University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020- 2021 The Bikini Line: Race, Gender, and Embodiment in Texas Beauty Pageants Chelsea Belanger University of Central Florida Part of the Race and Ethnicity Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020 University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020- by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STARS Citation Belanger, Chelsea, "The Bikini Line: Race, Gender, and Embodiment in Texas Beauty Pageants" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-. 647. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020/647 THE BIKINI LINE: RACE, GENDER, AND EMBODIMENT IN TEXAS BEAUTY PAGEANTS by CHELSEA BELANGER B.A. The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2011 M.S. The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2017 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2021 Major Professor: Shannon Carter ABSTRACT In 2019, for the first time in history, Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, and Miss Universe were all Black women. However, in Texas pageantry, where 12 former state titleholders have become Miss America or Miss USA are from, racial representation is scant. Since their inception in 1937 and 1952, only three Black women have won title of Miss Texas America and two Black women have been crowned Miss Texas USA.