first held in Atlantic City in 1921, under the title "Inter-City Beauty Contest." The Miss America Pageant eventually included preliminary eliminations, an evening gown competition, musical variety shows, and judging by panel. Still, the contest was at first shunned by middle-class society. Pageants did not become respectable until World War II, when "beauty queens" were recruited to sell bonds and to entertain troops. Scholarships and talent competitions evoked even closer scrutiny of contestants’ morals and backgrounds. The Miss America Pageant is the largest provider of college scholarships for women in the world.

Around the globe

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). These are considered the "Grand Slam" or "Big Four" pageants, the four largest and most famous international beauty contests. Minor contests, such as the Miss Bondi contest in Australia, are common throughout the world in the summer months. During the 1950s, pageants thrived to promote county fairs and local products. For example, some of Raquel Welch's titles included " Maid of San Diego County", " Maid of California" "Miss Photogenic" and "Miss Contour." Women from around the world participate each year in local competitions for the chance to represent their country's international title.

2002 was a year remarkable for its number of winners from counties with a majority Muslim population. In that year Miss Lebanon, Christina Sawaya won the Miss International pageant, Miss Turkey, Azra Akın won Miss World, and the original winner of Miss Earth for that year was Džejla Glavović from Bosnia and Herzegovina (before being replaced by Winfred Omwakwe of Kenya). In 2006, the Muslim nation of Pakistan crowned its first Miss Bikini Universe, Mariyah Moten, which later became a controversy worldwide.

Selecting a "beauty queen"

Beauty pageants are generally multi-tiered and popular, with local competitions feeding into the larger competitions. The worldwide pageants, thus, require hundreds, sometimes thousands, of local competitions. In the United States, there is now a commercial beauty pageant industry that organizes thousands of local and regional events for all ages for profit supported by magazines like The Crown Magazine and Pride of Pageantry.

The typical perception of a beauty pageant is that it occurs once a year, has women of a petite frame, the event is live on stage, and that a talent is involved somehow. Particularly with the advent of the internet, this perception has changed drastically. Although they are not "live," Internet and mail-in pageants have provided a plethora of entertainment to those who compete and an opportunity not available to those unable or hesitant to travel.

Size no longer is a limiting factor as many competitions espouse the goal of "natural" beauty. There are also more and more pageants, which are dedicated to the "plus sized" delegate. While a size 14-16 may be considered a traditional plus-size in the US, in the pageant world a size 6-8 may be considered as plus depending upon the pageant system.

Although the selection of a Beauty Queen is thought to be an annual event, there are no hard and fast rules as to the frequency of selection. Pageants have also changed dates and frequency based upon the needs of the Organization. Take for instance, Miss America. For decades, Miss America was held during the fall with the pageant usually occurring in September. Recently, the date changed to January. This produced a term of greater than a year length for that Miss America.

On the other hand, some terms have been shortened due to needs of the Organization. For example, during its formative years, the Mrs. United Nation Pageant had several seasonal changes with some Queens holding a term of less than a year.

There are other pageants who take a totally different approach altogether. Particularly in reference to on-line photogenic pageants, there are competitions in which a winner is chosen on a monthly or even weekly basis. There are those who will take each of these as a "preliminary winner" with the intent upon a "final" competition at some later date. Others treat each of these as a "final" winner and provide a title.

Regardless of the method of competition, break down of scores or frequency of selection, all are defined as "entertainment in the form of a beauty pageant." It is up to the individual to determine which is best suited for competition or of particular entertainment interest.

Criticism

Critics of beauty contests argue that such contests reinforce the idea that (usually young) women should be valued primarily for their physical appearance, and that this puts tremendous pressure on women to “be beautiful” by spending time and money on fashion, cosmetics, hair styling and even cosmetic surgery. This pursuit of physical beauty even encourages some women to diet to the point of harming themselves.^[7]

Although some competitions have components that are not based purely on physical appearance, “unattractive” contestants are unlikely to win, no matter how talented, poised, intelligent, educated, resourceful or socially conscious they are. Rather than providing women with opportunities, it can be argued that beauty contests hurt the prospects of women who do not fit the current cultural ideal of beauty, because these contests promote the idea that those who fit this ideal are “better” than those who do not. And some pageants require a swimsuit for a portion of the competition, which emphasizes the physical bodies of women, some claim in undressed state.

