Pageants and sororities?
 

What does everyone think of members of sororities participating in beauty pageants? (I know Miss America is a SCHOLARSHIP pageant, but c'mon, it's about beauty! That's what they get judged on. Although several of the girls who didn't make top 15 were pretty fugly).

How important do you think it is?

It's always nice to have them to add onto your list of famous alumnae. Sometimes the competitions can springboard the woman's career. For instance, KD's Ali Landry, a former Miss USA, now has a pretty decent career going.

It might be "neat", but in my own personal opinion i'd rather have sister accomplish something with a little more substance. If they can use a pageant to springboard to something bigger great. But there are many that do not.

A very large part of Miss America is about beauty. Swimsuit, evening gown, etc. Yes, they do call swimsuit the fitness and lifestyle category, but what's judge is purely aesthetic-based. It has nothing to do with how physically active they are, it's about what their body looks like.
Miss America is definately better than some of it's counterparts in that the girls do need a little something else to go on. The platform issue is a great idea, I do like that. But the quiz part was pretty sad, and some of the so-called "talent" was bad (there were a few that were quite talented). Anyway, that's an endless argument.
It's also definately gotten better since it's inception. One of the bigger research papers that I had to write senior year was on Miss America. There's some very interesting books and research on the subject.

Anyway, the thread's not really about arguing about the merits of Miss America.
I think it would be great to have the chance to brag such as you did in that situation, because you had a personal basis on it. But when we say, oh, ____ ______, the winner of ____ ______ pageant was a member of our XYZ sorority, does it really mean anything?

I'll stop believing Miss America is about beauty when let they let somebody ugly win. And I don't mean somebody who just looks sorta bad compared to the other contestants, I mean somebody who's really ugly. Somebody who weighs 250 pounds, has buck teeth, frizzy hair, and a whole lot of moles. Somebody with a birth defect or a lot of cellulite. Hell, even somebody who wears glasses!

Yes, the women in Miss America are involved in their communities. Yes, they have great GPAs. Yes, they're well rounded people. I applaud them for that. But that doesn't change the fact that none of them - not one - would be in the pageant if she weren't attractive.

There's nothing wrong with being proud of a sister because she won a beauty pageant. But let's call a spade a spade. Her other accomplishments helped her to win, but she would not have even placed if she were not attractive.

It would be unfair to say that Miss America is not about beauty at all -- but it's also unfair to say that it's entirely about beauty.

Look at it this way: Miss America is supposed to be the ideal American woman. This means that she is not only supposed to represent ideals physically, but mentally, socially, morally, etc. Letting a really ugly woman win the pageant would be just as ridiculous as letting a woman who has a 1.3 GPA win, or a woman who's been in jail for child abuse, or any woman who has a major flaw.

Yes, Miss America started out as a beauty pageant because, back in the 1920s or whenever it was started, the ideal woman was only beautiful, and nothing else. However, over the years the concept of the ideal woman has changed, and the pageant has changed with it.

To be perfectly honest, I see nothing wrong with pageants. Yes, they are seen as beauty pageants, and probably always will be, but there is more to them than that. A large reason that you don't see the "ugly" people in the pageants is that they don't try out, or when they do, they feel out of place. Pageants, despite what you may believe, are less about beauty than they are about confidence and poise. You can have the most beautiful girl in the world who isn't sure of herself next to the ugliest girl in the world who is, and your attention will go to the ugly girl because of the way she holds herself.

Beyond that, take a look at some of these threads? So many people on this board, and in the Greek community, are concerned with the "look" of their organization. Does it not surprise you that these are the same women who try winning pageant titles?

one grinch...
 

the outgoing miss america served during one of the more significant years we've seen. yet, there was no acknowledgement. they just boogied onward with her standard platform stuff. i know i saw her on a couple of major events during the year with a bit of a patriotic spin and she's good. this year there was a far bigger picture and miss america missed it.
oh well!!!
my nickel's worth.
:rolleyes:

Reading this thread has inspired me to sign up for the Mrs. Arizona pageant next spring. I'm short, I'm plain-looking, I'm 30 pounds heavier than I was in college, but if we want to change things we have to start somewhere!

Lindsay :)

Good luck Lindsay!!!! Let us know if you go for it and how you do!

It's hard to lump all women who enter beauty pageant into one category. Obviously, a lot of the competition is very superficial, but I think it would be cool to have the bragging rights to a woman like Kate Shindle (former Miss America from Northwestern). She is the only beauty queen who has really ever stood out in my mind -- her platform issue was AIDS. And she talked to students and young people about safe sex and other stuff that was viewed as "controversial" by some people in the pageant business. If every beauty queen was like her, it's definitely worth bragging about.

I myself have to admit that I am an ex-Beauty pageant winner, and for me it was a childhood dream, but going through with the pageants I saw the nasty side of it. For instance, my senior year in high school I had an opportunity to go to the Michigan USA preliminaries, I was issued a consultant and she told me I had to lose 20 pounds before pageant time!!!! At the time I was by no means fat at 5'5" I weighed barely 120 pounds. They expected me to be 100 pounds!! I quickly got out of that.
But in the response to the 250 pound mole-faced girl comment that will never happen, because what pageants are all about is beauty inside and out. Before it was mostly outside appearances, now we get into college scholarships, grades and talent are worth more then swimsuit. Just my two cents, I'm proud of our Sigma Kappa who I believe was Miss Tennessee?
Go Greeks!!!

Miss America, or any pagent, could easily be compared to sororities (wait! I'm not done yet :p ) and every other organization out there. People's views, opinions and prejudices give them bad names, and never will everyone agree on their merit and purpose. Thankfully, sororities and many other organizations are working hard to change their stereotyped image. And, to some extent, so has Miss America. I'm sure such an amazing cultural, racial, and religious diversity did not exist in the earlier pagents.

These improvements are by no means done, but everything needs some time for society to adjust.

These women are beautiful, they are smart, they are hard working, and they have strong ideals and self-confidence. Does that mean they are better than all the other woman in the world? No. This is a competition, and ALL the women have made a CHOICE to enter. While I have to admit that I'm pretty sure less attractive women most likely wouldn't get past all the preliminaries, I also think we have to take this, along with other media outlets and competitions, with a grain of salt. They are not the end all be all, but entertainment and opportunities.

Just my opinion, and its by no means set in stone, I could have missed some very good points!:)