[1]<\/a>\u00a0atmosphere to foster political growth. Platforms aside, the rest of the competition centers on creating negative body images for the rest of the female population. What does that say about our political system? We are so focused on the way our politicians look that we often ignore their messages.<\/p>\nThe pageant system didn\u2019t intersect with politics at all until 1989, when the Miss America Organisation introduced the concept it calls \u201cthe platform\u201d. Since then, contestants have been required to present a topic about which they care deeply; they are then judged on their passion and knowledge of it. If they win, they spend the year campaigning on that issue.<\/p>\n
Is there any question as to whether pageantry and politics should<\/i> intersect? Beverly Stoeltje, professor of anthropology and gender studies at Indiana University, believes it can be somewhat justified under our natural need for order and hierarchies.<\/p>\n[She] says that although American culture was founded on the rational principles of a republic, that left a yearning for something of the Old World. \u201cWe have these pageants, which crown these queens. In this culture, since we don\u2019t have monarchs, we create them.\u201d…What\u2019s more, Stoeltje observes, pageants, like politics, tap in to a competitiveness that is innate in the American cultural psyche. \u201cI would argue that the pageant is a space of contestation . . . Pageants\u2019 role today is to reflect the advances of women in society, that women can be empowered \u2013 but to say that women should continue to be seductive, and to be governed by the powers that be, who are generally male.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Others even argue that the intersection is beneficial <\/i>for the contestants.<\/p>\nHilary Levey Friedman, a Harvard socio\u00adlogist who studies beauty and competition, is writing a book about pageants\u2019 role in American society. She argues that the changing nature of pageants is creating a new class of winners who will go into politics, \u201cespecially with the way the political system works these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cContestants and winners are developing particular skills that are transferable to the political arena,\u201d Levey Friedman notes. \u201cYou can develop them elsewhere as well, but there\u2019s an argument to be made that you can develop them more quickly and at an earlier age because you participate in Miss America.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I\u00a0can accept that it\u2019s important to overcome\u00a0fear of public speaking\u00a0at a young age, important to advocate for social change, and important to develop people skills. What I cannot accept is that beauty pageants<\/i> are the means to enter politics. Perhaps pageantry is a sort of diluted form of politics, but honestly, politics should not be pageantry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[Featured image: Carolyn Bright, Miss Vermont 2010, who ran for Vermont Senate in 2012]<\/em><\/p>\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It seems intuitive that\u00a0beauty pageants\u00a0should be distinct from politics–that we should judge our next leaders by more than appearance. Yet, more and more, young<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":644,"featured_media":28043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,877],"tags":[2110],"yoast_head":"\n
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