Miss America

Julia Alvarez writes “I Want to Be Miss America”, to open people’s eyes to how something as small as a beauty pageant makes a huge difference on a teenage girl’s self-esteem and childhood. Alvarez makes a strong argument using pathos and ethos to sate her claim. She claims that everyday teenagers are trying to mold themselves into what they see in pageants in order to feel beautiful and fit in. Constantly trying to fit into the American ideal of beauty creates low self-esteem in teenagers and makes them feel left out. Alvarez deals with the ethical issue of misrepresentation of ethnicities in the pageant world. Many people could say that there is representation at the pageant but Alvarez states “if there was a ‘Hispanic,’ she usually looked…

I am famous for being the first miss america to ever be crowned, in 1921. My greatest achievements are winning Miss Washington, D.C, Inter-City Beauty Amateur, The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America, and the coveted grand prize of the Golden Mermaid trophy. Because the Inter-City Beauty Amateur and The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America wins didn't roll off the tongue, the council renamed those wins to Miss America for me. So, I was the first Miss America, but they didn't start to call…

“And the new Miss America 1995, Miss Alabama, Heather Whitestone!” Those are the words Regis Philbin said at the Miss America pageant in 1995 announcing the winner. But this winner had something more unique about her than a usual beauty contestant- she was deaf. In one instant, Heather Whitestone made history and became the first deaf Miss America. Not only that, she became the first woman to win Miss America with any type of disability. But there is so much more to her than the fact that she is…

In January 2008, Kirsten Haglund was crowned Miss America. Through this competition, she was able to open up about her teen struggle with anorexia. From a young age, Haglund was struggling from insecure thoughts, but when she began going to a very competitive ballet school, those thoughts became real. In Louie’s running career and war experience, he also struggled with fitting in, survival, and persecution. Through both of their victories, Kristian Haglund and Louie Zamperini have been able to…

Miss America pageant the show that prompts the most “beautiful” women in the country competing for the prettiest award. Wrong. In the article, No More Miss America by Robin Morgan she explains how the show is demoralizing the rest of the women as “ugly” or not worthy do to the certain perquisites the rest of the women do not meet. Miss America pageant is promoting a dominant ideology where white woman have been the only ones to ever win this award. It shows the privilege, social power, rights,…

into today’s society are beauty pageants. Dance marathons first started in the twenties and continued well into the thirties and forties (Fads and Heroes). “Dancing 24 hours a day, the contestants were allowed 15 minutes of rest every hour, when they would sleep on camp beds” (The 26-mile dance challenge). Some of these marathons lasted weeks, months even, but they contestants were fed and paid a small wage (The 26-mile dance challenge). Beauty pageants, also a minor fad during the twenties, was…

Dreaming of Miss America There are not many little girls who do not dream of being a princess. As a little girl, one of my favorite things to do was to watch Miss America with my mom. My mom would always say, “That could be you one day.” The pageant was so exciting because it was a night filled with upbeat music, glitzy costumes, and fun performances. My mom and I would always pick out our favorite contestant and cheer her on throughout the show. I kept telling my mom that I wanted to have a…

intelligent. Programs such as Miss America—with the winner’s crowning and the focus on the contestants’ intellects over their bodies—was always advertised as the perfect method to achieve societal standards. After all, Miss America prides itself on how it furthers women’s education by offering over $45 million in scholarships, which they claim makes them “the largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women.” In a society that acknowledges a woman’s body before her mind, Miss America…

weeks reading, many questions that I am sure most people have about a course such as Intro to Women Studies, for me I wanted to know why and how Women Studies started. After reading Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s “Forty Years of Women’s Studies” and New York Radical Women “No More Miss America”, I can truly say that I have better understanding of the original reason Women studies course developed. Both articles examine the ways women of different ethical groups have come together for the betterment of…

All of these characteristics of the pageant exist, all while there is no equivalent form of objectification in America for men. Advertisements, commercials, and pictures tell it all-women are more objectified than men, and not just even in pageants. Women are almost always exposing their breasts, behind, or a considerable amount of their genital area in advertisements for clothing, or are at least somewhat naked, while men are usually fully clothed. For the rare occasion, in fitness apparel, men…