Winners of notable international pageants

Year	Miss World	Miss Universe	Miss International	Miss Earth
1951	Kicki Håkonsson	None	None	None
1952	May Louise Flodin	Armi Kuusela	None	None
1953	Denise Perrier	Christiane Martel	None	None
1954	Antigone Costanda	Miriam Stevenson	None	None
1955	Susana Duijm	Hillevi Rombin	None	None
1956	Petra Schürmann	Carol Morris	None	None
1957	Marita Lindahl	Gladys Zender	None	None
1958	Penelope Coelen	Luz Marina Zuluaga	None	None
1959	Corine Rottschäfer	Akiko Kojima	None	None
1960	Norma Cappagli	Linda Bement	Stella Márquez	None
1961	Rosemarie Frankland	Marlene Schmidt	Stam van Baer	None
1962	Catharina Lodders	Norma Nolan	Tania Verstak	None
1963	Carole Crawford	Ieda Maria Vargas	Guðrún Bjarnadóttir	None
1964	Ann Sydney	Corinna Tsopei	Gemma Cruz	None
1965	Lesley Langley	Apasra Hongsakula	Ingrid Finger	None
1966	Reita Faria	Margareta Arvidsson	None	None
1967	Madeleine Hartog Bell	Sylvia Hitchcock	Mirta Massa	None
1968	Penelope Plummer	Martha Vasconcellos	Maria da Gloria Carvalho	None
1969	Eva Reuber Staier	Gloria Diaz	Valerie Holmes	None
1970	Jennifer Hosten	Marisol Malaret	Aurora Pijuan	None
1971	Lúcia Petterle	Georgina Rizk	Jane Hansen	None
1972	Belinda Green	Kerry Anne Wells	Linda Hooks	None
1973	Marjorie Wallace	Margarita Moran	Anneli Björkling	None
1974	Helen Morgan (resigned) Anneline Kriel (replacement)	Amparo Muñoz	Karen Brucene Smith	None
1975	Wilnelia Merced	Anne Marie Pohtamo	Ladija Manić	None
1976	Cindy Breakspeare	Rina Messinger	Sophie Perin	None
1977	Mary Stävin	Janelle Commissiong	Pilar Medina	None
1978	Silvana Suárez	Margaret Gardiner	Katherine Ruth	None
1979	Gina Swainson	Maritza Sayalero	Mimilanie Marquez	None
1980	Gabriella Brum (resigned) Kimberley Santos (replacement)	Shawn Weatherly	Lorna Chávez	None
1981	Pilín León	Irene Sáez	Jenny Derck	None
1982	Mariasela Álvarez	Karen Dianne Baldwin	Christie Claridge	None
1983	Sarah-Jane Hutt	Lorraine Downes	Gidget Sandoval	None
1984	Astrid Carolina Herrera	Yvonne Ryding	Ilma Urrutia	None
1985	Hólmfríður Karlsdóttir	Deborah Carthy Deu	Nina Sicilia	None
1986	Giselle Laronde	Bárbara Palacios	Helen Fairbrother	None
1987	Ulla Weigerstorfer	Cecilia Bolocco	Laurie Tamara Simpson	None
1988	Linda Pétursdóttir	Porntip Nakhirunkanok	Catherine Gude	None
1989	Aneta Kręglicka	Angela Visser	Iris Klein	None
1990	Gina Tolleson	Mona Grudt	Silvia de Esteban	None
1991	Ninibeth Leal	Lupita Jones	Agnieszka Kotlarska	None
1992	Julia Kourotchkina	Michelle McLean	Kirsten Davidson	None
1993	Lisa Hanna	Dayanara Torres	Agnieszka Pachałko	None
1994	Aishwarya Rai	Sushmita Sen	Christina Lekka	None
1995	Jacqueline Aguilera	Chelsi Smith	Anne Lena Hansen	None
1996	Irene Skliva	Alicia Machado	Fernanda Alves	None
1997	Diana Hayden	Brook Lee	Consuelo Adler	None
1998	Linor Abargil	Wendy Fitzwilliam	Lía Borrero	None
1999	Yukta Mookhey	Mpule Kwelagobe	Paulina Gálvez	None
2000	Priyanka Chopra	Lara Dutta	Vivian Urdaneta	None
2001	Agbani Darego	Denise Quiñones	Małgorzata Rożniecka	Catharina Svensson
2002	Azra Akın	Oxana Fedorova (dethroned) Justine Pasek (replacement)	Christina Sawaya	Džejla Glavović (dethroned) Winfred Omwakwe(replacement)
2003	Rosanna Davison	Amelia Vega	Goizeder Azúa	Dania Prince
2004	María Julia Mantilla	Jennifer Hawkins	Jeymmy Vargas	Priscilla Meirelles
2005	Unnur Vilhjálmsdóttir	Natalie Glebova	Precious Lara Quigaman	Alexandra Braun
2006	Taťána Kuchařová	Zuleyka Rivera	Daniela di Giacomo	Hil Hernández
2007	Zhang Zilin	Riyo Mori	Priscila Perales	Jessica Trisko
2008	Ksenia Sukhinova	Dayana Mendoza	Alejandra Andreu	Karla Henry
2009	Kaiane Aldorino	Stefania Fernández	Anagabriela Espinoza	Larissa Ramos

