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White Paper 1 Miss Universe 2015 and Feminism Beauty Pageants Can White Paper 1 Miss Universe 2015 and Feminism Beauty pageants can trace their origins to ancient Greece, but pageants have taken place in the United States only since the early nineteenth century (Minorcon). From the beginning, countless amounts of people watch in awe as these women perform and shine on stage. Nonetheless, many have begun to question beauty pageants; this is especially prevalent in recent years with the amount of supporters for the feminist movement rapidly increasing. In January of 2015, the Miss Universe pageant was held at Florida International University, a four-year public research institution in Miami. This event generated many complaints and concerns of numerous students and faculty. A good number of people were concerned that FIU hosting the Miss Universe pageant was more detrimental than beneficial. In particular, some were worried about the serious issues that the pageant’s contestants like these face both physically and mentally. Moreover, there was the underlying issue of the objectification of women and further reinforcing traditional gender roles. The act of bringing the Miss Universe pageant to Florida International University stands in opposition to the goals espoused by the contemporary feminist movement. “The first truly modern beauty contest, involving the display of women's faces and figures before judges, can be traced to one of America's greatest showmen, Phineas T. Barnum (of circus fame)” ("People & Events: Origins of the Beauty Pageant"). Barnum’s beauty contest mandated that in order to participate one must submit a photograph of the contestant. Afterward, the photographs submitted would be displayed in his museum where citizens would vote for their favorite. In the subsequent years, many people copied his idea of the photo contests and a multitude of women used these contests as a way to have their beauty judged in what was considered a reputable manner. “Civic leaders across the country, seeking to boost citizen morale, incorporate newcomers, and attract new settlers and businesses to their communities, White Paper 2 held newspaper contests to choose women that represented the ‘spirit’ of their locales” ("People & Events: Origins of the Beauty Pageant"). This garnered newfound interest for pageantry and attracted plentiful entries. In just one of these contests, over forty thousand entries were submitted - a testament to the glory associated with being the face of a town. In the years that followed, the world of beauty pageants only accelerated. The general public’s sentiments toward beauty pageants began to progress even more as bans against displaying women in public slowly dwindled away. This may have been due to the prospective benefits for an entire community, such as entertainment and profit. Unfortunately, women were still viewed as objects; they could not vote but they were often exploited in the entertainment industry as a means to bring in money. Many resorts began to host pageants regularly and even more used them to their advantage. “In 1921, in an effort to lure tourists to stay past Labor Day, Atlantic City organizers staged the first Miss America Pageant in September” ("People & Events: Origins of the Beauty Pageant"). No longer were these pageants solely used for entertainment purposes, but the organizers now claimed they were used to benefit many different programs and provide scholarships for winning contestants. In 1950, Yolande Betbeze, the winner of the Miss America pageant refused to wear a bathing suit for marketing pictures. Because of this Catalina Swimwear, a contributor to the pageant, decided to back out on the sponsorship and create their own pageant and thus was born the Miss Universe pageant in 1952. Miss Universe has many requirements that include, but are not limited to, age and relationship status. As a contestant or a current titleholder of Miss Universe you may not be married nor be, or ever have been, pregnant. These requirements limit which contestants can participate and can leave the titleholder in a predicament; torn between choosing to continue holding the title or taking a different path in their life. The first year of the White Paper 3 Miss Universe pageant took place in Long Beach, California and the winner of the Miss Universe title was Miss Finland, Armi Helena Kuusela. “Less than a year later after being crowned, Kuusela chose to give up her Miss Universe crown to marry and settle in the Philippines where she had five children with her Filipino husband” (MessyNessy). The Miss Universe pageant took pageantry to a new level because it is on an international stage. Women from all around the globe unite to compete and this can sometimes cause friction. During the most recent Miss Universe pageant hosted at Florida International University, Miss Israel posted a ‘selfie’ with Miss Lebanon. This caused their two feuding home countries to become outraged. According to the