When ABC dropped the Miss America pageant in 2004, many feminists bid it good riddance, arguing that the time for such beauty pageants was not only past, but long past.
In reply, the pageant’s sponsors, who later cut a deal on cable TV, sniffed that they promoted much more than a beauty contest.
Admittedly, contestants are still required to totter across the stage in high-heeled shoes while wearing a swim suit — a sartorial combination that makes about as much sense as having the women wear swim fins during the evening gown competition would. But the women are also required to demonstrate a talent and even to promote a “community service platform.”
Finally, as always, Miss America pageant officials have defended their contest as a source of scholarships for young women. But that justification has now been challenged in the wake of several claims by contest winners that they did not receive the awards they were promised at the state and local level. Several such disputes have landed in court.
So far, no one has accused the national pageant of shortchanging its winners. But it begs the question: Without the scholarship, what’s the point? Pageant officials need to do a better job of policing the state and local contests to ensure that the slogan “fairest of the fair” isn’t supplanted by “I’ll see you in court.”
