Beauty pageant

"Beauty contest" and "Beauty queen" redirect here. For other uses, see Beauty contest (disambiguation) and Beauty queen (disambiguation).

A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants, although some contests have evolved to also incorporate personality, intelligence, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria. The term almost invariably refers only to contests for women and girls such as the Big Four international beauty pageants; with similar events for men or boys being called by other names and are more likely to be bodybuilding contests.

A winner of a beauty contest is often called a beauty queen. Child beauty pageants mainly focus on beauty, gowns, sportswear modelling, talent, and personal interviews. Adult and teen pageants focus on makeup, hair and gowns, swimsuit modelling, and personal interviews. Possible awards include titles, tiaras or crowns, sashes, savings bonds, scholarships, and cash prizes. However, adult and teen pageants have been moving more towards judging speaking, and many no longer contain swimsuit or talent sections.

Subject to community standards, the organisers of each pageant may determine the rules of the competition, including the age range of contestants. The rules may also require the contestants to be unmarried, and be "virtuous", be "amateur", be available for promotions, besides other criteria. It may also set the clothing standards in which contestants will be judged, including the type of swimsuit.

History

Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was crowned the 'Queen of Beauty' at the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, the first known beauty pageant.

Beauty contest in Montreal, 1948

The first modern beauty pageant was held during the Eglinton Tournament of 1839 held by Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, a re-enactment of a medieval joust that was held in Scotland. The pageant was won by Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, the wife of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset and sister of Caroline Norton, and she was proclaimed as the 'Queen of Beauty'.

Entrepreneur Phineas Taylor Barnum staged the first modern American pageant in 1854, but his beauty contest was closed down by public protest. He previously held dog, baby, and bird beauty contests. He substituted daguerreotypes for judging, a practice quickly adopted by newspapers. Newspapers held photo beauty contests for many decades.

It was in the 1880s that beauty pageants became more popular. In 1888, the title of 'beauty queen' was awarded to an 18-year-old Creole contestant at a pageant in Spa, Belgium. All participants had to supply a photograph and a short description of themselves to be eligible for entry and a final selection of 21 were judged by a formal panel.

Miss America Pageant

The oldest pageant still in operation today is the Miss America pageant, which was organised in 1921 by a local businessman as a means to entice tourists to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The pageant hosted the winners of local newspaper beauty contests in the "Inter-City Beauty" Contest, which was attended by over one hundred thousand people. Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C. was crowned Miss America 1921, having won both the popularity and beauty contests, and was awarded $100.

International Pageants

Postcard view of Galveston where the International Pageant of Pulchritude was held in 1921.

In May 1920, promoter C.E. Barfield of Galveston, Texas organized a new event known as "Splash Day" on the island. The event featured a "Bathing Girl Revue" competition as the centerpiece of its attractions. The event was the kick-off of the summer tourist season in the city and was carried forward annually. The event quickly became known outside of Texas and, beginning in 1926, the world's first international contest was added, known as the International Pageant of Pulchritude. This contest is said to have served as a model for modern pageants. It featured contestants from England, Russia, Turkey, and many other nations and the title awarded at the time was known as "Miss Universe." The event was discontinued in the United States in 1932 because of the Depression (the international competition was revived briefly in Belgium).

Around the globe

Further information: List of beauty contests

Major international contests for women include the yearly Miss World competition (founded by Eric Morley in 1951), Miss Universe (founded in 1952), Miss International (founded in 1960), and Miss Earth (founded in 2001 with environmental awareness as its concern). These are considered the Big Four pageants, the four largest and most famous international beauty contests.

Major beauty pageants

Founded	Pageant	Organizer	Location	Bikini allowed	Bikini regulation
1921	Miss America	Miss America Organization	Atlantic City, New Jersey	1997	1947: Bikinis were outlawed because of Roman Catholic protesters. 1997: Contestants allowed to wear bikinis.
1951	Miss World	Eric Morley, Miss World Organization	London, England	1951	1951: The first winner Kiki Håkansson from Sweden was crowned in a bikini. Countries with religious traditions threatened to withdraw delegates, and Pope Pius XII condemned the crowing as sinful. 1952: Swimsuits toned down to more modest designs. 1996: Miss World contest was held in Bangalore, India, but "Swimsuit Round" was shifted to Seychelles because of intense protests. 2013: The swimsuit round was dropped because of Islamist protests in Bali, Indonesia, where the contest took place.
1952	Miss Universe	William Morris Endeavor	New York City	1997	1952: Bikinis banned. 1997: Contestants allowed to wear bikinis.
1952	Miss USA	William Morris Endeavor	New York City	1997	1952: Bikinis banned. 1997: Contestants allowed to wear bikinis. 2000: Tankinis were provided as an option for the first (and only) time.
1960	Miss International	International Cultural Association	Tokyo, Japan
1983	Miss Teen USA	Gulf+Western	Palm Springs, California	1997	1983: Bikinis banned. 1997: Contestants allowed to wear bikinis. 2000: Tankinis were provided as an option for the first (and only) time.
2001	Miss Earth	Carousel Productions	Quezon City, Philippines	2003	2003: Vida Samadzai from Afghanistan participating in a bikini caused an uproar in her native country.

Purpose

Lone Star State Selects Beauties for 100 Year Pageant

European festivals dating to the medieval era provide the most direct lineage for beauty pageants. For example, English May Day celebrations always involved the selection of queens. In the United States, the May Day tradition of selecting women to serve as symbols of bounty and community ideals continued, as young beautiful women participated in public celebrations.

Some pageants award college scholarships, to the winner or multiple runners-up.

Selection of "beauty queen"

Beauty pageants are generally multi-tiered, with local competitions feeding into the larger competitions. International pageants involve hundreds, sometimes thousands, of local competitions.

Criticism

Bathing beauty contest, USA, 1920

Critics of beauty contests argue that such contests reinforce the idea that girls and women should be valued primarily for their physical appearance, and that this puts tremendous pressure on women to conform to conventional beauty standards by spending time and money on fashion, cosmetics, hair styling, and even cosmetic surgery. They claim that this pursuit of physical beauty even encourages some women to go on a diet to the point of harming themselves.

It is argued that rather than being empowering, beauty pageants do exactly the opposite because they deny the full humanity of women by placing them as the subject of objectification; they reinforce the idea that a woman's only purpose is to look attractive.

Another criticism that is placed on beauty pageants is in the way beauty is quantifiably scored as highlighted by the "Myth of the Perfect 10". Beauty becomes a numerical coefficient in ranking contestants and this type of scoring still remains followed as a system even in nationwide beauty pageants such as Miss America.

One argument also points out that through the reiterations of beauty queens in the global stage, a country's national identity is sometimes in the danger of being reconstructed based on globalized views of what is supposed to be the ideal woman. An example would be of the time when three Miss India international beauty contestants received worldwide attention in 2000. Miss Indias were crowned in the Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss Asia-Pacific competitions. The wave of victories drove the reshaping of the image of the new modern woman of India because of the global attention it received. International and local media largely contribute to this as well, with their coverage of their destinations and overall journey as beauty queen symbols. While nationals may celebrate, a conflict of national values occurs when it comes to their perceptions of the ideal Indian woman. Concerns include the way their representative is dressed in some parts of the competition. This may lead to causing turmoil in the perceived identity of India and of any nation.

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