Washington Post, a seemingly upset Miss Lebanon argued that, while she had been trying to avoid Miss Israel since the beginning, Miss Israel photobombed a picture and decided to post it on her social media. Something so insignificant can become a major story around the world just because these two women were seen being amicable during this international pageant. The beauty pageant industry is highly regarded as a lucrative business, but those who are not involved often overlook the success of the pageant industry. For each contestant, the cost of entering a beauty pageant is high. Wardrobe for the event averages in the thousands for most girls, with many spending $700 - $1000 average on the evening gown alone, and most participants need at least two. Hair and makeup professionals tend to charge around $250 an hour, not including the price of wigs and hair extensions, both which typically cost several hundred dollars for a quality piece. Competitors will usually hire coaches and/or choreographers, each of which charge minimum $50 per hour session, about three times a week. This does not include travel expenses or pageant entry fees, the latter of which goes to the organization running the pageant. When all of these costs are tallied up, it is clear just how much business goes into White Paper 4 pageantry is. It is a five billion industry housing an abundance of careers ("Beauty Pageant Economics: The Sash Isn't Cheap”). The coaches and choreographers are normally retired beauty queens themselves. Miss Universe, one of the big name beauty pageants, is funding women all across the spectrum: from highly educated executives to local fashion designers. While these positions appear to support women, in reality they facilitate the ogling and objectification of women as socially acceptable ("The High Cost Of Beauty Pageants"). Miss Universe claims to offer the winner exposure, scholarships, and opportunities, but does not provide the criteria they are judged on for these rewards. These women are being judged on their appearances, and then given opportunities based on how appealing they are to a selection of judges. Instead of being offered these benefits because they were earned from hard work or intellectual training, they are given because a subjective panel decided that a particular person is the most attractive. Given the inherently superficial nature of beauty pageants and the ideals that it promotes, an institution of higher learning should have not hosted this type of event. While the president of the Miss Universe Organization is a woman, Ms. Paula Shugart, the company is actually owned by Donald Trump and NBCUniversal and run by Steve Burke ("Credo & History | NBCUniversal Careers"). The high-powered position of president may be held by a woman, but the profits are actually going to two men ("Miss Universe - Staff”). At least 77% of the positions within the MUO are held by women, a percentage that is incredibly different from that of other companies ("Miss Universe - Corporate Information”). While that 77% gives the impression of aiding women and their cause, it is actually creating a vicious cycle. While women are being objectified on stage, and there are also women working behind the scenes that make it possible. White Paper 5 In relation to the culture of the United States of America, pageants like Miss Universe have shown the importance of the contemporary feminist movement. Joan Acker, a sociology professor at the University of Oregon, created a theorized notion of the "gendered substructure" and among one of the critical pieces defining her theory was the idea of "gendering cultures". Dye Kelly, a leading expert on equality and diversity, explains that this is the "creation of symbols, images, and forms of consciousness that explicate, justify, and, more rarely, oppose gender divisions." It is these symbols that create and shape cultural norms and values. Beauty pageants, much like Miss Universe, create a symbol of what a woman should be. There was emphasis placed on the "youth and beauty" of women rather than their "skills, abilities and experience" (Kelly). Many women are required through these contests to have the ‘ideal’ figure, exemplifying the idea that women have to conform to predefined standards that do not apply to men. Congruently, the Miss Universe pageant has portrayed cultural symbols of beauty that harm the idea of equality. In the past, all of the specifically Latina winners of the Miss Universe pageant have conformed to the ideal known as the Maja. The Maja is a beauty ideal characterized by "light [skin] … straight but flowing long hair dyed either blonde or a shade of brown, and is curvy but thin". All twenty-two of the past Latin American winners of the pageant, with two that deviate slightly, match perfectly with this Maja model. The problem is that to conform to an idealized international notion of beauty, the contestants have to routinely undergo sculpting surgeries to make their bodies more European.
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