     The country won more than one of these pageants in the same year.

See also

List of beauty contests Bride-show Concours d'Elegance Child beauty pageant Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen

Related events for men: Mr. Universe Mr. World Manhunt International Mister International

References

1. Sones, Michael. "History of the Beauty Pageant." Beauty Worlds: The Culture of Beauty (2003): n. pag. Web. 4 Nov 2009. http://www.beautyworlds.com/beautypageant
2. Liben, Lynn S., Rebecca S. Bigler, Diane N Ruble, Carol Lynn Martin, and Kimberly K. Powlishta. "Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Evaluating Constructs and Pathways." Developmental Course of Gender Differentiation. 67.2 i-183. Print.
3. Harvey, Adia M. "Becoming Entrepreneurs: Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender at the Black Beauty Salon." Gender and Society. 19.6 (2005): 789-808. Print.
4. Craig, Maxine. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World: Beauty Pageants and National Identity.." American Journal of Sociology. 105.6 (2000): 1805-1806. Print.

5. Wilk, Richard. "The Local and the Global in the Political Economy of Beauty: From Miss Belize to Miss World." Review of International Political Economy. 2.1 (1995): 117-134. Print.

6. Burgess, Zena, and Phyllis Tharenou. "Women Board Directors: Characteristics of the Few." Journal of Business Ethics. 37.1 (2002): 39-49. Print.

7. Huffman, Matt L., and Philip N. Cohen. "Occupational Segregation and the Gender Gap in Workplace Authority: National versus Local Labor Markets." Sociological Forum. 19.1 (2004): 121-147. Print.

8. Ciborra, Claudio U. "The Platform Organization: Recombining Strategies, Structures, and Surprises." Organization Science. 7.2 (1996): 103-118. Print.

9. Lamsa, Anna-Maija, and Teppo Sintonen. "A Discursive Approach to Understanding Women Leaders in Working Life." Journal of Business Ethics. 34.3/4 (2001): 255-267. Print.

167. Bell, Myrtle P., Mary E. McLaughlin, and Jennifer M. Sequeira. "Discrimination, Harassment, and the Glass Ceiling: Women Executives as Change Agents." Journal of Business Ethics. 37.1 (2002): 65-76. Print.

Notes

External links

• Beauty Pageant News
• Tiara Talk Network: The Only Network Exclusively For Pageant People!
• Missosology: Analyzing Beauty Pageants
• GlobalBeauties.com
• Critical Beauty
• Pageant-Almanac
• Pageantopolis: Complete Miss International results and photos
• PageantCast: Internet's first podcast about beauty pageants. New shows weekly.